By Tommy Holt
A boy saw a ghost that turned into a dinosaur that ate the kid and then spit him out into jail. Then he saw a long-necked skeletone...and then he got blowed up and then he was a skeletone!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
A Halloween Collage
Decorating Jackolanterns for Family Home Evening
A Spooky-Fun Halloween Party
Enjoying the Ward Trunk-or-Treats
Friday, October 15, 2010
Vacation Favorites
There are so many places in Utah that we love to EAT! One of our favorites was the Provo Krispy Kreme, so of course, we stopped there at least twice. The boys loved watching the hot, fresh donuts go steadily along on the conveyer belt and under the "waterfall of glaze." Oh, how the thought of it makes my mouth water!
That excursion wasn't as "productive" as we'd hoped because for all the cool things we wanted to show the boys (like the pioneer exhibits in the museum, the trees on the Conference Center), they were most fascinated by the many fountains and ledges to balance on. We didn't get anywhere very fast and cut our trip a bit short because of the pure exhaustion of walking so slowly.
One day we went to Thanksgiving Point with cousins and aunts. The boys got to make some new animal friends:
They also loved the "jailhouse" (Tommy now aspires to stay in one someday), and even better, the "dance hall" (see their crazy moves below)!
The grand finale at Thanksgiving Point:
We spent a few days with Margaret, Jason, Sophia, and Gabriella, and were so happy to attend Gabby's official court adoption and temple sealing. Isn't she darling?
Last but not least, we spent a day in Pingree, Idaho with my Grandma Atwood, Aunt Sally, and Aunt Debbie. The boys got a real farm experience (they even got to see the potato harvest up close and loved watching the potatoes rolling along the conveyer belts on the tractors)!
We got up close and personal with some cool farm animals, like these turkeys, some miniature horses, cows, a horse, pigs, chickens, and baby chicks.
We got to enjoy the traditional Atwood family weiner roast!
Sally and Debbie were there their usual fun selves! They put on an egg hunt just for the boys and gave them a million pushes and "underdogs" in the tire swing. The boys also loved riding trikes in the driveway and hearing Grandma play her accordian.
We also ate at some of our other traditional favorites--the Pizza Factory, Cafe Rio, In-n-Out Burger, and Aggie Icecream.
We spent a day in Salt Lake, and here we are in front of the temple:
That excursion wasn't as "productive" as we'd hoped because for all the cool things we wanted to show the boys (like the pioneer exhibits in the museum, the trees on the Conference Center), they were most fascinated by the many fountains and ledges to balance on. We didn't get anywhere very fast and cut our trip a bit short because of the pure exhaustion of walking so slowly.One day we went to Thanksgiving Point with cousins and aunts. The boys got to make some new animal friends:
They also loved the "jailhouse" (Tommy now aspires to stay in one someday), and even better, the "dance hall" (see their crazy moves below)!
The grand finale at Thanksgiving Point:
While in Provo, we drove by our first home. Can you believe how cute it is? (We lived in the basement.)
We spent a few days with Margaret, Jason, Sophia, and Gabriella, and were so happy to attend Gabby's official court adoption and temple sealing. Isn't she darling?
The boys also loved Bella, the sweet dog, and presented us with THE QUESTION for the first time ever: "Mom, can we get a real dog?" Oh no! We're not ready for that!!!!!! In the past, whenever anyone has talked about their pets, Tommy has always responded, "I have a quiet dog" (meaning his large stuffed labrador retriever). It seems that he's finally ready to move on...but Jon and I are not!
We also spent a couple of nights with Julianne, Nathan, Evan, and Perry. Here we are on a BEAUTIFUL Sunday afternoon, first playing in their backyard, and then standing on top of a mountain from which we could see four temples! The view was seriously awesome! (So gorgeous, in fact, that I would have done it again even if I'd known in advance that I'd end up carrying Joey halfway back down the mountain! The boys were troopers on the way up, but on the way back down, Joey got so tired that he bawled unless I carried him. He eventually fell asleep in my arms and I could finally hand him over to Jon.)
Another day we went to a Halloween village with cousins:
Last but not least, we spent a day in Pingree, Idaho with my Grandma Atwood, Aunt Sally, and Aunt Debbie. The boys got a real farm experience (they even got to see the potato harvest up close and loved watching the potatoes rolling along the conveyer belts on the tractors)!
We got up close and personal with some cool farm animals, like these turkeys, some miniature horses, cows, a horse, pigs, chickens, and baby chicks.
We got to enjoy the traditional Atwood family weiner roast!
Sally and Debbie were there their usual fun selves! They put on an egg hunt just for the boys and gave them a million pushes and "underdogs" in the tire swing. The boys also loved riding trikes in the driveway and hearing Grandma play her accordian.Jon fell in love with the cats (especially the gray one, Stripes), and they fell in love with him.
We had a great vacation! Thanks to everyone who made it so wonderful!!!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Our Favorite Vacation Quotes
Tommy in Maple Grove, MN (20 minutes from home): "Are we there yet?"
Tommy in Provo, UT: "Wow! We've been driving for sixty years!"
Joey commenting on this father/son figurine at Katherine's house: "Look! Jesus! Uh oh, Jesus bumping the head! Oh no, Jesus bumping the head!"
Joey while taking a tiny toilet out of a barbie dollhouse, placing it on the floor in front of him, turning around, and attempting to sit on it: "I need to go potty." (As a side note, this barbie toilet hummed a creepy tune and made poo/pee when you pushed down on the seat and made a flushing sound when you closed the lid. I think it was Joey's favorite toy of the whole trip. Tommy was just as enamored with the dollhouse, although his favorite way to play with it was creating "emergency" situations like when the toy rocking horse climbed to the roof and nearly fell off before being rescued.)
Joey whenever a cute dog walked away from him: "Nice dog, nice dog," and whenever a cute dog walked toward him: "Scary dog, scary dog!"
Joey feeding Margaret's dog Bella his macaroni and cheese: "My turn. Your turn. My turn. Your turn," and later wondering why Bella didn't share her dog biscuit with him: "My turn. My turn, Dog. My turn! MY TURN!"
Tommy, a little frustrated on the ride home: "I want Joey to sit on a cactus!"
Tommy in Provo, UT: "Wow! We've been driving for sixty years!"
Joey commenting on this father/son figurine at Katherine's house: "Look! Jesus! Uh oh, Jesus bumping the head! Oh no, Jesus bumping the head!"
Joey while taking a tiny toilet out of a barbie dollhouse, placing it on the floor in front of him, turning around, and attempting to sit on it: "I need to go potty." (As a side note, this barbie toilet hummed a creepy tune and made poo/pee when you pushed down on the seat and made a flushing sound when you closed the lid. I think it was Joey's favorite toy of the whole trip. Tommy was just as enamored with the dollhouse, although his favorite way to play with it was creating "emergency" situations like when the toy rocking horse climbed to the roof and nearly fell off before being rescued.)
Joey whenever a cute dog walked away from him: "Nice dog, nice dog," and whenever a cute dog walked toward him: "Scary dog, scary dog!"
Joey feeding Margaret's dog Bella his macaroni and cheese: "My turn. Your turn. My turn. Your turn," and later wondering why Bella didn't share her dog biscuit with him: "My turn. My turn, Dog. My turn! MY TURN!"
Tommy, a little frustrated on the ride home: "I want Joey to sit on a cactus!"
Saturday, October 9, 2010
How to Survive a Road Trip in Style
We pulled into our garage at about 12:30 a.m. last night, bringing our 15-day vacation to a close. We had SUCH a good time! I wish we had pictures of everything! I'll post some of our favorite, funniest memories over the next few days, so stay tuned. First, the road trip...
The boys must have thought it was a long drive to Utah (about 20 minutes after we left home Tommy asked if we were there yet, and as we were nearing our destination in Provo, he exclaimed, "Wow! We've been driving for sixty years!"). But they really didn't complain much. In fact, they were very pleasant!
So, although our good experience may have been purely based on luck, I feel justified in offering a few tips on how to survive a cross-country road trip with two little boys in a crowded Toyota Corolla.
1. Choose funny stopping points. When we told the boys we'd be seeing a mountain with faces (a.k.a., Mount Rushmore), they both simply burst into exuberant laughter. They laughed even more when we saw the monument in person. They also got a kick out of Wall Drug.
2. Scrap the DVD player. Okay, maybe we won't stick with this one forever--in fact, our motto has always been that if we get desperate, we'll stop for a dvd player at a WalMart along the way. But it's never resorted to that! Instead, we rely heavily on the boys' favorite (and my least favorite?) music, reserved solely for cross-country trips: the Cookie Monster cd, the Muppet Show soundtrack, and Dora's World Adventure. All I can say about these cds is that you don't know pure entertainment until you've heard Cookie Monster sing 15 tracks in a row. :) Just kidding, Jon and I were actually slightly entertained by the music too and thanks to Dora, we know how to say hello in like 10 different languages.
3. Enjoy the view. We loved South Dakota, and hope to go there for a family vacation in the future. We also adored Yellowstone. We stopped to hike around the geysers and then down the canyon with its 300-foot waterfall. Tommy had a healthy fear of the dangers, but Joey definitely did not, so this was the second time on our vacation that we hiked up and down a mountain with him in our arms. Yikes! From the car we saw a herd of buffalo from a few feet away, lots of elk, and even a bear!
4. Choose hotels wisely...because the boys are EXHAUSTED when you pull in a couple of hours past their bedtime. We made our hotel reservations in advance so that we didn't have to drive around trying to find the cheapest rate. It worked great. On our drive out, Joey was too scared to sleep in a bed (he's always been in a crib), so I slept with him, and Jon slept with Tommy. Joey thought it was swell and would have continued the tradition the whole trip if he'd had his way. On our way home, we put the two boys, already asleep, in bed together. Miraculously, neither fell out or woke up the other, although Jon did hear Joey mumble in the middle of the night, "Ahsign--my bed!" (p.s. Ahsign is Joey's nickname for Tommy--but I'll leave that story for another day.)
So, although our good experience may have been purely based on luck, I feel justified in offering a few tips on how to survive a cross-country road trip with two little boys in a crowded Toyota Corolla.
1. Choose funny stopping points. When we told the boys we'd be seeing a mountain with faces (a.k.a., Mount Rushmore), they both simply burst into exuberant laughter. They laughed even more when we saw the monument in person. They also got a kick out of Wall Drug.
2. Scrap the DVD player. Okay, maybe we won't stick with this one forever--in fact, our motto has always been that if we get desperate, we'll stop for a dvd player at a WalMart along the way. But it's never resorted to that! Instead, we rely heavily on the boys' favorite (and my least favorite?) music, reserved solely for cross-country trips: the Cookie Monster cd, the Muppet Show soundtrack, and Dora's World Adventure. All I can say about these cds is that you don't know pure entertainment until you've heard Cookie Monster sing 15 tracks in a row. :) Just kidding, Jon and I were actually slightly entertained by the music too and thanks to Dora, we know how to say hello in like 10 different languages.
3. Enjoy the view. We loved South Dakota, and hope to go there for a family vacation in the future. We also adored Yellowstone. We stopped to hike around the geysers and then down the canyon with its 300-foot waterfall. Tommy had a healthy fear of the dangers, but Joey definitely did not, so this was the second time on our vacation that we hiked up and down a mountain with him in our arms. Yikes! From the car we saw a herd of buffalo from a few feet away, lots of elk, and even a bear!
4. Choose hotels wisely...because the boys are EXHAUSTED when you pull in a couple of hours past their bedtime. We made our hotel reservations in advance so that we didn't have to drive around trying to find the cheapest rate. It worked great. On our drive out, Joey was too scared to sleep in a bed (he's always been in a crib), so I slept with him, and Jon slept with Tommy. Joey thought it was swell and would have continued the tradition the whole trip if he'd had his way. On our way home, we put the two boys, already asleep, in bed together. Miraculously, neither fell out or woke up the other, although Jon did hear Joey mumble in the middle of the night, "Ahsign--my bed!" (p.s. Ahsign is Joey's nickname for Tommy--but I'll leave that story for another day.)
5. Don't overpack. We've finally figured this out. We had just the right amount of smarties, granola bars, red vines and other treats, as well as stickers and cool books to keep the boys entertained for the drive while keeping our cramped car in a semi-normal condition. It worked great!
6. When all else fails, resort to a rousing game of "I spy with my little eye." This was Tommy's idea. And even Joey piped in, although the answer to his riddle was almost always his blankie!
7. Have a fun reward waiting at your destination. In our case, it was the BYU football game. Although the Cougars lost, Jon was so happy to be cheering them on in person. We pulled into Provo just in time to drop him off at the 4:00 game, and then the boys and I headed up to Draper for our reward (relaxation) at Jon's sister Margaret's house. We also had a fun (?) reward when we arrived home--the fact that Joey threw up twice that night in his own bed instead of at any of our previous destinations!
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