That's Good Stuff

Before a few fun pictures, ten Isaac antics from this summer (there are soooo many times I tell myself "I should write that down!" then I forget - ARGH!)

1.  We had Isaac's diaper off a couple weeks ago in hopes that he'd use the potty.  He told us he needed to go, and ran to the potty.  On the way there, he dropped lost a raisin sized poop to the floor.  He sat down, spotted it and said "oOoOoh.  It's a little nugget.  It's so cute, I just wanna hold it!"  We informed him how unsanitary this is, and he quickly opted not to hold this cute little nugget.

2.  While at the park, walks up to a random little girl about his age and very suavely says:

“Hey Girl.  I got a piggy.  Its name’s Skreet.  It’s at home.”

3. While cuddling with me on the couch: “I love nums!  I could sleep on them!”  For those of you not in the know, nums = boobs.   Oh brother!

4. Isaac said he had a story to tell me:

“once-uponatime, there a girl.  Her name mommy.  She a baby.  She say goo goo gaga.  She have no teeth.  The end.”

5.  Again at the pool, in a very aggressive voice "Hey girl, I got a question for you!"  over and over and over.

6. He tries every avenue to get out of going to sleep.  He often gets us with the "I neeeed food" since he never eats adequate portions.  The other night he was specific, shouting out from his bed "Mom and dad!  I want Tilapia with mustard!  Please!?  Edamame, too!  Pleeeeeaaase??"

7. Isaac was proposed to by another 2 year old at a wedding we went to.  To be more specific, this little girls asked Isaac "you want to get married and have a baby?"  Isaac said "no no no no way jose!"

8.  One morning outside aloud, but more to myself "oh no, it's the Jehovah's Witnesses,"  Isaac "Don't worry mommy, I'll protect you!"

9.  "Oh no!  I hear fireworks, protect me!"  But in reality, he would live on, in and with fireworks if we let him.

10.  When we start counting to get him to follow directions, lately he has been wearing his bossy pants and doing a lot of finger wagging and saying "no, no!  You can't count!  No counting! No 9, no 10!  Nooooo!"  yes, we are in the thick of the terrible twos.

I snapped a few photos of Isaac and his favorite little gal, Quinn, this week.  Isaac is in a very bossy stage and Quinn is always like "whatev."  It's great. 

He's already a typical boy.

And here, Quinn responds like a typical girl.  ;-) 

 Isaac and I went to Pineview Reservoir with my mom and her sisters Mary and Clare.  My cousin Kristin, along with her kids Landon and Luke, and my cousin Tim's son Quentin.  The water was so nice and it felt good to play on the "beach."

 

Dragon McGee

I think it's so awesome when kids name stuff.  As of late, Isaac has been bestowing anything that you could possibly give a name, with the last name McGee.  Our conversations lately have gone a lot like this:
"Isaac, what do you think that dragon's name is?"
"Dragon McGee."
So far we have a Bear Mcgee, Dragon McGee, Bunny McGee, Fish McGee, Whaley McGee, and Squid McGee.
I love this kid.  I am just waiting for him to change my name to Mama McGee.

Bear Lake

My dad's family, the Stiremans, do a big camping trip near Bear Lake every single summer.  I think it's been going on for around 25 years.  I remember going as a kid, but as I became a teenager, I was of course way too cool for camping with family.  Then, I became so busy as an adult and things always seemed to get in the way of my going.  I vowed to go this year, and although we didn't stay long, we went, and had a great time.  I don't know the exact location name, but it's a few miles from the Tony Grove area.  I forgot how stunning this area, and Bear Lake really are!  Bear lake is so full this year, that it's nearly up to the roadside on most parts of the shore.  There is hardly any beach exposed this year due to all the water.  Because of this, it was pretty crowded on the North Beach sand.  However, the water was warm (well, for a lake in Utah,) sparkling and a beautiful green/blue.  Isaac got to spend some quality time with Nana and Pa in the sand and water, and play with some of my younger cousins (yep, I am 32 and have cousins who are still in elementary school.  That's what happens when your dad has 13 siblings.  They were very cute with Isaac and couldn't stop gushing about his cute-ness.  I agree, of course :-)
I didn't take too many pictures, but there were a few:

Nana, Isaac and my aunt Joan at Bear Lake

Hammock Time!

Um, why did I add this, you ask? My mom and I drove together to Bear Lake.  When I got to their house, I found this. Dad, have you SEEN the SNL spoof on this?  HAAAAAAAhaha.  Although, secretly I want one if it really does give you firm and fabulous arms and shoulders.  Parents - let me know!

July, Please...Slow Down.

Too adorable to not put up.  Isaac's had a serious case of the "I love you's" lately, and I can't get enough of that!  It's so damn cute!  The other video he's saying "abra-cadabra, skibbley-boo, I'm gonna do some magic on you!"
Despite all the wicked (I don't mean wicked as in cool, I mean wicked like ev-il) home improvement projects that have a new challenge under each tile, behind each wall, and within every square inch of this home, we are managing to get some summer fun in.  Unfortunately for Dave, it's often Isaac and I who are doing the fun while Dave works on the bathrooms, but Dave is sneaking in some activity here and there.
It's already mid-July, which makes me really, really annoyed.  How does winter move so slowly, and summer so quickly!?  Dave often makes fun of  my "weather fantasies," and I know they are just that, but I really think winter should stay in the mountains during the winter months and leave the valley alone.  I'd love summer (well, more like late spring) year round! 
I am also not ready to go back to work yet.  I think school should start just after Labor Day (back to my fantasies...)  We are excited, however, that Isaac still has a great place to go while we are at work!  Remember the post a few months back about my worries of Isaac being constantly sick from starting at a daycare (the germs...the germs?)  Well, a family friend emailed me shortly after and HOORAY!  Problem solved!  Tori, a stay at home mom,  has a 20 month old boy, lives very close to my school (just a couple blocks from our old house,) and is ready to take on Isaac!  We've been getting together over the summer to get the boys used to each other, which I think will be/has been very helpful.  Both Isaac and Miles are the sole children in their fams, so it will also be good for these little guys - get them used to sharing the attention! :-)  My mom is going to continue watching Isaac once a week also, so he'll still get his "nana time." 
The last few days:

Nate and Dave working on the damn bathroom.

Isaac inspecting the kayaks before launching.

Beauty at Causey.  Isaac with nana and pa in the canoe.

Taking a time-out from the bathroom project.  Nice refuge.

Isaac and I at Causey. Thanks for having us, mom and dad!  We needed it :)

We've been swimming a lot, and Isaac's been begging for "orangey" goggles.  He had his first dentist appointment yesterday and these goggles were his surprise for being good at the dentist (he did awesome, by the way! No crying, opened his mouth whenever asked, let them put fingers, tools, etc, into his mouth.  I was absolutely astonished. 

Today I took Isaac to Jump Around Utah  and he loved loved loved it.  There were mostly only little kids (like 4 and under) there.  He loved it so much, that we got a 10 visit punch pass (for 2 yr olds, only $25!)  Parents are always free, too, so if you're looking for a cheap place to go bounce without lots of crazy older kids bouncing your kids to kingdom come, this is the place.  :)

It's hot, but I won't complain.

So our house/yard has some major things going on.  Our basement is about 2/3 unfinished, so about 2 months ago while Dave was still working,  Dave's dad and mom started knocking down some walls and framing in what will eventually be our finished basement.  The first project downstairs - build a second bathroom!  WAHOO!!!!  I couldn't be happier about this.   When Dave's parents come back into town, they will be helping (and by helping, I mean they are the experts 'cause they've done this kind of stuff before,) us move our staircase so that we can lay out the rest of our basement without a staircase in the dead center of everything.  We are extremely lucky to have their helping hands.

In the meantime, we have 2 bathroom projects going on.  TWO?  yes.  Walls get knocked down, then...

One thing ALWAYS leads to another when doing home improvement projects, right?  It's kind of like the song "There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly."  Except ours takes this course of events:  The framing leads to needing to move pipes for future bathroom, which means digging out major basement concrete to put said pipes, which means plumber needs to move the main plumbing bones of the house, which means upstairs bathtub (good riddens, I HATED that hideously gross bathtub) has to be pulled out, which means we discover unstable, old wood beneath removed tub, which means bathroom floor must be removed (all of which means no shower/bath as of last Friday,) which also means Dave has to pull out a bunch of dry wall, which gets him thinking "I hate this texture in our bathroom, I want to just put new drywall up," which means totally new bathroom upstairs but....oh...that also means no bathroom until it's done.  That was the worlds longest run-on sentence.  We were only without a toilet for about 12 hours thanks to McKay who came in and updated all of our plumbing.  (thanks Ali for having a great boyfriend who does an awesome, affordable job plumbing, and whom you loan out on weekends, and thanks Jessi for introducing us to said plumber.)

In addition, we have no AC.  Well, we do have an AC unit that was intended to get installed and hooked up, but that hasn't happened yet.  We also have not (when I say we, I mean Dave because I am so incompetent when it comes to fixing and hooking things up and all that home improvement stuff) hooked up the swamp cooler.  So it's hot.

We also had 5 tons of rock delivered in our front yard. That, I could do.  Dave and I spread 5 tons of rock over various areas in our yard, as well as completed (almost) a rock garden in our front yard complete with boulders, small rocks, and waterwise plants.  The best time to get all that finished is when Isaac is napping, which just happens to be in the dead heat (around 1 ish to 4 ish.)

So this week I am thankful for the annual pass we purchased for a family Christmas Present to Murray Rec Center.  They have both an indoor and outdoor pool, and showers.  Yup, that is how I've been getting my shower on the last week, at the rec center.  We have a nice swim (cause it's HOT) and then we shower.  It also works out because Isaac hates showering at home, but for some reason he LOVES the rec center shower.  He will stand under that thing until you practically pry him out of there.  I should have taken some before and during pictures of the whole bathroom(s) process, but frankly, It's too hot.  :-)

Here is some progress we've made on the rock project, however - we still have to add a few plants, but the hope is that these smaller plants will start to spread and flower.  I'll feel good about using scant amounts of water, plus I'll feel like a more competent gardener because I'll be keeping things alive (you see, we don't have auto sprinklers (see future home improvement projects,) so anything out of hose range pretty much dies because we are too lazy and/or forgetful to hold the hose up and use the spray to water.

Oh, and finally, the title of the blog?  I am not going to complain about the heat because I complained A LOT about how cold it was clear into mid-JUNE (still bitter) and I don't want to wish away summer.  NOT AT ALL.

Our rock garden.  Don't worry about the McMANSION in the background that was built over the past year, blocking our views of the Mt. Olympus and owners driving-a-tractor-into-our-backyard-and-not-fixing-the-fence-or-grass-still.  No, just pretend you can't see that.

More rock garden.  THere is a little piece of Dave's bro, Jiri, in this rock garden.  He hauled that piece of curved wood back from Southern Utah probably 15 years ago.  Then he moved to Atlanta, sold Dave his house.  It stayed.  Then, it made the move to Holladay with us where it sat in our garden for three years.  It has found a final resting place, I think!

First flowers making their appearance in the rock garden.  Awesome!

I've always, always been drawn to plants like these.  These are hens and chicks.  The plants in our rock garden consist mainly of different kinds of sedum variety.  My fave.