"Happy Birfday to Div-i-uh"

I sure love this girl!
she is pretty much the best friend a person could have!!!
Happy Birthday Liv!

And Quattro was in his crib tonight, singing himself to sleep with: "Happy Birfday to Div-i-uh.... Happy BIRFday to Div-I-UH!"

Steph in town

Last night we got a great group of people together at my house for dinner! Thanks for coming to town Stephanie and Rob!

We got to see these newlyweds! Rob and Cheryl....

Steph and Rob with Syd and Robby....

Lindsay decided to take one of all the couples....

And a picture of everyone named Robert! Kind of ridiculous.... Scott's first name is Robert.... at least we have nicknames for the little boys...

Yeah for Skyview 2!

Yesss! Daddy's home!

Rob returned yesterday evening from a back packing trip down in Southern Utah to the Paria Canyon. He left Tuesday afternoon so we've been missing daddy for what felt like a really long time!

I'll make Rob do a post on his trip - it was pretty incredible - but let me just tell you a few things about what happened on my end...

First of all, I'm so paranoid I didn't even mention on the blog that he was out of town. Didn't really want to advertise that piece of information. I am paranoid. I usually get so scared at night while Rob's gone - I do NOT do well home alone!

So some of the things I did to feel more "safe" were:

1. Leave almost all the lights in the house on all night long. Seriously.
2. Leave the fan off (I usually leave it on for the white noise) so that I could hear every sound in the house.
3. Crank up the a/c. I'm too scared to leave my feet/body uncovered at night so last time he was gone I just was awake sweating under my covers all night!
4. Not take any naps whatsoever during the day so I'd be so exhausted at night I'd hopefully fall asleep quickly and not wake up too much.
5. Of course lots of prayers!!!

Ahh..... it went MUCH better than other times I've been alone at night.

And if someone had tried to come in they'd be sorry - the last safety item on the list was sleeping with Rob's 9 by the bed, with a round in the chamber. And yes I know how to use it.

Although just considering the situation that would even necessitate a gun freaks me out and therefore the gun doesn't make me feel all the much safer but it was nice to know it was there. I heard Rob's Aunt slept with a butcher knife under her pillow when her husband was gone.... hmm.... stab an intruder to death or hopefully scare someone away from a distance with a loaded gun.... yeah.... anyways!

I'm just so glad he's back and I can go back to waking up to him snoring instead of a suspicious noise in the house! :)

And I'm so glad we cut his hair and beard this morning too! Ugh! Look at the improvement! :)

boring....

Why am I so boring lately? I have nothing to blog about...

what's happened lately....

Quattro climbed out his crib for the first time ever on Tuesday - AHHH! He scared the crap out of me - I had put him to bed and was watching a show and I hear this, "clunk clunk".... and so I went in the hallway to investigate and sure enough Robby OPENS his door.... ahhh! He looked pretty scared like, "what did I just do?" And the first thing he said was, "My want my daddy!!!" (Rob wasn't home that night) So I just held him for a few minutes then was putting him back in his crib (I didn't really want to react to his getting out of the crib, didn't want to make a big deal out of it, give it too much attention, you know?) and he says, "Mommy, me got down!" I just said, "I know you did but it's bed time so we need to lay down and stay in our crib, huh?" He said, "Hus." (Yes)

The next day he demonstrated how he did it, he was pulling himself up onto his dresser which was next to his crib... so I just pushed the crib farther away from the dresser and he hasn't done it again since. But I'm sure he'll figure out how to do it without the dresser some time soon but ugh I hope not! I just am not ready for him to be in a toddler bed or to have the "freedom" to get in and out on his own! I've looked into those crib tent things but they are like $60 and I don't have the money for that right now. But if it comes down to giving up naptime or shelling out $60 I might just have to shell out the money!!

Look how happy this kid looks to be trapped inside his crib! Awesome, huh? :)

Robby's such a crazy kid! He's talking so much more every day... just becoming such a little boy! In the car I was playing a kids cd for him and he kept telling me which song he wanted, "Moon song, mom!" "Twinkle twinkle, mom!" And he'd say, "me can't hear it!" when he wanted me to turn it up... He says "me" or "my" instead of I.

He can't really sing the whole alphabet song but he'll yell out as we drive down the road, "E for Mommy!" (Esther) or "Look! W for Will!" He can recognize a good handful of letters and it's just so fun to hear him call them out when he sees them! And it's so cute how he can't say V, he says "Bv for Bvanessa!"

We had a fun day with Tara and Darci last week - we went to a fun park but the best part for these kiddos was the flooded sidewalk! They spent at least half an hour just running back and forth through the water!

I was grateful it was one of those days I actually was prepared and had a change of clothes in the car for him! Which we desperately needed after this!!

He's been going around singing, "Happy Birthday to Robby.... Happy Birthday to Robby...." over and over... I've got to get that on tape cause it's hilarious. And he can sing along pretty well to I'm A Child of God and I Love to See the Temple - those are the two songs he always wants me to sing at night. Then he asks me to sing, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!" Um?? I'm not sure what song he's referring to so I sing a bunch of random stuff counting to 10....

Poppa (my father in law, Robert) was in town today and so everyone came over for lunch to our house which was so fun and Robby had a great time playing with Grandma Parsons! (Robert's mom) They were playing in his room and I went in to check on them and he basically pushed me out of the room! "No, mom, go out dere!" Okaaaay. And then Poppa came over to read Robby a bedtime story and help put him to bed and he was soooo excited. "One more time, Poppa!" over and over and over again after each story! And when we put him down he was saying, "Poppa don't go! No Poppa go!" Ahhh.... it's good he likes his family.

(reading books w/Poppa at Christmas time)

Last one.... tonight when we were saying his prayers before bed he was repeating after me...

Mom: "And please bless Daddy..."
Robby: "Bwes Daddy"
Mom: "And....."
Robby: "and Gwandma Hazel!"
Mom: "And...."
Robby: "and Gwandma Hill..."

It was so cute! I love that he's catching on and learning so many things! This really is such an amazing age!!!

Sorry for all the random thoughts.... this is really my only journal source! Gotta put this stuff down somewhere!

ok heads up...

So, for those dying to see us in another parade here's your chance!! (ha ha)

This Saturday @ 10 am
Strawberry Days Parade in Pleasant Grove
go here for more details...

looks like there's also a rodeo going on there this weekend... ooo....

It's kind of fun that APX is a part of these parades - I know Robby will be excited to ride in the wagon again!

Summerfest parade

Saturday was the Orem Summerfest and we walked in the parade with a bunch of other APX people!

We were waiting in line for our turn to go in the parade and the band was going past us and Robby started freaking out - he was so excited! He was saying, "mommy! Look! Band! Look! Band! Flag!" I started video taping - here he's mostly just in awe watching them go by and kind of dancing along.... he also was singing the cougar fight song as the passed - guess he still associates "band" with BYU games...

Robby and Hadley (Rachel Marshal's daughter) sat in this wagon (thanks Kristin!) and just had a ball the whole time! They were waving at people and Rob would pull Robby up to people and he wanted to hand out the water bottles... it was so cute!

Just as we were finishing the parade route the rain starting coming down! Tara and I took the kiddos to Hogi Yogi for shelter (and ice cream :) ) while we waited for the others to get our cars, left at the beginning of the route... then we waited around for the fireworks... Robby was a champ - it was 10 pm and he was still ready to play!

Until the fireworks actually started... then he was pretty nervous! But he calmed down and enjoyed most of it! :)

Just hanging out in Tara & Jeremy's truck watching the show!

It was a fun, exhausting day! (remember we hiked the Y that morning! didn't plan that out too well!)

Borrowing a baby....

Last night I had the opportunity to hang out with this little doll of a girl....

How cute is she???

It reminded me of the mommy & me photo shoots Robby and I used to do.... like this one.

Thanks, Amy & Nathan, for letting me watch Kate last night! It was wonderful to hold her and sing her to almost sleep on my chest... just nice to be around such a sweet little spirit like Kate!

Reminds me how much I want a baby... which we are working on.... I've gone through 2 cycles w/o seeming to ovulate which is very strange for me.... but I guess my body is just trying to get back to normal... hopefully soon...

so thank you for the baby love!

Who are we?

Rob wanted to play football this morning so I was planning on going to the gym.... but no one else showed up to play ball.... so he suggested we go hike the Y.... huh?? Ahhh, you guys, what are we becoming? Camping, and now this? Hiking.... the Y?? We've been talking about it for a while and since we were both ready for some physical activity we figured it was a good time.

Oh yeah, and we learned a good lesson - NEVER trust MY memory... we all know it's faulty but sometimes we don't really think about that. From my one former experience in hiking the Y I was picturing this wide, paved path that we'd be able to push the stroller up.... no no no no. So Rob was a champ and decided he'd just carry Robby.... so there were times Robby would walk, ride on daddy's shoulders, and I carried him for about 5 minutes total.... but WE DID IT!

We were pumped at the start.... not really knowing what was in store for us...

Rob just HAD to get to the very top of the Y. Quattro was very excited to be on, as he calls it, "Y Mountain."

We were super sweaty and exhausted.... but it was fun! And a rewarding view... Quattro thought it was so fun to pick up little rocks all along the way... he had so much fun!


But it is so steep! Yikes! Be careful!


Our little family...

Much easier on the way down.... whew....

It was a lot of fun but let's be honest, it was tough! But I was proud of us.... and we'll probably do it again...

Babu & Berto....

I don't know why I've been in an "interviewing Robby" mood but he's just at such a fun age and says funny things.... I mentioned Babu (that's my mom - short for Babushka, which is Russian for Grandma) and he said, "MY Babu!" I just thought it was cute... And Dyedu is my dad, short for Dedushka, or Grandpa.....

So the pirate tattoo is still on from Rob Carter's birthday party on Wednesday! Look at these cute kids:

And one of the girls, of course! ;)

Happy 2nd Birthday Berto! We love you!

Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson....
in the rain
@ UVU.....

It was soooo fun!

And you know you're old when you're glad a concert is over by 9 pm.... ha ha! I was just excited to still have relax time at home and watch the results show of SYTYCD.

Triandul-dul...

Look at this cute face?!? And there's a sneak peek at my first quilt behind him... ;) I'll post a pic of it when it's all done!

Just a little interview during play doh time today...

Chocolate is his favorite food? Ah, one more thing we have in common... :)

This is kind of embarrassing....

So I've mentioned before that I love Chelsie Hightower... She was one of my favorite's on SYTYCD and then she was one of the pro's this season on Dancing With The Stars so that was fun watching her dance again....

She's from Orem so it's not too big a shock that I've seen her at Gold's Gym here a few times but it's always so exciting! I've never said anything to her - I just feel like that'd be annoying for someone to come up to you while you're trying to work out and be a normal person... and it's just fun for me to see her anyway!

She was there today and Liv talked me into trying to get a sneak picture of her. I kind of feel like a stalker but oh well.... she was on the stair stepper and we were about to do our cardio so I started mine out by going on the stair stepper next to her! So this is the pic Liv got with her phone.... ahhhh how embarrassing!

Ok there's me in my booty shorts and you can't even really see her but I promise it was her. :)

Chelsie - if for some reason you ever see this just know I think you're a great dancer and I promise I'm not a stalker!

Hopefully she wouldn't think I was too big of a weirdo and just appreciate that I'm a big fan! Who VOTED for her! :)

Speaking of So You Think You Can Dance..... have you guys been watching this season?? It's so great! I was so angry they cut Natalie (red head who was Kaytee's roomate from last year) - she was so good and it seemed so random! I don't have any big favorites yet - I feel bad for the people in the top 20 who didn't get much coverage because then they won't get as many votes this week.... I noticed (here) there's another girl from Orem, UT this year, Randi Evans.

Here's the top 20:

Summer buzz....

Robby's hair was getting super long and shaggy so we decided to buzz it all off!

Here he is all ready for his haircut.... yeah, he looks ok here but by the time we were done with the clippers there were lots of tears.... my neighbor upstairs saw us at church later that day and said, "ooooh, is that what you were doing? I could hear him crying and you trying to sing songs to calm him down...." Yeah, that's how it went. But we got it done!

Do you see how it was almost like a little rat tail in the back? Ew!

And now look at that head? So cute! Both these boys are pretty cute I think... ;)

What is it about a buzz? Some elderly guy at church yesterday saw Robby's head and it seemed almost like he just HAD to touch it! He just kind of patted his head and smiled.... who doesn't like how that soft fuzzy head feels?

Fun with Poppa

Trying to catch up here.... Robert/Poppa was in town 2 weeks ago and we all had a great time seeing him!

We had a little picnic at the park one afternoon...




There's always lots of treats and fun when Poppa's here!



And this is how tired Robby was after his afternoon of fun!

The next day was Tyler's birthday and we all went swimming at my pool.

We're so glad you came to visit, Poppa!