Happy Birthday America!

My sister Janeen and I made these firecracker hats for Lucy and Tyler. I don't have a picture of them together but they turned out really cute (if not a little wild). I got the idea from my Family Fun Magazine, which I love & highly recommend.

This year Tyler actually held a sparkler (pictured here is cousin Jonas) and sat with his cousins while we did fireworks at Grandma's house. In years past he has been really skittish around fireworks but this year it was no big deal. Trevor, on the other hand, hated them and decided to go inside Grandma's house. I found him a few minute later like this: asleep on the floor with his favorite blankie over his head. What a stinker!

Lovin' the Warm Weather!

Trevor sitting on his "bike" while Tyler rides his bike.

One evening while we were BBQ-ing we found Trevor had fallen asleep "behind the wheel" of his Little Tykes pick-up truck. It was hilarious. You know, being a two-year-old is really hard work and sometimes you just need a little cat nap.

Tyler loves water and loves to swim. I think he swims every day but Sunday. Sprinkler, slip-n-slide, or pool it doesn't really matter as long as it is water. Trevor, on the other hand, hates water and freaks out when the hose gets turned on. Last summer I took him to the pool a few times but he was attached to me like a leech the entire time. And if water gets splashed on him he screams "ouch, ouch" like it hurts. He's such a drama queen sometimes! But the strangest part is, he loves taking baths. Go figure! While Tyler slip-n-slides Trevor sits in the shade of the umbrella and watches.












I love the joy my boys get from eating the veggies we grow in the garden. Trevor would get so excited when I would snap and open the pea pods and then exclaim "wow! a big one!" when he saw the peas. He'd then gobble them down and wait for me to open the next one. Tyler prefers the snow peas so he can eat the pod and all! I have such good eaters!

Brad has been doing the boys' haircuts outside which I much prefer because it keeps my house cleaner.

We have babies!

I should have posted this several weeks ago because now they are grown and gone but here are two pictures of the baby birds we had in our satelite dish (see earlier post for pic of eggs). The first pic is when they were brand new and just a pile of fluff with little yellow beaks and feet. We had to zoom in on the picture to be able to make anything out. The second one was taken two weeks later when they had grown feathers but were still tucked tightly in the nest. When we went out to take one last picture they were gone. I felt a little sad that I didn't get to see them grown to the point of "leaving the nest" but glad to have my satelite dish back (eww the poop!) and it will be nice to be able to utilize that side of the backyard without scaring the momma bird away.~I wish you could have seen the look of awe and wonder on Tyler's face when we held him up to see if the eggs were still there and instead they were replaced with these fuzz balls. We had not expected it so soon and the look on his face was priceless.~

Is that a Wolf in the Newman backyard?

So, it was a cold and rainy night when I sent Brad to the post office to mail a few packages for me. About 45 minutes after he left I got a call from him telling me he had a problem- a dog had followed him into the post office, had sat with him while he was mailing our stuff and now is trying to leave with him. He had called all the phone numbers on the tags (only a vet and S.L. County license- no owner tag) but couldn't find anyone to help him locate the owners. We decided we couldn't just leave him out in the rain on this cold, wet night so I told him to bring him home; we'd find his owners in the morning. So Brad comes him with this giant, gorgeous dog. We were able to get him settled into the garage and left the side door open so he could go out to use the grass as needed but about an hour after we finally crawled into bed he started to howl and cry. I felt so bad. He was so well-behaved and taken care of that I knew he had a family who loved him. The next morning I took the numbers off his tags with me to work and after lots of investigative work and dead-ends I finally located his owner. He's a 3-year-old male Siberian Husky named Dakota who was recently sold to another family and wasn't adjusting well to his new home. He had run away three times in one week. He was a really sweet dog and fun to have but only for one day.

This is just a classic example of the loving and caring nature of my sweet husband Brad. He is so gentle and kind with animals (including our children). I love you honey!

It's coming to Salt Lake!

I just learned this afternoon that Gunther von Hagens Body Worlds 3 is coming to Salt Lake in September and I am so excited I can hardly contain myself! I've wanted to see this exhibit ever since I first heard about it years ago and was planning to fly to a nearby state at some point just to see this exhibit. But now I don't have to because it's coming here! Yipee!

Randomness

We finally planted our garden......and then Little T picked one of our squash plants. (Naughty child!) We've been spending a lot of time working in our yard and it seems like by the time we get it all done the summer we be over. We have so much to do but it's nice to be outside and I enjoy the projects we are working on.

We discovered a Robin's nest in the wall mounting portion of our satelite dish. It has three little blue eggs. The bird comes and goes even after we had climbed up there to see if anything was in the nest and taken pictures. Now we are leaving the nest alone in hopes that the eggs will hatch.

Thank you all who have expressed well wishes and concerns for my Grandpa. He is doing well and has been in and out of the hospital between chemotherapy sessions. He's now in a holding pattern waiting for a bone marrow transplant which should be life changing. We have seen miracles since his diagnosis in April and feel so blessed. He is doing better than anyone expected from a 75-year-old and we are so grateful for it. Because he has no immune system he is not allowed to have real flowers so I made him lilies out of the handprints of his great-grandchildren. I traced the hand of each of my Mom's grandkids on pastel construction paper, wrote their name on the palm, rolled it to resemble a lily and attached a green pipe cleaner for a stem. This was the end result.

Our kids are so silly. One day we discovered Big T asleep in the recliner UPSIDE DOWN! Another time the boys were watching TV together in the recliner (which is rare for them to actually share the same chair without fighting) but even more so Big T had swim goggles on. I can't imagine the TV would be too clear through those!

Preschool Graduation

Big T graduated from Preschool on May 15th. He's very excited about going to Kindergarten. I'm wishing he wouldn't grow up so fast. He did really well in school this year and Brad and I are so proud of him. He is able to write his first and last name, knows his address and phone number, can count to 100, etc. He's also a very creative little fellow. Last night he was playing Indiana Jones with a little Lego man, a wooden toy snake, a brush attachment for the vacuum and a small cardboard box. Oh what it would be to be a child again!

Soccer Season

Well, Spring soccer had come and gone and Tyler loved it. This was his second year and he was much improved. He was on the same team as his friend Parker and his cousin Kaylee so Brad and I had fun visiting with their parents on the sidelines too. This is the second season that Tyler chose jersey #8 and he was excited about that.

Tee-ball here we come.....

Trevor turned 2!

On March 21 Trevor had his second birthday. I would like to post some things about him.

I made a Boston Cream Pie cake - It was fab!

He is fearless. That kid has more bumps and bruises than any toddler I have met. We have caught him going down the stairs on his stomach, face first (we call it stair surfing and no it is not allowed in our home), climbing onto counter-tops to help himself to food, jumping off the fourth step onto the carpeted floor below, running away from us and not looking back, etc, etc.

He is his own little person & a creature of habit. He likes things done the same way every time. If he gets an idea in his head or wants something he will let you know in no uncertain terms. He doesn't say no but rather has a head shake with a distinct "uh-huh" if he doesn't like something or doesn't want to do something.

He is also obsessed with airplanes. In the car, at the soccer field, out our front window, he'll spot any plane, near or far, and say "airplane airplane airplane...." until you acknowledge him. And since we live west of the airport and near airport #2 you can imagine how many times a day we say "yes, Trevor, there is an airplane!". I recently found some old PJ's of Tyler's that have airplanes on them- he loves them.

Trevor likes to dance and sing. He has a song that he sings in the car that goes a little something like this "Ba ba bee, mommy". We don't know what it means but he sings it a lot. He bounces around to music too and especially likes the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse songs. When he is hungry and wants something to eat he will do a little happy dance in the kitchen while I fix his food. It is very cute.

He loves dogs, or as he calls them "bubbas". His old babysitter had a dog named Bubba so that is what he thinks all dogs are called. Even though we have tried to teach him to say dog he still says Bubba. We had an encounter with a chihuahua the other day too. It was nice weather on a Friday that I didn't work so I decided that Trevor and I should walk over to pick Tyler up from preschool instead of drive. On our way home we were met by a nasty little chihuahua that was barking and growling at us. I tried to ignore it and keep walking but Tyler had climbed half way up me in complete terror and Trevor was going after the dog with arms wide open trying to pet it. The problem was, the dog was biting at my feet and I was afraid it would bite my Trevor. So that wasn't a fun experience but we try to let him be around any friendly dog (or any animal for that matter- he doesn't discriminate- he loves them all!).

Trevor loves bananas. Actually he just loves to eat and will eat anything, at any time, and any place, but bananas are his favorite. It's gotten to the point where I have to hide them, and yesterday when we ran out of bananas, whoa, I thought the world was coming to an end!

Here he is eating a banana along with cousins Taylor & Gavin.

Poor kid has the craziest hair ever! He has four cowlicks! Two in the front and two in the back. The two in the back are on the very top of his head and they go opposite directions so he has a perpetual mohawk. We either have to keep his hair really short or let it be longer and do whatever it wants. Here is a picture of how I found him after a nap one day. He had rubbed his way-too-long hair against the bumper pad so it was all matted and standing straight-up Don King style. It was too funny. He has a great personality. He's a mellow guy most of the time and has been such a joy to have. When I think back to when he was born, and I remember how scared I was when he was born 6 1/2 weeks early, it amazes me how far we have come. He's a wonderful little man and I wish for a brilliant future for him.

We love you Trev-boy!

Heart-breaking News

S. Clair Bankhead

It was two weeks ago that I got a phone call from my Mom, who was in tears, to tell me that her Dad had leukemia. He has always been in great health so this was a real shocker. He was admitted to LDS Hospital and diagnosed with Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia (AML)- not a good diagnosis for a 75-year-old. But through much prayer, discussion and thought he decided to go with aggressive treatment to kill the cancer. He has completed his first week of chemo and is on a "break" period for nine days. Once that time is up the next round of chemo will be determined based on how his blood cells responded to the first round of chemo. So really, everything is up in the air. For the time being he remains inpatient at LDS on the Bone Marrow Unit which (in my opinion) is the best place for him although he is feeling the walls closing in. I'm telling you, he is the most active, hardworking person I know. He's a busy-body and just itching to get back to feeding his cows! Eventually though the plan is for him to be at home but receive his chemo infusions at a clinic. Currently he is doing really well. I was there on Thursday when his doctor came in and said he was doing better than expected. (I'm not surprised- he's a trouper!)

These last two weeks have been so hard for me personally because I have felt so much guilt for not taking my kids over to visit more often, I haven't kept better in touch with my grandparents and I haven't had them as involved in my life growing up as I would have liked because of the distance apart we lived. I've always taken for granted the fact that I have all four of my grandparents alive. It's amazing how all the things that were important in my life suddenly came to a halt and he, my grandma and my Mom moved to the top of the list. I am very fortunate to work just minutes from LDS Hospital so that I can visit him every few days during my lunch break. It does my heart good to see him and my grandma (and generally some of my aunts & uncles too!).

Thanks to everyone who has asked about him- I really appreciate your love & concern. Please keep him in your prayers. And if you are able, please donate blood. In the first few days he was admitted it was the RBC's & platelets that saved his life. He continues to get blood products and I feel so thankful to everyone who has donated for helping to save him.

Kangaroo Zoo

We recently went to a place called Kangaroo Zoo with some good friends of ours. It's this large building full of blow-up bounce houses and toys. It's a place both kids and adults can play (although after playing I really felt my age!). Trevor was fearless and climbed everything, Tyler ran from place to place it was hard to keep up with him (hence the picture of a streak). We had a ton of fun and bought a punch pass so we can go back again and again.

After playing we went to Wendy's for lunch then the boys crashed on the way home.
Aren't they cute when they're asleep?!?

Discovery Gateway

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

Back in February we got to go to Discovery Gateway with the whole Newman clan. It was extra fun because Ashley & little Lincoln were here from Texas and we just don't get to see them enough (we missed Mike too but you know, it's busy season for those accountant-types). Anyway, all the cousins were there and it was the opening day of the Sesame Street "The Body" exhibit which was rather exciting for me since I work in organ donation an all. And to top it all off KISN radio station was there giving away prizes and I won a year-long family membership to Discovery Gateway! Awesome! I think Tyler asks me once a week when we are going to go next. In March we got to go with most of the Thacker cousins and that was fun because it was the first time they had been. The kids have so much fun there so if you haven't been, I recommend you make a trip soon.

Pictures: Tyler (construction), Tyler (with macaroni skeleton he made), cousin Katelyn with aunt Andrea, Trevor (with a rooster), Tyler (rock wall), Trevor (in blue egg), counsin Lincoln (in stroller), Trevor (grocery shopping).

Our family has expanded!

We'd like to introduce our newest addition to the family...our fish. We finally broke down and got a pet. Don't get me wrong, I love doggy's but the idea of having another living being to feed and clean-up after wasn't a thrilling idea. But, since Tyler was so afraid of animals we decided that we needed to get some sort of pet and maybe "upgrade" slowly until he overcomes his fears. So we got a fish. A really cute fancy black goldfish with bulgy eyes. Brad and I wanted to name him Darth Vader but Tyler's name won: Blackie. After a couple of weeks we decided to upgrade to a larger tank and add another fish. This one is a fancy orange goldfish that I named Mitzie. We have them in our kitchen so I can make sure that they are OK (Trevor stuck his hand in and tried to grab Blackie one day when I had my back turned) and they have quite the personalities. Mitzie will spend her entire day hiding behind the rocks and underneath the filter until she sees me walk into the kitchen. Once I walk in the kitchen she is front and center waiting for me to feed them. Like most goldfish, feeding time is the highlight of their day.

Santa visit

I know these are a little late but I just found them on the camera phone and thought they were hilarious & had to share.