Sweet Summertime

Isn't summertime the best when you are a little kid? I remember when I was growing up that summers seemed like they lasted forEVER. For us, summer started on the last day of school - Dad would pick us up from school in his convertible (which we thought was pretty much the coolest thing ever) and we would drive home with the top down (also the coolest thing). Then we would get out the wading pool (which always seemed HUGE to us, for some reason - maybe we were just all really petite) and play outside ALL day and get sunburned.

We literally LIVED out in our backyard during the summer - either in the wading pool (seriously, for HOURS at a time), or in our tent. We loved setting the tent up and sleeping out in the backyard, literally for days and DAYS at a time. We just couldn't take it down! We even made a little chart to show our sleeping position rotation (because of course it is always nice to get a chance to sleep on each side of the tent).

I also recall many, many hours playing with my sisters in the backyard, making up all sorts of games (we were - still are - very easily entertained). Annie and I once sent away for some awesome walkie-talkies from a Honeycomb cereal box. We made up an entire code using the letters of the alphabet in morse code (which, of course, was written on the walkie talkies for easy reference).

Also, I have to mention one of my favorite summertime activities - going for drives at night in Dad's convertible while listening to Oldies 94.1. Because of this, I not only have some great memories with my Dad, but I also know all of the lyrics to a lot of Beach Boys songs. Thanks, Dad :)

Some of my fondest memories of summertime when I was little was when our family would have what we called "Gibbons Days." We didn't even realize it then, but this was my parents' way of having a family "vacation" when we didn't have a ton of money - we just thought it was like the best thing ever, and didn't even care that we didn't travel anywhere. For Gibbons Days my Dad would get a week or so off of work, and we would basically have a mini-vacation right at home. Before "Gibbons Days" started, we all sat down and decided what we wanted to do, and assigned an activity to each day. For example, we had Water Day (we basically played outside in the wading pool ALL DAY), Zoo Day, Picnic Day, and Nintendo Day (yes, my sisters and I always loved Nintendo - on this day we'd go and rent about 5 [old school] Nintendo games and just play all day - it was such a blast). I wouldn't have traded our "Gibbons Days" for any fancy, exotic vacation.

Music always triggers my memory to remember good times and great memories. Here are some of my favorite songs that remind me of my childhood, especially summertime. Anything James Taylor reminds me of growing up - my Dad always listened to him. The third song was our "Gibbons Days" theme song, for some reason. The fourth one is on there because it reminds me of my Dad - I learned to love classical music because of him, and this is one of my favorites from when I was little. Enjoy!








I am so grateful for my parents for letting me have such a wonderful childhood. They just had a wonderful knack for making everyday things exciting. It is in large part because of all of these wonderful memories of MY childhood that I am so excited and happy to help MY kids have a happy, happy childhood, too.

This morning it was beautiful and sunny and HOT. My boys and I decided to set up our new little wading pool and go for a "swim!" James was SO excited, and once he got up the courage to get into the semi-cold water, he had a blast! His favorite thing was to get out of the pool and stand a little ways away, then we would say "ready, set, GO!" and he would RUN as FAST as he could and "jump" in the pool. What a cutie. Mama and Daddy even got in the TINY pool, too - but I won't share any of those pictures. It was a little ridiculous-looking ;) What a fun day.

ready to run and "jump" in the pool!

who's that cute boy? (plus, a priceless picture of my brother-in-law...)

Does this boy look familiar to anyone?

When my mother-in-law found this picture of Jonathan, I couldn't believe how similar he looks to James! What cute boys I've got. Here's a couple of pictures of James, to compare. I had to put the second one in because he's wearing almost the same outfit as his Daddy!



Here are some more great pictures of Jonathan as a toddler.




I couldn't NOT scan this next picture in and then put it up on our blog, it is just too hilarious. This is a picture of my brother-in-law, Benjamin. Looks like he was honing his musical skills even then.

Halloween, Halloween, lots of fun on Halloween...

Does anyone know that song? I think I learned it in 2nd grade for our Halloween program, back in the days when everyone dressed up for school and we paraded around the entire school for all the kids and parents, and then we had a class party with all sorts of games and treats. Those were the days, weren't they? Not to mention trick-or-treating, now that was fun. We love Halloween at our house and are so excited for when James is old enough to go trick-or-treating!

Since Halloween is coming up, I thought I'd post a few pictures of our past-Halloween costumes for your viewing pleasure. Some of them are just random, from playing dress-up with my parents' costume boxes (they have accumulated quite a collection over the years, and we are currently working on ours! I think we almost have a boxful already!), and some of them were our actual Halloween costumes. Hope you enjoy!

This was when Jonathan and I were engaged, 3 years ago. Abby had a Halloween concert at school that night; it was about an hour before she had to be there, and she had no costume! So Jonathan and I went to work and dressed her up; it was quite fun. We thought we should get dressed up with her. Here are the amazing results...

Notice the sign on Abby's shirt

what a cute couple...

I believe this was a different night at my parents' house, a few days before Halloween. Josh decided to get in on the fun this time...

And now, our *AWESOME* actual Halloween costumes that we wore on Halloween. We watched The Incredibles on our very first date (and on a few dates after that) and we just love that movie, so we thought it would be fitting to go as the Incredibles. I think we were a big hit at our ward party that night!

Here we are in 2006, again playing around with my parents' costumes. I just had to put these in, mainly for Abby in the first picture, and Josh in the second.



And, our actual costumes of 2006. Jonathan actually won the costume contest at work (good old Zonder) that year! This was when we lived on good old Stubbs Avenue in Provo - right between the railroad tracks and the freeway, across the street from the "knife-thrower," on the street which was frequented by the "drug truck" and fancy cars with huge stereo systems blaring Mexican polka music all night long. Aw, those were the days. No seriously, I actually really miss our apartment there, we loved it!



Halloween 2007: We had just moved into my Grandma's house, I was great with child and consequently pretty exhausted, so we didn't put too much thought into our costumes this year. They still turned out pretty cool, though - well, at least Jonathan's did. We found an awesome wig at K-Mart or Shop-Ko that looked like a cross between Mr. Miagi, Moses, and Gandalf. My parents had a walking stick and a long white toga to donate to the cause, and this is how it all turned out:


He had a great time sitting on a chair on our front porch scaring the poor trick-or-treaters. It was amazing how many kids actually fell for it and thought he wasn't real.

Now, here I am with my big belly and my random angel/devil costume I threw together.


Now, aren't you curious what we're being this year?

Wheeler Farm

Last week, James and I went to my brother Josh's cross country meet. It was held at Wheeler Farm, an old historic farm that is a lot like a park. I hadn't been to Wheeler Farm for YEARS and it was so fun to go back! I think the last time I went was for a field trip in either elementary school or preschool.

Here is a great action shot of Josh -


James is just chillin', watching his Uncle run -


So this farm is such a neat place to go, there are tons of animals and it's totally free to just walk around and look at all of them. You can also milk cows and stuff - pretty nifty! Although, if I really wanted to milk cows I'd just have to go to my in-laws' and I'm sure they'd be glad to have the help! :)

After the meet we walked around for awhile and looked at all the animals - first we saw these huge geese (they are geese, right?) - and to be honest, we were a little scared. I guess they are just so used to the people that they are not afraid to walk right up to you. I thought James would be scared, but he just sat there and looked at them. We even fed them some of his little Gerber puffs!

A big old goose, staring me down -


Kind of scared to go any closer -


James and I looking at the geese -


I don't have pictures of the other animals, but there were cows and horses and sheep and chickens and bunnies and turkeys and roosters and pigs - pretty much every farm animal you could think of. What a fun place to take little kids! We will definitely be going back there.

We kept walking and we found this big huge tree that my sister Annie and I remembered from our childhood. When we were little, our Grandpa Glenn used to take us to Wheeler Farm all the time (he is the one who James is named after - Jim Glenn - the kindest man ever!), and we both remembered this tree from when we were little. We even have a cute picture of Annie sitting in the tree when she was really little. I wish I had a copy of that picture, because it would be fun to compare it to this picture of Annie sitting in the tree -


And here are some pictures of my boy and I at the tree. What a handsome little guy -



I'm loving his toothy little grin -


Peeking out through a window of an old playhouse (do you see Josh in the background?) -


My son likes to bite things lately - his crib rails, his Mommy's arm, old rotting wood -

points

Growing up, my Dad always read and recited poems to us - it was something that we looked forward to and that we loved so much. He'd tell us "points," as we called them, before we went to bed every night. Some of our favorites were "Little Orphant Annie" and "The Raggedy Man." On our way home from our family vacation last week, we stopped at an antique/craft store that we love in Cedar City. My Dad found a copy of the poem book that he used to read to us all the time, the one that has all of our favorites in it. So Jonathan and I bought it! We are so excited to have it, and to be able to read it to our kids.