Wednesday, September 28, 2011

A trip to the Zoo

Lanae and I had to change our usual Friday playdate with each other...I mean the kids....to Wednesdays.  Austin had a fieldtrip at his preschool at the Zoo and invited Jadesy an I to tag along.  Lucky for me, Whit's little Mason is in the same class so I got to spend time with two of my favorite people!  :)
I had to get a picture of the Lynx.  Afterall, Corb is a Longview LYNX! 
Jaden liked the tiger and was getting kick out of seeing the wall of water and not actually getting wet. 
A quick pose with a HUGE gorilla.
Jaden's favorite movie lately is RIO.  He loves to sing the song, "Riiiiiiio....Riiiiiiio...".  Today was no exception, he sang his little heart out to the Macaws.  I think they liked it...
Then they found the forever spinning water ball.  And who can pass that up???!!
Not this boy!!

Monday, September 26, 2011

FHE Hikes with the Riches

In an effort to spend time together as a family and enjoy the beautiful Utah mountains (before they get too cold), we thought it would be fun to go hiking as a family.  It started out as just a Rich family hike for FHE one Monday night...that has become our weekly FHE Monday Night Hike.  

 
The first hike we went on was to Ferguson Canyon in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  As you can see...it was quite breathtaking!!
 
 Honey with most of her little grand-critters. 

Corb is our little dare devil and always willing to show his cousins his mad climbing skills!
 Jaden was loving playing with his cousins.

Here's me and my girl Whit.  Chance was a trooper despite his want of a nap. 
Lance, Livvy, and Marse.  This little girl cracks me up!  She LOVES to sit on your hip while holding her.  Her legs just gravitate to your hips then she digs her heels in to get a good handle on holding on!  It's soooo cute!  I love that little squish!!
 Ben's shoulders must have hurt by this point...but just look...he's still going strong!!  I'm not sure who looks more tired Lu Bear or Ben??!!
 And down we go....
 Livvy kept wanting to show everyone that she was a big girl and could not walk it...but keep up as well!
Here's Moses...I mean BEN after the hike was over.
 BEAUTIFUL!!!!
 Wow...I have no words for this one!!  It does remind me of Jack though!

 Our next hike was Doughnut Falls
 
Just Beautiful!
When they got back we decided that in light of the hike being called Doughut Falls...Donuts were DEFINITELY in order!!  Yummo!
 The next hike was at a park called Tanner Park...and as you can see from the sign...it's FOR CHILDREN!!  We had a picnic dinner and then headed out.
 I love this picture of Anna-Lisa and baby Amelia.
Jadesy didn't get a nap today...so he was especially...um...what's the word...OH YA...GRUMPY!
But after getting a sucker...he was a pretty happy boy!

I have REALLY been LOVING our Monday Night FHE hikes.  I'm sad that they have either come to an end...or are coming to an end.  The kids have loved it!  It's been so fun to hang out with most of Coby's extended family.  I'm hoping to be able to get in at least ONE more little hike before we officially call it quits.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

The Dirty Dash

 A few SKIDMARKS...PRE-mud!
 Lanae and I showing off our wicked hot skidmark tatoos.
BEFORE.....the race....
When my cute friend Kellie asked me if I wanted to do the Dirty Dash this year...I almost said NO! (***NOTE*** at the end of the post) Am I EVER glad that I didn't!  This race turned out to be the BEST, MOST FUN, AMAZING, not to mention DIRTIEST race EVER!!  Don't let my stunningly beautiful cousin fool you...she really is the complete package...Looks, Smarts, and LOADS of FUN!  She got her husband to dress up and they both wore wigs for the race.   Jared (Lanae's husband) was a trooper.  His mullet wig made me laugh EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. I looked at him!!
Kellie was kind enough to put together a team.  We were the SKIDMARKS.  We all started the race together...but somewhere we lost track of everyone.  Lanae, Jared and Coby and I stuck together.
Coby was AWESOME!  He wore a Go-Pro attached to his head the whole time so we could capture our AWESOMENESS on camera!
A couple times in the midst of falling in the MUD every other step...Lanae would lose sight of Jared...but don't worry she had a special name for him.  She'd just start sweetly yelling out, "Muuuuuulllllet" (Mullet) and without even a second's hesitation Jared would answer her.   It was so funny!  Then of course Lanae and I would be laughing so hard that we'd fall down in the mud.
We decided last minute to do the 10K.  It was SO fun!  Way more obstacles...way more mud!!  Here we all are at in the river...trying to clean up a little bit!  I'm not sure why we bothered!
Here's me in ALL my glory and looking mighty FINE after the race was over.
Me and my super amazing Coby.
Since we lost the rest of the Skidmarks....here is our fearsome foursome...MULLET...aka Jared, Lanae, Me and Cobe.
Here we are again...only I wanted to show just how dirty some of us got!!  
If you look closely...you can see Coby and I raising our arms.

This race was SO fun I'd do it every weekend if I could!  Thanks Kellie for putting it all together.  And Thanks MOM you are the best for watching our little nuggets all day.  Next year I want more of the people I LOVE to do it with us!  SO FUN!  My dad, sister and Drew, Uncle Bob, Ambie, Ben and Whit, all the Rich's for that matter...and this time...we'll figure out the best way to stay together! 

***NOTE***  Whit did ask me if I'd run it and I did say NO...but forgot about that when I said yes to Kellie.  So don't kill me Whitters...I'll make it up to you next year!!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Final thoughts and memories of Jack from Aunt Sommie

I should have posted this a long time ago!  When Jack passed away I asked many people to write down their memories of my sweet little Jack.  My sister was fortunate enough to have spent a lot of time with him.  Here are some of her memories.  I treasure them.

where do i start.  There are so many that I hope I can put them all down.

Jackson and Corbin brushing Jasmine's fur with your toothbrush (with toothpaste on it - i believe) -  so sorry about that!  It is a little funny though.

Me putting little Jackie to bed that same night.  He was so sweet.  I kissed the top of his head and then his nose because I loved kissing him there.  Corbin kissed him on the top of his head and said "Love you Jack"  Then I put him in his crib.  The next morning I got a call from Tiff that said, "you didnt want to wash the toothpaste out of his hair before he went to bed."  Apparently there was a lot of it.  It was all matted down in his hair.  How did I miss that!

Jackie loved Jasmine.  Although, I dont think Jasmine felt the love.  Jackie loved to sit on her.  Jasmine would growl but not move.  I would go pull Jackie off and put him far away.  Two seconds later I would hear that growl again.  So I would pull Jackie off again and play with for a bit.  Jackie would wonder off.  Next thing I knew I saw Jasmine snip at Jackie.  I think what happened was that Jack was poking her in the eye.  Jack loved to do that as well.
 
I loved coming to visit and seeing my boys.  If Jack was sleeping I couldnt wait to get him.  I would ask if i could go wake him up.  Tiff would say no of course.  Corbin and I would go check several times to see if he was awake.  I loved seeing his little head pop up. Then with his empty bottle still in his mouth he would smile so big and reach out to me with the one hand that was free.  I would pick him up and kiss him all over.  Then he would grunt and point to his humidifier to press the button to turn it off.  I would bring him downstairs and he would get an even bigger grin when he would see his mommy. 
 I remember before we left for Bear Lake he was walking around with a bag of pretzels.
I remember one time he and Corbin were playing with the fan.  They kept talking into it.  They actually were kind of fighting about it.  Jack kept unplugging it while Corbin was talking into it or visa-versa.  He would get mad and cry and look right at you as if to say "hello don't you notice I am crying!"  

They had a sippy cup over by the fan.  Apparently it was leaking a little.  Jack pulled a towel off of the stove and walked over to the fan (which was over by the sliding glass door) and started wiping it up.  Oh it was adorable.  That little boy loved to clean.
 
Jackie loved to eat we all know!  But he liked to use those teeth for other things other than chewing.  Several times when I would be holding Jack he would bite my neck.  I would say "ow don't bite."  He would throw back his smile and laugh my favorite laugh in the world and then do it again.  We would repeat this process over and over again.  But what can you expect for a doodle.

When Coby was on business trips I would spend the night.  I would sleep with Tiffany in their bed.  So she would nurse him in the middle of the night.  I think sounds are amplified when you are sleeping.  I dont know if it is because everything is so queit.  But that baby was so loud!  He was the loudest piglet!  It drove me insane.  One night, I said to Tiff that he was like the fat little dalmation on 101 Dalmations.  I said in his little language (crying) he was saying, "I'm hungry mommy.  I'm really really hungry!"

I loved holding my  little Jackie and he would dip back and I would nibble on his belly!  He would laugh!  Then he come back up and we would do it again and again. 
I remember when he was just a little baby he had to be rocked to sleep.  And not just sitting down rocked you had to stand up and walk around bouncing as you went and making a "Shooshing" sound.  He would eventually fall asleep with his chubby little cheeks just drooping toward the ground.  Oooh,  he got heavy!  Then when I finally got to put him down in his crib it had to be ever so careful whispering the shooshing sound in his ear for a litle bit until he was sound asleep.  Then I would go and cuddle watching Woody for the 3rd time in a row that night.  Those were priceless nights.

I remember giving him and corbin baths.  He would do everything corbin would do.  He loved to stand up.  I would say no, sit down.  then he would stand up again.  We would repeat this process until he would get side tracked.  They loved to play with the shower head that came down.  He also as we all know loved to play with his weiner.  No suprise there.

I remember one time Corbin did a couple of circles and then hit Jack with a stuffed dog.  Jack fell off the couch and did a couple of rolls on the floor.  He got up with that big smile and threw his head back and laughed like that was the time of his life.

Jack when he was a baby loved to be thrown up in the air.  I would say, "Ready, Ready."  He would smile so big and laugh.  I would dip him down and then throw him up.  He loved that game.  

I remember when he first learned to walk it was hard to change his diaper.  I would get the old off of him and then before i would know it he was off.  I never was good at putting his diapers on him while he was standing up.  
We all know that Jack had a little bit of a weight problem.   but I loved telling tiff whenever we talking about how much we loved him i would say, "I mean he is just so small" and then Tiff would come back and say," Yes, very small.  Dainty!"  He was our small, dainty doodle!
I can still see Tiff saying "Doodle" in her fun little voice.  He would laugh and laugh.  He loved his mommy so much.
 
He loved it when Coby would come home.  He would reach out to him.  Then like a good father and husband he would change the boys diapers. 
Man, he is the fastest diaper changer ever!  
 
I remember when jackie was just a little baby and he was just strickly on tiff's milk.  We went to IHop and tiff gave him a little bit of whip cream.  Oh he couldnt get enough of it.  It made him so happy.  He made  his little grunt and pointed to get more.  We put a little on our finger and put it in his mouth and he would suck so hard as if it was going to come out of our finger.  I was worried that he wouldnt take to tiff's milk anymore.  Oh but don't worry about that!
I remember shortly after you brought him home from the hospital falling asleep so many times with him on my chest.  Oh i loved that.  How I will cherish those memories.

He loved going to the park.  He loved going down the slide and the swing with corbin.  One time we went and the swings were wound all the way up to the top.  Corbin wanted to swing but he wouldnt go without his brother.  So I shimmied my way up the the top and unwound them.  The boys had so much fun.  Jack would giggle everytime I would push him.  When Corbin was done, suprise suprise so was Jack.

Jack loved to get in the fridge.  He loved to pull out everything he could.  One time he pulled out the eggs.  That was a mess.  I thought it was funny...others did not.  Haha!

He loved playing with my watch or my bracelets.  I still cant find one of them.  He would get my watch in knots.  I had no idea how he did it because it would take me forever to figure out how to get out.

I loved it when we were in the car and I would look back and he would smile and laugh.  We would repeat that process over and over again.
 
I have so many memories!  I ache to hold my little boy!  or to hear his little laugh or grunt!  or to see his smile! or to nibble his tummy!  But I will cherish these memories!  I am so grateful that I am such a big part of your lives!  Thank you for letting me be!  As I remember little memories I will email them to you!  I want them recorded!  I don't want to ever forget them!  Love you with all of my heart!

Love
Sommie

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Jaden get his first Professional Haircut

 Jaden got his first official professional haircut.  I usually take the boys to cookie cutters...but since he was with his daddy...he HAD to be like his daddy and go to Sport Clips to get the job done right!!
 He was SO good!  He just sat there like a perfect little boy! 
 No crying.  No whining.  Cooperation ONLY!!
And here's the final cut!  We still left his "wings".  As you can see from the sucker that they give you AFTER the haircut...he's one happy little monkey!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Bear Lake with the Siebenbergs

 It's no secret that I LOVE spending time with my cute friend Camille and her sweet family.  We try to find a weekend that works with everyone's schedules and have them up to Bear Lake for the weekend.  It was totally spur of the moment...but it worked out and we were able to have a great visit...and I was able to soak up Camille for a whole weekend!!  :)
It was a chilly weekend...but don't worry...the kids didn't mind!
Sam even tested the water just to make sure it wasn't as cold as we told them it was.
Here's Kenna getting the right amount of sand for her sand castle.
And back and forth they went....
Corb was just loving the sun...
Meanwhile...we were freezing!!  Actually, it was nice when the sun was on us...but the second it went behind the clouds....burrrrrrr!
Trey even liked it!
And obviously...so did I!!
Here's my mighty warrior boy!!
Later that night we went to watch the U vs BYU game at a house that Lanae and Jared had rented down the street.  It was an AWESOME house!!  And the company was even more more awesome!!
This was the least blurry picture I could find with Cam, Emily, Lanae and myself.  Being with these girls is better than having a Diet Coke IV hooked up on a permanent basis!!  :)  Maybe that was a bad analogy...but if you know me...you know my love of DC!!  :)
 Here's me and my schweeetie!!
 And here's a shot of all the chaos!!  :)
Jaden wasted NO time getting to know the GIRLS!!  
And what would a trip to Bear Lake be without a good old fashioned campfire complete with s'mores??!!
Corb was trying to show off his "mad" s'more skills....Kenna may have been a little worried!!
Sam was an EXPERT s'more maker!!
And Jaden was an expert SMORE eater!!
 And don't even ask me (sarcastically) where on earth he gets his "cheesiness" from!!  :)
There's my LOVE!
 Brett and Cam
 Most of the Siebenberg gang...one little tired munchkin had already checked out for the night.
And last but not least...me and my Cam!

I just love this girl!  It was such a treat to have them come up and hang out with us.  Everything was so low key and chill.  It's always nice to feel completely at home with good friends at the Lake.  Thanks for coming with us!  We had a ball!