St. George Trip

This past week Eli and I came back from a trip to St. George to visit my parents and some of my siblings.  We had a great time and enjoyed being with my family.  Unfortunately, we caught a stomach bug right before we flew out of Houston (apparently a lot of people in our ward got it too), and we gave the bug to Aunt Monica.  Eli threw up all over himself and his car seat, then later all over the bed.  A few days later Monica and I ended up getting sick too.  But I count my blessings because when Eli threw up in the car, we were about three minutes from my parents' home after a long trip from the Las Vegas airport.  Can you imagine if he had thrown up any earlier in the two hour drive from Vegas to St. George?  The thought is horrifying, so I will count my blessings and be grateful it happened the way it did.

Though we were sick for a couple of days, we still had a few days where we could play and have fun.  We went swimming at the Washington Rec Center.  Eli enjoyed it, but I think he disappointed his Aunt Monica and Uncle Kendall.  They were used to their nephew Paxton who had gone on all the water slides a few weeks earlier.  Eli isn't quite as water-loving as his cousin, so he had no desire to go down any slides.  He did enjoy the lazy river, but the water was a little cold for him.  It was cold for me too.  I guess we're used to Houston swimming pools, which tend to be more like bath water.  Still, he enjoyed being there with his aunt and uncle.

Eli loved Fiesta Fun, where Grandma and Grandpa Grant treated him to lots of fun and games.  The bumper boats were especially humorous because Grandma Grant had trouble steering her boat.  Eli kept saying, "Let's get her!  Let's get her!"  He was eager to bump her and squirt her with the water gun on our boat.  He also enjoyed miniature golf with Grandpa Grant.  I had to leave and go sit down because I was feeling a little sick, but my dad said that by the end he could see Eli contemplating his moves and the best course of action.  He said it was fun to see Eli's little brain at work.

The day before we left to come home we got to celebrate Grandpa Grant's birthday with him.  Eli loves family celebrations and getting together with everyone.  I guess that's because he doesn't get it very often here in Houston.  He has a hard time saying good-bye.  He cried when he knew he wouldn't see his Uncle Kendall, Aunt Monica, or Grandpa and Grandma Grant for a while because he sure enjoyed the time he had with them.

Dinosaurs at the Zoo

Several weeks ago Eli and I went to the Houston Zoo and saw their special dinosaur exhibit.  They had life-sized dinosaurs that moved and made noise.  Eli still doesn't quite understand how something can be real but not exist anymore.  Either they're imaginary and they don't exist, or they're real and they still exist.  He believes that there are dinosaurs alive somewhere out there.  When I told him we were going to see the dinosaurs at the zoo, he was extremely excited.  When he first saw them, he was a little nervous and kept asking me if they were bad or good dinosaurs (bad means meat-eating dinosaur and good means plant-eating dinosaur).  I found it so humorous that I played along (I know, I know, I'm a mean mom).  He honestly believed that they were real.  Even when I told him that they were pretend, he still insisted they were real...until the very end when two of the dinosaurs squirted water from their mouths (hey, it's hot here, and it's a way to cool down the guests).  He still hesitated to believe the truth, but I finally convinced him that they were mechanical.  Real or not, he loved the dinosaurs at the zoo.

No Shortage of Gratitude and Amazement

I will admit that there have been some stages/ages of Eli's growth and development that I was eager to pass through, but this is not one of them.  I have been loving 4 years old.  He is old enough to understand rules and obey them without complaining too much, but he is still so innocent and loving.  He is curious and has a great desire to learn everything.  He is funny and smart and creative.  He tells me he loves me about a dozen times a day.  He wants to be with me but doesn't cry when I'm away.  We can go to movie theaters and restaurants with him without regretting it.  He WANTS to help me do the dishes and actually knows how to do some aspects of it.  I can ask him to clean his room, and he will.  He not only wants to follow good examples, he IS a good example.  He'll start singing Choose the Right or I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus if he thinks we're doing something we shouldn't do.  His memory is amazing.  I can go on and on about Eli, but I have to share what he said to me yesterday.

He likes to do what he calls "working on my letters."  That just means he gets on the word processor and starts typing.  Yesterday he was typing, and we had the following conversation:

Me:  "Eli, what are you typing?"
Eli:  "I'm writing about the president of the United States."
Me:  "Oh yeah, do you know who the president of the United States is?"
Eli:  "Yeah, it's President Obama."
Me:  "What are you writing about President Obama?"
Eli:  "I'm writing about Obamacare."

I just about fell on the floor laughing.  I guess you can tell what we watch/listen to at our house, and I guess it's pretty obvious that he listens.  Just one more piece of proof that kids learn quickly and it's very important to be careful what we watch, listen to, talk about, and introduce to our children. 

I am so grateful that I have such a wonderful boy who has made my life infinitely better!

4th of July and our Trip to Washington

No, we didn't go to Washington, D.C. for the 4th of July, although that would have been awesome.  We did, however, fly to the state of Washington to visit Josh's family for a week.  We didn't leave until the afternoon, so we went to our annual 4th of July ward breakfast first.  It's always bright and early so that people can still make it to the parade.  We have a flag ceremony and sing some patriotic songs.  This year for the family home evening before the 4th we talked about our country's flag and what it symbolizes.  Then we decorated flag cookies.  Eli likes to point out the American flag whenever he sees it, so he was excited to hang up our flag with his dad.

For FHE we just used butter knives to decorate our cookies, but I used cake decorating tools to finish frosting the rest of the cookies, which is why there is such a difference in look.

 We touched down in Seattle on the evening of the 4th, so we were there just in time for the fireworks.  Josh's parents have a great view from their home, so we didn't have to go far for a great fireworks show.  Of course, with the two hour time zone difference, we stayed up way past our bedtime, and we never caught up on sleep for our entire stay.  We crashed big time when we came back to Houston.

This is the view from Josh's parents' deck, but I guess we were too mesmerized by the fireworks to actually get a picture of them.

But at least we had a great time!  One of our main reasons for the trip was to celebrate Grandma Rosie's 90th birthday.  We enjoyed a fun day at the park with family (Josh's mom's side).  Many of the family members I had never met before, so it was fun chatting and playing.  The weather was perfect that day and was great the entire time we were up there, so we loved the break from our usual summer weather in Houston.

Family and friends that came to Grandma Rosie's birthday celebration

Blowing out the candles on her cake

Nana and Bampa let us go out in their boat on the Puget Sound.  Eli was a little hesitant because he doesn't care for water and was afraid he was going to fall off the boat.  Once we were on the water though, he loved it!

Eli with Uncle Matt and Aunt Megan

 Eli also loved being with his cousins--swimming at the pool, playing with toys, and going to the zoo.  He was very sad the day we came back to Houston.  He told me it just wasn't as much fun here (and he doesn't get to be with Nana, whom he absolutely adores).  Of course, home is never as much fun, but it would be nice if home were a little closer to family. 

Playing with cousins

Feeding the birds at the zoo