Future Violinist

A few days ago as we were sitting down for dinner Talen picked up his fork and spoon and positioned them just so, and said, "Look mom, I'm playing the violin." Now we're not exactly sure where he got this from. The mall put's on this once a month thing for kids called "Mommy and Me"and last month they had a booth set up promoting music and they were letting the kids move a bow across the strings of a violin, they didn't let them hold the violin. So I'm not really sure where he learned the position from - we're thinking maybe from "Little Einsteins" - which is like his favorite show right now the Disney Channel. Anyway we got a huge kick out of this. Who knows maybe someday he will be a violin player. That would be pretty sweet.

I don't know if you can tell but he kept moving his fork along the spoon back and forth. I love the pursed lips - like he's in deep concentration or something.

Mommy Kendal

These are three of Kendal's four babies - she loves babies - she has to sleep with one every night - it doesn't really matter which one, just as long as she has at least one of them, and she always pushes them around the house in her baby stroller. A couple of mornings ago I went to get her from her crib and before I could pick her up she sat down, dug through her blankets to find her baby, found her, gave her a kiss on her lips, laid her down, covered her up with a blanket and said, "bye bye baby" then she offered me her arms so that I could pick her up out of the crib. I told her she was being such a good mommy. I thought it was so so cute.

Good Recipe

We've been looking for a good Meatloaf Recipe and we finally found one along with some great sides. It's one of Bobby Flay's recipes from the Food Network. The entire meal is "Roasted Vegetable Meatloaf with Balsamic Glaze", "Roasted Green Beans with Shallots and Hazelnuts", and "Smoked Chile Scalloped Sweet Potatoes."

Jared said it was pretty easy to make and it is a now a family favorite of ours. Check it out. I posted a picture just for fun.

Two Little Monkeys

"Two Little Monkeys jumping on the bed, both fell off and bumped their heads, mama called the doctor and the doctor said, "no more monkeys jumpin on the bed."

This last week we had a doctor's appointment for Kendal and Talen, they are about 18 months apart - so this is the second time they've been able to have appointments together - the first one was when Kendal was 6 months old and Talen was two, and now this last one was Talen 3 year checkup and Kendal's 18 month. I don't usually bring the camera to the doctor's office but I figured it could be their last appointment here in Virginia (if we move) so I wanted to get a picture of a few special nurses and our nurse practitioner (whom we've seen more than the real doctor) and Doctor Ballum.

Talen had to get a finger prick and he had to get a shot, but Kendal lucked out and didn't have to get any pokes this trip around. The doctor and nurses said that they are going to really miss our family and one of the nurses in particular (Chickie) pulled me aside and gave me a hug and began crying and told me that I was "just the best young mother ever and that I was very special to her" She told us that she was going to pray for us to stick around: ) So of course I was also crying,which I did not expect and I felt saddened to end a relationship we have been developing with these special people for 2 years now, who have loved my children so genuinely. Chickie's comments meant a lot to me and touched my heart. I'm not sure I'll ever a find a nurse as amazing as her.

Here are the stats:

Talen's Weight: 37 lbs (90th percentile (only 10% of kids his age weigh more than him))
Talen's Height: 3 ft. 2 1/2 inches (75th percentile (only 25% of kids his age are taller than him))
Talen's Blood pressure: 90/64 (they said it was perfect)

Kendal's Weight: 24 lbs .2 oz (50th percentile)
Kendal's Head Circumference: 46 cm (25th percentile - both our kids have had very small heads)
Kendal's Height: 32 inches (50th percentile)

A Pig Flies

So Jared wrote the title of this entry - he told me to mix it up so that my blog was more interesting (he can be so silly sometimes)

Anyway, my parents, Jared's parents, and my brothers pitched in and we purchased Jared an open cockpit biplane ride for graduation - it was just kind of a fun thing I wanted to do for him to reward him for all his hard work these past 6 years - some may say that it wasn't the smartest way to be investing in his future, however I side with the other less responsible side that say that it would be an awesome gift and an experience of a lifetime.

Anyway he loved it! The pilot let him fly the airplane for a good majority of the flight, and it was an acro flight, meaning the pilot did stunts with him, loops,rolls,cuban 8's, hamerheads, etc. It was also a pretty interesting situation because there was a storm in the area where he was going to fly and obviously in an open cockpit you do not want to fly in the rain & lightning,well it was weird because like half the sky was gray with lighting and rain and the other half was sunny, blue skies and white clouds, so the pilot okayed it, and Jared got to fly under blue skies but he got to see the lightning and the storm from the airplane - which I guess was really unique according to the pilot.

So while he was flying I took the opportunity to take some cool shots of the kids at the airport. We had a good time spotting daddy and waving really big at him when he would fly lower to the ground, and watching the plane do a few stunts. The lighting was amazing for the photography aspect.

There are a lot of pics for this post so don't feel the need to look at all of them : )

Before Takeoff -

I must admit I was a little nervous for him - there's that little voice coming from the worry spot of the mom/wife brain saying, "please don't die" - even though you know they won't, there's like this new development in the brain that comes instantly with becoming a wife and then it just gets worse with becoming a parent.

A little boy's dream comes true

getting ready for takeoff

Talen the airplane

"Whoosh"

He's making a gun sound with his mouth in this one - explains the serious airplane face :)

Kendal the pilot

I took this one in front of one of the airplane hangers - I think the lighting is nice

A low fly-by for a picture

back on the ground

The only thing I don't love about this photo is the skanky girl on the plane. I wasn't too thrilled about Talen seeing that - but I don't think he even noticed it, although I'm sure somebody else did : )

Luray Zoo

For graduation everyone pitched in and we purchased Jared an open cockpit biplane ride. The only problem with the gift was that it was a 2 hour drive away so we decided to make a day trip out of it and find some other stuff to do out there. We found a zoo about one hour from where Jared's flight was that is a rescue zoo called "Luray Zoo" - so we decided to give it a try - it was a lot of fun for the whole family. It's pretty small but very charming. Below is a slide show of the zoo.

I'll post the biplane ride stuff next.

Ward Talent Show

We had our ward talent show on Saturday night and it was a really fun night, we had some really funny performances and some really beautiful performances. Talen sang "Oh Danny Boy" and the video is above. Now you may ask, "Why Oh Danny Boy?" well, it's one of Jared's favorite songs and he often sings it to Talen before bed time, well Talen started learning the words and singing it with Jared and now he knows it very well.This was his first time performing in front of a large group of people and so we think he was probably a little nervous. This video clip is so funny because he just stayed on the same note for the entire song, which he has never done before -but hey he's two so give him a break! Well done T-bone (a name Jared calls him sometimes)

Memorial Day

We went to Maymont Park to see the animals and have a picnic and then went to a really lame parade afterward - it was a pretty fun day - minus the parade - we've now been to two parades while living in Virginia and let's just say parades are not really a strong point out here.

The Strawberry Festival

We're in limbo right now because Jared graduated last week and we haven't gotten a job yet - so we're enjoying some nice family time - I think it's a blessing because when he does get a job we're going to see a whole lot less of him and so I'm trying to look at this situation with a positive outlook - anyway Saturday we went to the Richmond Strawberry Festival. They had live bluegrass music, vendors selling hotdogs and hamburgers, tons of toys for the kids to play on, and of coarse strawberries. It was hot and there was a whole lot of bending over - I know I sound like an old woman, but it's hard bending over in the hot sun, our backs and ankles were sore. The kids had the right idea with just eating the berries instead of picking them - that's what I should have done and just made Jared do all the work.

We're not in Utah anymore

The perfect strawberry pickin' outfit - pink plaid shoes and all

Let me see those red juicy fingers

Surprisingly, Talen picked berries a lot better last year, this year he just wanted me to pick them, and then give them to him to put into his own basket - silly silly

It was pretty slim pickins - this is how much we had after about 20 minutes - we opted to pick the smaller ones because they are much much sweeter, but it takes a lot longer to fill up a basket

Kendal quickly discovered that eating them was much more enjoyable than picking them, a few times when we weren't looking she'd sneak up on us and steal already picked berries out of our baskets and just eat those - little sniper!

We had a great time - it's funny how it costs more to pick your own strawberries, than to just buy them in the store... I know I know your paying for the experience -

I think this picture is really fun - it's like she's loving the sun on her face

Glee

I watched the first episode of this new show, "Glee" and this is a great clip from it. When I was in high school I used to be in all the different choirs in high school - and it brought me back to some of those memories - I applaud my brothers, Cameron and Cory and my sister-in-law, Bethany in Branson, Missouri for following their dreams and doing what they love even if it might not pay the best (they are performers). There is something about great music that can move you - it must be why all these musical shows and movies are starting to come back...anyway... it's worth watching. The kids in this clip are great singers and it put a smile on my face... who know's it might put one on yours.