Cowabunga Bay: Summer 2010

Yesterday we went to Cowabunga Bay for the first time. Cody has been begging to go since before we moved down here. We spent most of our days last Summer at Roaring Springs in Idaho. This year however, we have made some friends so Cody has spend more days playing with friends and less time in the water. I realized that the Summer was going too fast and that we were going to be pretty busy the rest of the Summer, so we decided to go on Thursday. We went with our neighbors Melanie and her son Ashton and Pearl and her son James. Both boys are quite a bit younger than Cody but he plays really well with them. Ashton and Cody play together every day so they fight a lot too but managed to put their differences aside for most of the day.

Cowabunga was like a super-charged Chuck E Cheese play place with water! When we first got there Cody took off for the stairs to find the slides. I walked over close to the base of the slide he was going down so I could grab him and put sunscreen on him before he got too far and while I was waiting, the LARGE bucket of water came crashing down on top of me! I guess I should have figured out where that was before I went anywhere!! It made for a good laugh.

He told me this was his animal pose

Cody, James and Ashton

This was the one moment that the boys weren't able to get a long. It looks like Ashton is helping Cody up, but really he had pushed Cody off and was trying to keep him off.

and this next picture is what happened right after the big bucket of water came crashing down on me. I had sunscreen in my eyes so I went over to grab my towel and wipe it away, I had to step over a small brick retaining wall and I hit my toe.
This morning I painted my toenails purple to match.
Now it just looks like I smeared my toenail polish :)

Cade spent the day with Aunt Jill and her family. It was nice to be able to spend a few hours with just me and Cody. I think he enjoyed having me at his disposal also.

About an hour into it he noticed that Cade was missing and kind of freaked out on me for a minute. He was in Ashton's car when I dropped Cade off at Jill's house. It was cute that he was so concerned that I had "forgot Cade at home!"

Cade: Solids update

This little boy manages to melt my heart everyday. He is such a trooper. Cody and I lug him around everywhere we go and he is such a good boy the whole time. Today we went to Kangaroo Zoo to escape the heat for a few hours and this was Cade when we got home. He slept in his car seat for a good 20 minutes after we were home and inside.
Tonight we ate dinner outside on the lawn. Cade was screaming so Chris took him outside to walk around, it was the only place he was happy so we all joined him out there for dinner.


My sister in law Marissa inspired me to make my own baby food. I wanted to do it with Cody but it just seemed like such a big task. I didn't even start researching it. When Marissa told me how easy it was I decided to give it a try. I AM HOOKED! I can't believe how much cheaper and easier it is. I made carrots first, and then green beans. I had given Cade some store bought green beans that morning and he refused to eat them... when I gave him mine, he devoured it! Today I made prunes, sweet potatoes, and peas. I have enough food for probably the next 5-6 weeks in my freezer. Thanks Marissa!

Park City: Summer 2010

Last Friday, we went to dinner with my grandparents in SLC and then headed up to stay at my Aunt's timeshare that she wasn't going to be using in Park City. Friday night Cody and I went and got in the hot tub while Chris stayed in the room with a sleeping Cade and then Saturday morning after we grabbed some breakfast we went down and swam for a little while. I informed Chris that I was considering staying a little longer since the timeshare was available until the next Friday. He was more than ok with the idea so we took him home Saturday so he could go fishing with his brother, teach his lesson at church Sunday and go to work Monday. The boys and I packed up our stuff and headed back Saturday afternoon :)


Traveling alone with 2 kids is HARD! When I have Chris with me I can leave the kids with him and go get something or send him to go get stuff... when it was just me I had to figure out how to get all our stuff up to the room with both kids. This was the result:
Cade thoroughly enjoyed our stay. He sat in the shade wherever we went, slept when he felt like it and even went swimming a couple times.
Our villa was awesome. This bathtub was HUGE. In this picture Cody is showing me how he can go under water.
Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast, layed in bed, watched cartoons and then decided to go for a walk. We went downstairs to the kids play room where Cody played with some other kids staying at the resort when I overheard someone say something about a Sunday Market down the road. I loaded up the boys and off we went. I wanted to walk because you can't go to Park City during the Summer and drive everywhere. Unfortunately it was uphill both ways so I got more of a work out than I had expected. But, the market was worth it. We listened to music, walked around looking at the booths and then headed back to the hotel.

watching cartoons

My mom drove down to stay the rest of the week on Sunday night. They spent LOTS of time in the pool.

On Tuesday, my parents bought Cody and I all day passes to the Resort base park. Access to the Alpine Slide, Alpine Coaster, zip line, and all the stuff down on the ground. We went on the Alpine slide 4 times. We rode the chair lift to the top and then carried our sled over to the slide. The ride was long and slow but we kept ourselves busy by looking for rock chucks. They were EVERYWHERE! We honestly probably saw 60 of them throughout the day. The best part was our last run of the day when we spotted some as we were walking to the slide and Cody started chasing one. It startled all of them nearby and they all took off, Cody froze because he didn't know what to do and the bent over laughing because he thought it was hilarious that they were chasing each other.
(this is our resort from the chair lift, we were that close to the slides. It was so nice to be able to walk to the slides and even go back and jump in the pool half way through the day to cool off)

I was serious when I said the ride was long and slow.

on the ground we got to take advantage of lots of fun stuff. Cody loved the rock wall. He tried it 3 times.

At the top of the Alpine Slide.

on the way down. Cody was driving at the point so I am glad he wasn't looking at the camera :)

On the Alpine Coaster. He liked this ride best, because it was the fastest.
On our second ride down as we were flying down the track he said,
"Heavenly Father, SAVE US!!!!"
I about died! At least he understands that Heavenly Father is there to help us, I guess.

taken on our walk from the top of the chair lift to the slide.

Goofing around in the hotel room. Cade thought this was pretty funny.
He loves his big brother

almost to the top of the coaster

Another of the activities we got to do at the base. This hurt so bad... muscles I didn't know I had. And the harness left bruises on my legs.




It was an amazing little getaway. We really missed our Daddy and were so excited to see him. Cody keeps asking when we get to go back... I wish it were soon. I went on the zip line before we finished too, but it wasn't what I thought it would be. Fun, but not much of an adrenaline rush like I'd hoped. I think I am more into the free fall stuff.

Cade: 1st food!

I forgot to mention that I started Cade on rice cereal. :) I was going to try to wait until he was 6 months but I am so glad I didn't wait. He loves the stuff. Cody never ate rice cereal, probably because I gave him prunes first to help with his constipation from starting formula. I was just going to feed it to Cade at night before bed but that wasn't enough for him, so he has a big bowl in the morning and a big bowl before bed. (well, big for a 4 month old) Fortunately because he is skipping a feeding at night I am able to use that milk for his cereal so we still haven't had to use formula. ( I did the first day because I didn't think about it.) I bought some other baby foods to introduce also, but I think I will hold off on those for a little while, he seems content with the cereal and it is easier, cheaper and cleaner.

Cody: Kindergarten Shots

Yesterday I decided to take Cody in to get his 4 year old immunizations. Also known as kindergarten shots. I didn't technically have to have them done until he starts kindergarten next fall but I really just wanted to get them over with. After his dental surgery last year he is not okay with shots. He gets upset when I tell him Cade has to have a shot. I have been talking with him for a few months about how we get shots so we don't get sick and that they help us. He wasn't exactly buying it, so I decided to just go for it and get it over with. I borrowed his friend Ashton from his mom as a bribe, and we headed to the health department. I told Cody where we were going so he wouldn't be completely caught off guard which I am glad I did because he was able to come to terms with it on the way there. I had to tell a couple white lies, like that he only had to have one shot and that they were soft. He quickly found out that there was more than one and they aren't soft. After the first one he freaked out, fortunately they were quick to do the second and third. It was switching the other arm for the last 2 that was tough. He turned into a sweating, screaming, shaking monster. I literally had to pin him down BUT its over and he doesn't have to have any more immunizations until he is 12 and hopefully by the time he is 12 we can do without the shaking sweating and screaming. Cade got his 4 month shots at the same time and he literally didn't make a peep. What a trooper. After the needles were gone, Cody got his 4 bandaids, 2 stickers and 1 lollipop we were headed to the swimming pool. Cody's arms were very sore the rest of the afternoon, but they seem to be doing better today. We are going swimming again this afternoon to keep his mind off of it though.

Cade hasn't had any reaction to the shots. He actually had his best nights sleep yet last night. he slept from 8 pm to 5 am only waking up one time. I wrapped him back up and he went right back to sleep. I am hoping pretty soon we'll be going 12 hours at night. How nice will that be!!! Cody never slept that long at night, the longest he went was like 10 hours.

Cute side note: Cade has figured out how to grab his toes. I love it.

Recipes: mexican beans, anniversary chicken and black bean avocado salsa

Here are a few recipes I have been using a lot this summer:

Mexican beans:
1 can pinto beans with liquid
some minced onion
saute the onions and the can of beans on medium high until beans are tender. (5 min)
add 2 cans Rosaritas spicy jalapeno refried beans, 1 small can green chiles. Cook til heated through. add a dash of crushed red pepper (if you want them spicy), a little cilantro, lime juice and cheese.

They go great with a mexican themed dinner

"Anniversary Chicken"
brown as much chicken as you need in skillet. place in 9x9 pan, spoon a little teriyaki marinade over each piece of chicken, then a spoonful of ranch dressing. Sprinkle bacon pieces and cheddar cheese on each and bake at 350 until juices run clear and cheese is nice and melted.

Black Bean Avocado Salsa:
1 can black beans drained
1 can corn drained
2 cups pico de gallo
3-5 avocados cut into small pieces
2 tomatoes cut into small chunks
1/4 cup cilantro
lime juice and garlic salt to taste


This stuff is amazing!

Utah Lake: 4th of July weekend

Its been 3 years since we were on a boat last so when our neighbors invited us to go out to Utah Lake with them yesterday we were SO EXCITED! Unfortunately it was pretty windy so it was hard to wakeboard but we still all managed to get out there once. Cody and his buddy Ashton had a blast, Cody even jumped in twice.

They had a neat little life jacket for toddlers that we put on Cade but because of the wind I had to wrap him up. He looked like he didn't have any arms wrapped up and then wearing the life jacket.

Chris's way of letting Cody go to the bathroom.

Cody and Ashton fighting over who got to drive the boat while we were switching wakeboarders

jumping in

the boys, minus Cade and James who were both asleep.

LOVE this picture