Backyard Fun

We decided to make a tradition of an end of year camp out in the backyard around Labor Day. That way we can have one last camp and get all our gear cleaned really well and put away for the winter properly. So we have fun and check for problems to be taken care of before we put it away for an extended period. We meant to do it labor day weekend but we ended up in Delta instead so we did it Sept 10. The kids loved running around the yard and "helping" Daddy put up the tent. Aaron's got his trusty tools!

We had camp food for dinner and it was easier being in the backyard instead of out in the "wilderness". Here is our usual tent set up-our big queen sleeping bag on an air mattress, Miriam's pillow/sleeping bag (that somehow she never has stayed in long anytime we've camped) and Aaron's pack and play. We dressed as warm as we could but we didn't make it between being cold and Aaron sleeping really restless which doesn't work well when all 4 of us is squished in a sleeping bag so I took the kids in at some middle of the night hour. Eric finished the night alone and much more comfortable.

Sat we scrubbed the tent down good and said good-bye till summer. We thought we should submit this picture of Miriam to the Kodiak company to use as advertisement. :)
The other bit of fun we added to our backyard was this slide on Sept 24. We had been looking for a used one that I liked for a long time and finally found it for apx $20. Hooray, maybe they will stay in the yard better. Just their size, for a little while at least.

3 Year Checkup

Its so nice just to go to the doctor once a year. It was just the usual with the addition of checking her eyes. It was not a detailed check, but figured approximately has 20/40 vision. She also got her blood pressure checked, she didn't like that much at all even though I kept telling her that it was just like Mommy when we go to the baby doctor; it came out 92 over 60. Miriam weighs 29 lbs and 15 oz putting her in the 43% having gained 4.19 lbs in the last year. So this means we could move to booster car seat and I got a child life jacket for her. She is 36 1/4 in tall putting her in the 32% having grown 3 1/4 in over the last year. The doctor office surprised me by giving me a BMI chart as well. It says she is 16.04 and last year was 16.65- though I'm not really sure what that means and it also gives a percentile for that putting her in the 60%. She had a hard time with her immunization shot this time. After the visit we went on an outing with Eric and to lunch. She then fell asleep when she woke up her leg hurt her and she didn't want to walk for a good day after that. I found it odd because we've never had trouble before. In the last year she really hasn't changed sizes much. Up to 7-8 shoe (still wearing same shoes as last year in most cases), 18/2T clothes besides some 3T for dresses and pj's (even that is a fairly recent development), and size 5 diaper. I hated that last change buying 2 sizes and still no closer to potty training. We're really going to work on it now because she has to be out of diapers before the baby comes.

Miriam is chattering constantly now whether it is to us, her toys or nobody as far as I can see. She is starting to tell stories using the pictures as cues and filling in the rest. She will also recite along with me stories and sing with her movies. She is getting to sing quite well. For primary this year they gave a scripture challenge with 7 different goals. We decided to try and do simplified version with Miriam, one of the goals is to learn a new song. At beginning of FHE we've been working on learning "I Know my Father Lives" and now she can sing it herself and we use it as a reverence song before family prayer. Typical family home evening is song, prayer and then using the gospel art to tell a scripture story. One FHE we used "Finding Faith In Christ" to show the story and ever since she wants to watch the stories and is more interested in watching the "Jesus" movie. I'm glad she loves and knows about Jesus and the temple.

Happy Third Birthday!

Miriam's birthday got spread out over a week and she enjoyed every minute. She has grown up so so much, I asked her the other day where my baby Miriam went.On the Friday before the kids helped me make her a strawberry cake which they enjoyed sampling the batter. She also is always right there to help Grandma frost and decorate the cake

My family came down late Friday to spend the weekend celebrating her birthday. So on Saturday we had our traditional strawberry waffles and then mom and I took Miriam to get her 3 yr pictures at Target (it was so much easier without Aaron). Dad took the kids to the park when we came back because she always associates Baca (as she calls him) with parks. They lured her home with promises to open presents. She sure got a lot of fun things and had a great time opening all of them.

Here are a few of the bigger presents- a dress up trunk full f clothes and accessories from Grandma, a trike from us, and princess story books. Aaron really likes her McQueen toys too.

Sunday we sang happy birthday and had her Cinderella cake. I even got special princess plates for this princess' birthday.

Our family with the birthday princess. Thanks for coming everyone!

Grandma eating with the kids at the princess table. Miriam managed to blow her candles out this year after many attempts and loved eating her cake (she hasn't much in the past) and eice cream (as she says).

Then on her actual birthday which when anyone said anything to her about it she just gave them blank looks we made strawberry pancakes, went VT where she got to play with some friends, had Mac n' cheese for lunch (one of her favorites), and finished up her birthday cake.
We let her blow candles out again on her birthday.

Aaron's 12 month checkup

Aaron visited the doctor the day after his birthday. He weighed in at 21.1 lbs putting him in the 25% gaining 1.28 lbs in 3 mon (slowing down a little). He measured 30.9 in tall putting him in the 84% growing 1.9 in in 3 mon (pretty tall!). Finally, his head circumference is 18.8 in putting him in the 86% growing only .3 in in 3 mon (good thing slowed down- we have hard enough time getting shirts on). We were told his height and head circumference were in pretty good proportion though. Asked if he points as that is apparently a big milestone and I just laughed because he is always pointing. He currently wears a size 4 diaper and shoe. He is wearing 3-6 mon pants and onesies and is in 6-9 shirts and one piece things moving into 12 mon. I thought we would be done nursing by now since he never howled to eat and could go awhile without it, but I found as I started trying to cut nursing feedings he still wanted to at night and early morning. We finished up September 16 (or so). He started waving in July by waving to Grandaddy over the web cam. Otherwise we are working on sleeping all night- I didn't even try very hard till we were down to the last nursing. He made me anxious trying to escape the crib, I hate going through the crying though he doesn't howl as much as Miriam did/does. He said his first word right by his birthday "up" when he was in the bathtub but of course didn't hear it much since.

Top pictures is Aaron 'helping' Daddy mow the lawn, Miriam still likes getting her turn on Daddy's back. We haven't used the snuggly near as much with Aaron over all. He is also getting to be a big helper as seen in the top college bottom right sweeping under his high chair on Aug 17. I love his adorable grin as he looks up to me. He loves his big sister and is always ready to get into things with her and follow her around. Bottom college is when they were emptying the fridge and Aaron though the whipping cream looked pretty good on Aug 31.

August Adventures

We did a lot of fun things in August before summer was over. Starting with Aaron's birthday then camping at the Swann Family Reunion. We wanted to do a lot of camping since kids were older and I wasn't pregnant. Unfortunately we didn't get as much in as we wanted. We did get together with Eric's friends to camp up Amasee Valley on Aug 20-21. We were there with Nate and Audrey's family as you can see Zayda in the lower right picture, Roy and girlfriend, and Riley- you can kind of see the guys in upper right picture. The kids had a pretty good time running around. We all had some interesting car troubles though.

August 23 we made a trip up to Cabella's to pick up a gun for Eric's dad and I think the kids might have enjoyed it more than all our other excursions. They have fishes and animals to see, but not too much like at the zoo or aquarium and lots of running around; up and down, etc. Aaron loved pointing out the animals while Miriam liked feeding the fish.
She spent a lot of time picking up the little fish food and throwing it into the fish. We could hardly pull her away. Besides how much better is free?! On August 28 Spanish Fork opened a new park right off the freeway and they had a grand opening with a lot of too do. We stopped in for a little while before we headed up to Salt Lake to attend Eric's work managers wedding lunch. First we went around to see what was there then waited in a long line for the carousel. While waiting I decided to go get some popcorn. When I first saw the popcorn line it wasn't very long but it got longer and I missed the kids ride on the carousel.

After a very nice luncheon in the Joseph Smith building we looked around Temple Square. Saw the statues and the Christus. Then we found the log cabin that was featured in the Friend because I hadn't remembered it being there before.

I'm glad we're able to get and do/see more as a family this year. I love being with my family in all settings!

Miriam's Church

In those last minutes before church when you are trying to round up those last few items in the rush to beat the clock, Miriam took Jessica's music stand and her two small chairs and set them up in the kitchen. She went and got her princess book and put it on the stand. She put one chair behind the music stand (so she can stand up and see over it) and she put the other facing the stand, but some distance away. She then climbed up to the stand, found her 'song', started conducting and singing to Aaron who was sitting in the other chair. She then got me (Eric) to come over and conduct/sing, as she took her chair and set it next Aaron. Then I was in the audience, and she sang to me and Aaron. It was so obvious that she was setting up church in our house. We took a few extra minutes to play church with her at home before we left for church. I felt like it was important enough to reinforce those desires! Here is Aaron and Miriam in the audience.

And here we see a song in the meeting.

Swann Family Reunion

On Aug 13 we drove up to Banieda Idaho where my great grandparents lived most of their lives for a gathering of their posterity. With the exception of one of the daughters their children have stayed mostly in the area. We were told we could camp but only ourselves and my parents actually camped. The Swann line is the one of the ones I'm most familiar with so it was nice to see everyone. Miriam and Aaron enjoyed roasting marshmallows with Grandma. I think they look adorable in their camping jackets and Miriam in her little camping chair.

We had a few people wander back for breakfast including Grandma and Grandpa Briscoe. Unfortunately most of the pictures I took didn't turn out well for lighting reasons. On the left is Grandpa holding Aaron, upper right is Aaron eating pancakes and eggs with Grandaddy, and lower left is my dad and Eric fixing breakfast.

There at the facilities were some playground equipment that Miriam was dragging whoever she could over to pay whenever she could. Grandma and Grandaddy had a good time with it and even Aunt Jennifer would swing with the kids. Later some other relatives trickled in for lunch so we ended up seeing waves through out the day. I'm glad we have reunions so we can remember and get to know living and family that has gone on before.