Idaho

Scott had to go back home to work after St. George, but Peter and I stayed to spend more time with my family. We traveled up to Idaho and visited Yellowstone-my favorite place in the world! This was Peter's first time so be prepared for a plethora of pictures.

We stayed at my Grandparents' cabin just outside of West Yellowstone in Island Park.

My dad, Peter and I roasting hot dogs at the cabin. Peter was terrified of the fire.

My Grandpa and Grandma Farrow enjoying their food.

Little Isabelle the monkey displaying her
bandaged hand with 5 stitches.

The dry grass was being watered and Peter decided he needed to wash his hair in the sprinkler.

This picture and the ones involving water are about the only ones that are not a blur. He ran faster than the camera could.

My mom on double duty feeding both the little monsters-Isabelle and Peter.

Peter playing with the fireplace knobs. The kid cannot leave any button, knob, switch, latch, lever or door alone! He is so good at figuring out the mechanics of these things too.

Another popular attraction was the stairs. We finally had to block them off so we wouldn't have another episode of stitches.
Again, the kidos were very uncooperative during this photo shoot. After our picnic in Yellowstone, the only picture we could get was of their backs.

I love this picture of Peter. We were corralling Peter and Isabelle amongst the trees while we waited for Old Faithful to erupt.

Isabelle and my dad, Peter and I
For once, the kidos were memorized and holding still during the eruption of Old Faithful.

The cousins giving each other a hug. CUTE!

After this short trip of 4 days to Idaho, I have decided that I am glad I do not have twins at this point. Both the kids were great, but they made a very mischievous and rambunctious team.

A Family Tradition

Since we are not going to Utah for Christmas, we decided to fly in for my family's traditional Labor Day trip to St. George. Well, pictures are so much more fun than my boring words, so here they are . . .

Dad, Isabelle, Marissa, Scott, Peter, and Dustin swimming at the condo pool. As you can see, Peter was so grumpy that he would only snuggle with Scott or I the entire time.
On the other hand . . .

. . . his little cousin Isabelle thought she was an Olympic swimmer and tried jumping in the deep end
by herself several times.

Peter hanging out with Great-Grandpa Farrow and
Grandma Stewart at the condo.

My sister Sara and her husband, Dustin, snoozing at the condo.

We enjoyed eating a meal and watching the musical "Aida" at Tuacahn. Tuacahn is an outdoor theater amidst the beautiful red rock of Southern Utah.
Here is Peter and Scott posing for the camera.

Peter and Isabelle
This is the only decent picture we could get of both. Peter was always trying to run away or grab the camera, and Isabelle refused to pay attention by turning her head or giving us glum faces.

Thanks to my parents and grandparents, we had delicious food! Here is Peter enjoying his first corn on the cob. We also had glorious Utah peaches!!! (the peaches were almost my entire reason for coming :)

Sunday afternoon after church we were able to hike around Zion's National Park. I LOVE the beautiful scenery! Here are Scott, me, and Peter (trying to escape) in front of the
Three Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Here I am holding onto Peter while he splashed
around in the Virgin River at Zion's.

My New Favorite Picture

Of course, it is always a picture of Peter. We think he is quite the cutie. Funny story: We went out to eat on Saturday night and while we were walking past all of the shops and restaurants trying the decided where to eat, Peter saw these two fancy dressed ladies standing to greet people at an upscale restaurant. He decided to wave and jabber to them-the little flirt! They waved back and smiled; he was pretty proud of himself. Also, he often waves to cashiers as we leave the check-out stands at stores. Silly little boy!

We haven't been up to much lately. Just doing little projects around the house. Scott has installed new door knobs & locks on the outside doors, and I have been weeding the front flowers beds and grass. Because of the weeding, we have been spending a lot time outdoors (much to Peter's liking). Peter has fallen on the cement so many times that he has scrapes and scabs ALL over. When he falls, he usually whines and then just keeps running-even if it is bleeding. We tried putting a bandage on a really bad scrape, but he threw a fit for 15 minutes until we gave in and took it off.

The only other thing I can think of is that we are headed to Utah this week. Yeah!!! The only thing I am not excited about is keeping Peter entertained for three hours on my lap! On the positive side, at least it is a lot faster than driving.

Kitchen Fun

Peter playing in "his" cupboard.

Peter Playing with the pots and pans.

New Thing #3

On Tuesday, Peter went to his 18th month appointment. Here are his stats:

24 lbs. 7 oz. - 35th percentile
33 1/2 inches - 50th percentile

This toy is Peter's reward for doing so well at doctors appointments ($4 at Goodwill!). It is unfortunate that his little lawn mower doesn't really work because the kid covers enough ground in the house to mow our entire lawn at least once a day!


The other doctor appointment we went to was for kid-o number two. I had an 11-week appointment on Tuesday that lasted for almost 2.5 hours! By the end of the appointment Peter had eaten 3 fruit snacks, a large bag of grapes, and my lip gloss. Thanks to Peter everything in my purse was slimmed with grape juice by the end, and during the ultrasound we were serenaded with loud music from my cell phone. Definitely a very memorable appointment. Here is kid-o #2, due on February 15th, 2010:

6 weeks - Looking at the dark area in the middle,
the baby is the small blob on the left and the yolk sac
is the larger blob on the right.

8 weeks - The baby's head is on the bottom,
then arm buds above that on either side.

11 weeks - The baby's head is to the right and the arms
are the two small spots in the middle (no longer buds).
During this ultrasound the baby was moving like crazy.

New Thing(s) #2

So just to make moving into a house that much more exciting, Peter decided to treat us to some newly found skills. Since moving, he has learned to:

1) take plug covers off and try plugging anything and everything into the outlets;
2) climb into the bath tub and turn on the water, along with flushing the toilet;
3) and OPEN DOORS!!

He is also very close to unlocking both our front and back doors. We now have to lock our deadbolts, which are thankfully keyed on the inside as well as the outside, so we don't have to worry about him unlocking those until he becomes proficient with the keys. We bought the child proof door knob covers, but so far he has been able to brake the one on the pantry door off twice! I've decided that most child proofing is really just postponing the inevitable.

Here are some cute pictures of the little stinker:

Talkin' on Daddy's cell. Love the hand position!

Concentrating on opening something.

Hanging out in his playhouse.

My Mom, Dad, and sister Marissa at the Battleship Texas with Peter.

Peter and Marissa at the pool.

Marissa, Peter, and Scott at the pool.

He is always snuggling with his bear.

Scott and Peter playing in the sprinklers.

New Thing #1

Things have been a little bit crazy lately, because we just bought a house a few weeks ago. Here it is:


We were suppose to close on the Friday, the 10th of July, but our bank messed something up. So, while I was grocery shopping on Monday (our birthday-July 13th), Scott called me at 11:30 am and said, "um, we are going to close today Rachel." "When?" I asked (actually, I really kind of yelled madly into the phone at Scott while people were staring at me in Walmart-my poor birthday boy). Scott told me he wouldn't know until he got a call from the title company. They called around noon and wanted us to close at 1 pm. Just a bit impossible because I had no one to watch Peter and that was his nap time as well; also, I needed to pick Scott up from work because he takes a vanpool. So, then we compromised for 3 pm.

We ended up having to bring Peter with us. By the end, he was wearing his fudge cookies; also, our wonderful real estate agent helped to keep him happy for the last half. I spent the rest of the day in a daze and apologizing to Scott for getting so angry and yelling at him on his birthday. It was a stressful day, but in the end things turned out. I can honestly say that this is the most expensive birthday present either of us have or will ever receive in our lives.

Well, here is a grand tour of the house:

DOWNSTAIRS

UPSTAIRS