When to Laugh and When to Cry

If you thought Laynie was the sweet and cuddly type of bear, you are so wrong!

This Grizzly has nothing on her. Especially when it comes to teeth.

Check out the chunk she BIT out of my couch last night. Seriously, with her teeth. There is a two-inch square missing, and a four-inch tear with flap. Awesome huh.

My favorite part were my siblings responses:

"Maybe if you fed her she wouldn't go after the beef jerky!"

and

"She really is a bear!"

When Jamie told me about the couch last night, I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. For those of you who don't know, we're being relocated to Fairfax, VA just outside of Washington D.C. In some ways we have been so blessed. Our house sold in less than a week, and we made money where we thought we might lose a lot. We are having a really hard time finding a home that isn't outrageously priced or a ridiculous distance from Jamie's office. I hope I'll be able to find something "liveable" in my upcoming house hunting trip.

All if this is happening while Jamie is working two jobs (his old and new positions) and commuting from here to Fairfax every other week. The new job is a great opportunity but very time intensive. I'm getting a pretty good idea of what single parenthood is like.

We just found out the moving trucks will be here August 6, which means the Big Wallaces (Jamie's parents) will have house guests for at least a month.

It just seems like a lot. I know there are a lot worse situations, like maybe not being to sell our home at all. Which is why I had to laugh when I saw the couch. What child can actually bite through leather?

Some day, this post will come back to haunt her.

It's like Rain...

When Daddy returns from a long trip, all rules go out the window!!

Check out this kid's ups!

"Seriously, Mom's letting us play in the rain? AWESOME!"

"I'm all wet. It's totally messing up my hair!"

So much fun!

Parking

My kids love nothing more than playing outside. So we took advantage of the great weather and went to the park with my mom and sisters.

Laynie was way more interested in playing with the umbrella stroller than with the park equipment.

Look closely. You can almost see Gavin in the background. He refused to pose. Good thing, Lizzy has such a pretty smile!

Being at the Bean

If you are looking for great child-friendly entertainment (that also happens to be free), try the Bean Museum on BYU's campus. Just make sure that you get there in time for the live animal show.

As you can see, Gavin had a blast petting a few reptiles with Grandma Ardy.

And getting an up-close-and-personal view of a turtle.

Laynie loves the touchy-feely animal fur.

And for all you awesome ex-Jaguars, here's what they look like in real (taxidermied) life.

Wheeler Farm with Ty

My blog and I are having a little disagreement. I've tried to reorder the pictures a dozen times, but for some reason it's not responding. So here's the quick run down of the pics:

On June 24th we went to Wheeler Farm in Salt Lake City. My cousin Ty came with us. It was a horribly hot day, and we weren't there terribly long.

We saw all the traditional farm animals, but the animal that made me jump, shudder and cringe, were the GIANT sewer-ish (that's the technical term) RATS that inhabited most of the outdoor cages. I can't explain how disgusting they were, but my reaction could (thus the jump, shudder, cringe).

We did go on a hay ride, which all the kids enjoyed, before heading over to Grandma Edie's for a great lunch.

The second picture is of Laynie with a reindeer toy in my grandma's basement. I think she liked it better than all the real, live animals at the farm.