The Big Yellow Excavator

There's an excavator parked in our front "yard." I use the term "yard" loosely because it is mostly a rocky, weedy dirt patch that ate my ankle. The excavator is there, I believe, because enough people were upset about said dirt patch that they are finally giving us some grass.

Miles loves the excavator. He runs out to the window all the time to go look at the excavator. I hear little things like this come out of his mouth all day:
"Big yellow excavator!"
"Excavator is digging!"
"Excavator is machine!"
(This means that he thinks it is a robot. Not that he knows it's a machine)

And my very favorite...

"I want an excavator!"

I showed him the little wooden excavator he already owns. Not a chance. He wants a real one. I told him he needs a driver's license first.

The Condensed Version

I have been planning a long, fun summertime trip to California for a while now. We would go to the beach and the boardwalk, hike in the redwoods, take Miles to the children's museum in downtown San Jose, and see some of the sights in San Francisco. I was sure that this would finally be the year we would take that trip, but then we found out that Gerrit does not get very much vacation time to start out with. Instead of the week (or more) that I wanted, we were working with three days. We were at least going to make it to the beach, but my sprained ankle wasn't quite up for walking on sand yet.

So, we scrapped the plans to visit my favorite places and went for quality time with our favorite people instead. It still made for a nice visit, and my plans are READY for when we finally have the opportunity to take them.



I was curious to see if my wedding dress still fit. (And it did! Yay!) When I came out to show my family, Miles opened his eyes and mouth really wide, spread out his arms wide, and came running to me as fast as he could. It was so sweet. He also said "mama princess!" which he can keep saying if he'd like to.

That's my boys...

This belonged to my brothers and Miles wanted to play with it all the time.

These next few pictures come from a visit to one of my favorite childhood parks. It has a fun playground, a (now-cemented) WWII airplane, walking trails, a model train, and a merry-go-round. Miles likes the park just as much as I do!








My family is so nice to let me try out my recipe inventions on them. These are chocolate cupcakes, cut in half, and filled with peanut butter cheesecake that I had cooked in muffin pans, and then it is held together and topped with some chocolate glaze.

What uncles are for, right?

Miles fell in love with the snow globe music boxes we have at home. He called them his "sparklings" and loved to shake them and hear the music.

On the Road

I gained a new appreciation for my parents this past weekend.

You see, they drove us back and forth between California and Utah almost every summer throughout my childhood.

I do not think we behaved particularly well. In fact, I have some specific memories of writing very whiny letters about how my parents could not possibly understand how horrible this car trip was for me when I was nine. I do not think this added to any level of fun for my parents.

Yet, somehow, they managed to not get frustrated enough with us to leave us on the salt flats or in the middle of the desert. Bravo, Mom and Dad! (And also, I am sorry for being such a pill.)

I didn't realize just how much they must have suffered until we drove Miles to and from California ourselves. Just one kid! Not even old enough to beg to stop at every restroom!

I thought we were so, so well prepared.




See? Lots of snacks, lots of toys, lots of books. We also brought a portable DVD player and an iPod for him to play with.

Here's what I didn't count on:
1) I forgot that he can't fall asleep if we're in the room. He screamed so hard when we tried to have him sleep at the hotel that it scared me. Gerrit had to drive around the block 15 times with him before he fell asleep. It worked great until he woke up again at 3 in the morning and the cycle started all over.

This is apparently a toddler torture chamber.

2) Every single one of those toys and books ended up thrown across the car. On our way home, Miles decided he only had a two-minute attention span and went through every single toy in about two hours. I still haven't finished cleaning the car...

3) When you travel with a toddler, no one gets to rest. Usually, when you alternate drivers, the other person gets to sleep or read. In this case, you can either drive or entertain Miles. Neither is particularly relaxing unless he decides to nap.

I should point out that the drive was not actually a non-stop terrible experience. It was just harder than I thought it would be. For example, we had some fun at a quick stop in Reno to a sporting goods store called Scheel's (kind of similar to Cabela's). We pointed out our favorite fish, looked at creepy animatronic presidents, watched the Ferris wheel go around, pumped iron, and had some really tasty fudge samples. The fudge samples were good enough that we ended up buying some!





If there are rocks, Miles will be happy. They don't even have to be real.

I guess I learned a few lessons for next time. Mostly, that I'm going to put off the next long car trip for as long as possible.

Homecoming

My little brother John is back from his mission to Paraguay! We were so lucky to be in California when he got home. We've missed him over the past two years, but we're really proud of him and all of the good decisions he has made. It's been neat to see how grown up he has become. I can't believe that he's 21 right now. I think that might make me old.


He's so tan! (Okay, tan for our family. I'm pretty sure I could spend two years in Paraguay and still be super-pale.)


Miles was six weeks old the last time he saw John! John instantly endeared himself to Miles by bringing him some matchbox cars from the airport. Now they're best buddies!

It was a good thing he had the cars, because we waited and waited and waited for John's luggage. They did show up...three days later.

I'm so proud of both my missionary brothers.

We're glad to have you back, John, and even gladder that you're coming to school soon so we can spend some more time together!

Answer Key

If you tried to figure out where the pictures in the previous post were from, here's the answers!

If you didn't try to figure out where the pictures were from, go ahead and go to the previous post before you read this one :)

1) Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
We went here during the Larsen Family Reunion in the summer of 2010. At least, our family, Gerrit's mom, and his cousin Stacy did. Everyone else went on a hike with a terrifyingly large elk, but that hike was not stroller-friendly.

2) Craters of the Moon National Park in Arco, Idaho
Family day trip in the fall of 2009

3) View from the side of Y Mountain in Provo, Utah
Gerrit and I hiked to the top of the Y (not just to the Y) when we were dating in the spring of 2007. A highly recommended hike!

4) The Lone Cypress, 17-Mile Drive, Pebble Beach, California
We went to Monterey on our honeymoon in December of 2007.

5) Bingham Canyon copper mine in Salt Lake County, Utah
This is another spring 2007 date. Guess who had a lifelong dream of seeing this one?

6) Also on the 17-Mile Drive, Pebble Beach, California
This is another picture from our honeymoon. I'm actually pretty sure that the tree on the left side is the same tree in picture 4.

7) Along the trail to Elizabeth Lake, Yosemite National Park, California
Larsen/Stuart family reunion in the summer of 2008.

8) Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
A family hike from the fall of 2010.

9) Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.
An ill-fated camping trip from the spring of 2008.

Soo...I would LOVE to guess where other people's unlabeled pictures are from, whether you put them on your blog or your Facebook (cough*Emily Stuart*cough).

I'm a Slacker

I just put pictures in this photo frame and hung it up in our bedroom.



It's not like I bought this when we moved in two months ago. No, this frame was a wedding present. I've actually had it hung in our apartment the whole time with sample pictures. They were actually really nice if you ignored the printed dimensions and the Target logo. When we moved to this place, I was determine to finally put pictures of our own into this frame.

Just for fun, can you guess where the pictures I decided to put in this frame were taken?

Hint One: These are all places that Gerrit and I have been together.
Hint Two: They are all west of the Mississippi
Hint Three:About half of these pictures are already on the blog if you want to try to find them in previous posts.

1)
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9)

Plans for this Week

I've had to change my plans for this week.

I've had to scrap our planned outings to free swim day at the city pool and to the mall to find a Father's Day present for Gerrit. There will be no awesome outings like the ones we took last week to the dinosaur museum or the awesome toy store at the Riverwoods.




We will probably be doing more things like this indoor tea party.

Why, you ask? Because I brilliantly managed to sprain my ankle walking home from church on Sunday. I can't put weight on my foot, so going up and down from our third-floor apartment is pretty much out of the question, especially if I'm also trying to carry Miles down. I hope that it heals quickly, because I am a terrible, terrible invalid. I hate sitting still. I hate resting. I would so much rather be doing something...anything!

Maybe this will need to make a repeat from last week...

I am pretty sure that this peanut butter s'mores dessert pizza (peanut butter cups, nutella, and marshmallows) from Malawi's Pizza could make me forget about my lousy sprained ankle for a little while...

Wilderness Explorers

I love free (or almost free) activities. I got so spoiled at BYU because they had them all the time. Needless to say, I was really excited to find out that Pleasant Grove Parks & Recreation throws a few of their own free activities. I signed us up a good six weeks in advance!

For National Trails Day, the city threw an "Up"-themed breakfast and hike. You know you live in Utah when that breakfast involves scones and the scones look like this:

We also won a door prize! We have yet to actually eat our door prize, because I am skeptical of most lollipops that look that nice.

Miles got to decorate a bandanna, so we know have a scribble bandanna to go with his scribble duck.


After he finished with his bandanna, we all headed up on the hike to Battlecreek Falls. Every five minutes or so, the city had set up an activity that sort of tied in with the movie. They had reptiles and birds (like Ellie worked with at the zoo), which Miles really loved. He even got to pet a really big lizard. There were also a lot of balloon games, and of course, it was a hike to a waterfall, so that fit with the movie too. It was a fun little hike, even if it was a little steep for a toddler in some places.