Thursday, May 29, 2008

20 Weeks!

Today is my 20 week mark, which means...da dada DAAAAA!!! We're halfway done with the pregnancy!!! I'm not saying that I no longer want to be pregnant (I'll never make that mistake again) I'm just saying we're 20 weeks closer to meeting this sweet (and rather wiggly) addition to our family. The ultrasound is tomorrow and I'm so excited! I think Cougar is going to love it! Sorry, people I'm still not going to find out the gender. You can't guilt me into it.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Daddy Got In Trouble.

Things are starting to fall into a routine here. We're still loving it here and don't think we could be happier. Cougar is adjusting to not having cousins to play with and has become very good friends with our beagle, Juniper. It's fun to see. Ever since I was a little girl the vision I had of the sons I would raise was your typical Norman Rockwell type boy. Frogs in his pocket, dirty face with a dog trailing behind. I think I might be seeing that exact image not too far in the future (Heaven knows I see the dirty face part constantly).

I gave up on clothes today. No, not for me, for Cougar. I've been changing his clothes 3 to 4 times a day. I'm not one to change his clothes unless he absolutely needs it. He's not getting just a little bit dirty, he's covered in mud almost all the time. Luckily, he understands what the mudroom is for and will stand there until I can get him all cleaned up. So, when he wanted to go outside to play this morning, I took off his PJ's, sprayed him with sunscreen, put on his crocs and sent him out to have fun. It's funny, I thought "He's not naked, he's wearing sunscreen!" Anyway, he was as happy as can be and so was I.

Mark is just now beginning to learn that he can't say anything to Cougar that he doesn't want repeated. The other night we were loading up yet another trailer load of stuff (we are still moving bird stuff). I was feeling tired and pregnant and therefore grumpy and impatient. We were just about finished, Mark took Cougar and drove the truck back to the front of the house while I turned some lights off. When I met back up with them Mark was in the garage getting a few things, I opened the truck door where Cougar was and he immediately says "Mom, you driving Daddy CRAZY!" He said it too me a couple more times and I turned to Mark and said "Did you say something to Cougar about me?" Mark tried to deny it, but then heard Cougar pipe up again. "You driving Daddy CRAZY!" How do you deny that? Mark looked a little sheepish and I tried to be a little more bearable to be around.

The lady that just moved in to the other house has a couple of grand kids that have been around to play a couple times. Their names are Carly and Junior. So, naturally, what does Cougar think of? Carl's Junior. I couldn't tell if he was asking to play with the kids or to go to the restaurant (Grandma Kindlespire has taken him to Carl's Junior a few times and he loves it. He talks about it for days afterward.) So I asked him "Do you want Carly and Junior the kids or Carl's Junior the food?" It was one of those questions that you immediately regret after it leaves your mouth. I'm sure he thought "You mean I have the choice?" We were driving, yet again and he started asking for Carl's Junior every minute and a half. You think I would learn to think about what I'm saying before I say it.

Monday, May 26, 2008

The Duckies!


I just realized I never put anything up about the ducks!! Oh goodness. A little less than a week ago Mark hatched out 7 ducks. They are the cutest little things. Even cuter than the quail chicks! They were swimming at two days old. It's so amazing to me that they just did it. They didn't need to be taught or coaxed you just put them in the water and they start swimming. Cougar thinks they are the greatest. He's always asking Daddy if he can play with the duckies. He's pretty good with them, but we did have a close call the other day. He was holding them while I filled up their "swimming pool" and I think he was nervous about dropping them or their wiggling away so he was squeezing them too tight. He had one in each hand and they started, like seizing. Mark and I grabbed them quick and they are just fine now. I guess that's what you get when you've got small kids and small animals. We talked about it a little bit and Cougar is even more careful when handling the birds. He frequently says "I not squishin it", just to let you know that he's being careful and trying his best. What a sweet little boy.
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My Garden



My garden has been started. I'm so excited and worried. I don't know that I can grow anything, but I'm going to try. I got my corn planted. Yay for me. I've also got the seed for watermelon, broccoli, pumpkin, lettuce(for Mark's birds), carrots, peas and maybe a couple other things I can't think of right now. Mark did a wonderful job tilling it up for me and Cougar loved helping chuck the weeds as we pulled them out of the ground. I'll be sure to let you know if anything grows. I hope, I hope.
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Sunday, May 25, 2008

Mesquite BBQ Chicken


Maybe this is a strange thing to put on here, but I'm so dang proud I have to brag to somebody. (Mark thinks I'm nuts). I made our first dinner on our new-to-us grill tonight. The chicken just came out looking so beautifully and tasted wonderful I was so proud of myself. I'm not the best cook in the world, but I do try. Usually things I make taste pretty good, but look a little weird. This chicken was something I would have been proud to feed to my dad (that's saying something). It was even moist and tender on the inside. Yay for me!! I'm not completely hopeless. You know you've made a good dinner when your husband sits on the couch and says "uhh, I ate too much" and your little boy climbs down from the table and immediately gives you a big leg hug.
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Saturday, May 24, 2008

Frog Hunting Success!!


Mark successfully caught a frog tonight. He heard them, but Cougar and I were too cold to follow him. He went hunting by himself (He's got to be getting used to that by now) and caught this cute little guy. We believe it's called a chorus frog. It's funny, I never saw an actual frog in the state of Utah, a few toads, but never a frog. Since I've been married to him I've seen more frogs and lizards than I ever imagined I could. (Including 7 that live in an aquarium in Cougar's room). I think the smile on Cougar's face sums up what he thought of the whole thing.
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Weeding





Cougar and I took advantage of the moist soil and went outside to pull some weeds. I had found him a pair of kid's gardening gloves. I have my own pair of gloves and knew he would not let me wear mine unless he had some of his own. We went out and got right down to business. He loved it! It probably had something to do with me actually allowing and encouraging him to destroy things. He yanked and tugged, dug and discovered bugs. He calls it planting and is even right now begging to go do some more. I guess it's a good thing I've decided to try a garden this year. What a big helper I've got.
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Thursday, May 22, 2008

More About the Place

Oh! Remember the BIG mud puddle I mentioned previously? Well, when it rains it gets even bigger! It's okay, you can be jealous that we have our own swimming pool right out the door. This picture was taken yesterday. It's rained some more since then. Thankfully, it's been so cold Cougar hasn't wanted to go outside to play. He might be up to his neck in water.


We are discovering a whole lot down here. (oh by the way be prepared for lots of updates I haven't had the internet for a while.) We went on a frog hunt a couple nights ago. Mark pushed Cougar on his trike and I carried Cougar's pretend rifle. They would very often stop and go "stalking" through the grass. Cougar would take the gun from me and follow Daddy all hunched over. We didn't see any frogs, we heard a few, but it was just fun to be out together and to see all of the property.


We've also discovered that our house is haunted. Sunday morning our laundry room door had a doorknob and later that night it was gone. We still have been unable to find it. (Some of you may not know this, but our house was at one time a veterinary clinic. Our laundry room, we believe was the surgery room). Also, when the wind blows a certain door makes sounds that sound an awful lot like a cat crying. Sometimes the door even sounds like a lady screaming. (I'll admit it had me pretty freaked out at first). So, we've decided that we are being haunted by a poor cat's soul who had a terrible experience at the animal hospital and later died. We are currently trying to make contact with it so we can figure out what is keeping it here. We hope to help it cross over soon. (Do you think Jennifer Love Hewitt would help us?)

We're in!


Well, we are officially living in the Lake Shore house (I would say we're all moved in, but that would be lying). We love it here!!! It's been so nice to have it just be us on the farm. :)
So, what do you do when you've got the filthiest almost three year old boy in the world with a strong dislike for water and no bathtub? Dump out the ball bucket and fill it up in the kitchen and force him in. He was not happy, especially when I used the sprayer from the sink to wash his hair. Luckily the sides were too high for him to feel safe climbing out with wet, slippery feet.
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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Our New Place!!

Here they are! Pictures of the Lake Shore house. We are so excited to be moving, but it's getting exhausting. I'm definitely ready to be done with it all.

If you'll notice in the picture of the front of the house there's a BIG mud puddle in the driveway. Cougar's already soaked himself in it. On the bright side I got to understand the true beauty of a mud room AND got to try out my washer and dryer. (They work wonderfully).

We hope to be moved in completely by this weekend, but we'll see. I am having this realization though, we didn't buy this house. We're not going to be living here forever.....WE HAVE TO DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN!! Please excuse me. I'm going to take a nap.












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Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Frogs Were Croaking

I mentioned before that we were nervous about how Cougar was going to deal with our upcoming move to Lake Shore. I think it's safe to say that he's excited about it now. We were down there tonight taking a load of stuff (and turkeys). It was later than we've ever been there before and there were frogs croaking out in the field. Cougar realized the full potential of the place and cried when I carried him into the house after falling asleep on the way home. "Not this home. I want ours nother home". I really think that once we get done with all the moving chaos and settle in he's going to love it. He already enjoys that we can show him where the baby's room will be when it comes.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Family Night


What did you do for family night? We made an amazing discovery! Cougar can hold one ping pong ball in his mouth. Mark can hold four. Yes, four. I was laughing way too hard to even try. Oh, don't ask me what the lesson was about I have no idea how to tie this into the gospel.
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Mother's Day

We had a fantastic Mother's Day. It started with a nice lazy morning sleeping in. Mark and Cougar gave me their gift and card. Cougar gave me lots of hugs and kisses and caught on quickly that it was a special day. He even said "Happy Mother's Day!" to the bishop when we handed in our tithing.

We had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Kindlespire's house and it was delicious as usual. We had a good time visiting and Cougar even sang I Am a Child of God before Grandpa went to bed.

Grandma just returned from California and had a special present for Ellie and Cougar. Mini bananas! Cougar saw them and started giggling, said something we couldn't understand and then yelled "WIDDLE NANAS! They were definitely a big hit.
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Mark's Hobby




In the past 3 years or so Mark has developed a new hobby that has encompassed the family. He breeds and raises game birds. Mostly pheasants, but he also has chuckar, quail, doves, peacocks, and turkeys.

He gathers their eggs, incubates them, hatches them out and sells the chicks. It is a very time consuming hobby, but he enjoys it. I personally don't get it, but he doesn't understand why I enjoy knitting, so what can I say? Cougar loves to go out and help his daddy take care of the birds. He shows no fear when the birds start flapping around his head and will crawl into their huts to collect eggs for Daddy. I think one of his favorite parts of bird raising is the chicks. Mark hatches out around 600 chicks (maybe more) in the spring so there's no shortage of baby birds. Cougar loves to hold them and will even kiss them on their little heads. Without a doubt he will always say "Awww...he's so cute".
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May 12, 2008

Well, I've decided it's time for our family to get on the blog bandwagon. I'm not sure how soon it will all get really up and going, but here we go.

Right now, Mark and I are trying desperately to get our house packed up so we can move down to Lakeshore (a small community near Spanish Fork, Utah) We never imagined we had so much stuff!! Cougar is a little apprehensive about the move. He's not going to have cousins right upstairs to play with, but when we tell him he'll have cows to take care of he gets a little more excited.