Pumpkin Patch!

Now I am officially into the swing of things. Parker's pre-school class went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch, and I'm ready for fall now. It wasn't too cold, but cold enough for jackets, and it was so much fun to watch Zoey running around trying to pick up the pumpkins

First she started out with the smallest, then she put it down and moved a size up and so on until she was trying to lift pumpkings that were larger than her. She was also moving them to where she thought they looked better.

Parker and Zoey both liked the tractors alot. Unfortunatly we had to try each and every stinkin tractor in the pumpkin patch! Needless to say mom was losing her cool after about the fifth tractor.

So it was a great day, Parker got to spend some fun time with friends and Miss Lisa, and Zoey got to run amuck. After the pumpkin patch we headed home for hot chocolate...and a nap! We're Ready for Fall at the Rands house!

Parker Favorite Part

For the most part of our trip we stayed in the Howard Johnson Hotel in Aneheim. If it was not for this hotel, we probably would have gone crazy. The rooms were clean, but not luxury by any means, but we would stay there over and over just for the pool. As you can see from the above picture it was a giant pirate ship. From different points of the ship you could shoot water and there were three small waterslides attached that were small enough that we would just send Parker to play and we didn't have to watch him like a hawk. However, the best part of it was the bucket you can see at the top. Every two minutes you would hear a bell start to ding...and as the dings got closer the more quickly children would run to get to their spot before this 500 gallon bucket would tip and drench all that were standing under and or near it. It was so much fun!!

You can see Zoey in the picture here, and Parker is standing just beyond the boy in the black. This is just as the bucket starts to pour.

I know it's not a great picture, but if you can see the little guy just to the left of the girl in pink....that's Parker. He loved getting right in the middle of it.

Zoey was content to walk around the little three foot pool. She didn't want help.....she was going to swim on her own. I absolutly LOVE that she finally fit into her swimsuit...(thanks Lizz W.!!)

And This is Parker just after the bucket drops. He played by the pool one night for almost 5 hours. It was so nice and warm that he didn't want to come in. So if you ever need a great hotel in Disneyland with something to bribe you kids to go back to the hotel...I highly recommend this place!

The End of the Fun

Well I pulled up my pictures all kinds of backward, so we'll start with the end. Who knew that out of the whole trip that the beach would be the kids favorite part. Kyle and I both thought, well they will want to hang around maybe fifteen minutes and then they will be bored. When we tried to leave both of them dug in their heels. The simple things in life ARE the best.

Zoey decided that she wanted to sample all that the beach had to offer. I don't understand what is so appetizing about sand, but I couldn't get her to stop eating it.

Sea World was our second to last stop...and yes we were sitting this close. Kyle and I both thought hey you only live once, lets sit in the "Soak Zone". This might be fine for the dolphin show, but we were so soaking wet that it was like we jumped into the pool with Shamu, and got right back out. I forgot totally that Shamu lives in salt water until I was drinking it. We got to spend the rest of the day drying out and forming a nice salt crust on our skin. It was amazing to see...just very wet.

Since Mommy's favorite animal in the whole world is a Dolphin, we spent a good portion of our time at the dolphin feeding area. Parker thought it was awesome to feed them little fishes and kept asking me what they tasted like. How do you describe the taste of fish to a four year old...well son, fish tastes....fishy. Anyhow, he loved it and Zoey seemed to enjoy herself too.

We did also make it to the San Diego Zoo, and this was the absolute best picture in the world for me. My two busy little bees stood long enough with their heads in this thing to get a picture. It was GREAT!! In the end the zoo was a zoo....a big gigantic zoo, but nothing I would go fight the crowds for. Which was another interesting thing. We didn't stay too long because they were having a beer and wine tasting....at the zoo. We got out of there before too much tasting got going, because there were lots of people...and they all drove.....enough said :)

Universal Studios

The next park was Universal in the Rands trip. Parker got to this part of the park (above) and thought that it would be really fun to go on the clown ride. I was very hesitant to take him on it, but he really wanted to go. So we got all strapped into the motion simulator roller coaster and took off. Lets just say by the time the ride was over...Mom was right. He didn't like it much, but did enjoy meeting the characters, but he wouldn't talk to them. I think he thought it was his way of chewing them out for such a horrible ride.

This was the most fun for both kids. They have a whole Curious George play park for the kids. The outside is nothing but water either spraying you, or being dumped on you, but you go inside this building and there are thousands of nerf balls all over the floor that you put into buckets and send through different tubes. You can suck them up with a tube that drops them into a basket that when it gets full enough, drops them on your head; or you can put them into a volcano looking area that will blast them into the air. I think Zoey liked the fact that I put her down and she got to run as far and as long as she wanted to.

Zoey was obsessed with having her own bucket and putting the balls in herself. Heaven help me, she's already into the "don't help me mother" phase of her life!

I had to talk Parker into this picture....I have no idea why! :)

As most of you know, Spongebob was one of Parker's first loves, can you tell by the shirt? This trip was fun for me and Kyle because it brought to life some of these characters that he's just seen on TV or movies. It was so fun to see him light up and be excited about things. He told me George was fun, but he's such a silly monkey

I liked meeting Donkey from Shrek. There's someone in the cart that does the voice of donkey and can obviously see whoever is coming up to the cart, and carries on a full conversation. Zoey would laugh at what Donkey was saying, but when it was time to say goodbye Donkey ask if she wanted to pet him, so I leaned in and got the bloody murder scream...she didn't think Donkey was all that funny after that.

The Rands Go to California!

So it's been a couple weeks, and for those of you that didn't know. We went to Disneyland!!! It was a such a great trip. We went for 12 days to California and we got to go to Disney, Universal Studios, the San Diego Zoo, and Sea World. I'm not going to put it all into one post, so enjoy the next few posts.

We started off on Saturday Morning and DROVE to California. Let me caution anyone who wants to do that with a 4 year old and a 15 month old. Bring Sedatives!!! We got to Las Vegas and Zoey was through being in the car, and was quite upset when she realized we still had a long way to go.

We did make it to California and the next day we headed over to Disneyland. Parker was excited, but didn't know why, and Zoey was along for the ride but was unimpressed. Until we got to the t-cups that is. She enjoyed that ride alot! She liked all the colors and fun music, and Parker was just happy to be on a ride.




Parker really wanted to show us that he could lift these....poor guy dosn't know they are cemented to the ground.

Parker really loved meeting Mickey and Pluto, he really didn't have much interest in anyone else. He is now obsessed with Micky...has already told me all the Mickey things he wants for Christmas. I think we're in Trouble

Parker loved all of it. To my surprise, Parker really liked Splash Mountain. Kyle took him first and after he came running off and wanted to do it again...with mom. That's Kyle with his hands up in the back, and Parker is sitting right in front of him, holding on for dear life.

The parades were a lot of fun for the kids. Zoey liked the Disney parade more, and Parker loved the Pixar parade. Zoey blew kisses to Ariel, and Parker yelled at the top of his lungs when he saw Buzz Lightyear "He's real mom...he's real he's real!!" It totally made the trip worth it. So we'd seen Disneyland. Then it was off to our next park.

He's off to School!

I can't believe that it's already time to start thinging about school for Park-man. I swear I just birthed him! The summer has flown by and now he gets to start pre-school with Miss Lisa. He was so excited to go last night to the open house, although he thought he was starting school and got to ride a big yellow school bus. I infomed him that I would be the only bus service.

He got to do his first project and play a fun game of BINGO. Then after it was off to buy him his first backpack.....bet you cant guess what he chose. Anyway we are looking forward to him starting school. I think it will help him focus.

Not realizing that he was starting school a few months ago, we scheduled a vacation the week after to Disneyland, so we are also looking forward to that, and LOTS of good pictures!

I Love you Parker and we want you to always do your very best in school...and remember that you are a really great kid!

Parker's Party....and Mommy's 30th!!

Well the Birthday extravaganza ended with the party of the centry for Park-Man. He got his Transformer Party that he'd been asking for, for months! He got to have four friends over and he chose his very favorite people. Caden Romph, Jared Keller (his cousin), Zach Yrungaray, and Nathan Gaisford. He calls them his very most favorite friends.

I thought instead of party hats this year....we'd do masks....and am I glad I did!!! I thought this was the funniest thing I'd seen! They didn't stay together very well...and they came off after about a minute, but it was well worth the money spent for the picture.

I had assigned each boy a Transformer name, just to keep with my theme and it looked really fun on the invitations. As you can see, Caden was Optimus Prime. I thought it fit in rather well with the party....don't you?

Among the games I had them do a relay race to "earn" their treat/prize bags. The very last obstacle, which went over better than I thought was carrying a spoonful of water to a bucket. They had to fill it up at least half way, but they were having so much fun, they filled up the whole bucket. I thought this photo of Nathan being so careful was really cute.

And finally to end Parker's birthday, and start my own birthday celebration, we let off popper fireworks in the back yard. They loved it! It was such a great party, and I have to say that Parker has some of the most wonderful friends!

The next day after the mess was cleaned up and I was completly exhausted, it was MY birthday. So Kyle did the most wonderful thing ever and suprised me with a manicure/pedicure while he watched the kids!!! It was three hours of "me" time and it was the best gift he could have given me. Then when I was all relaxed and happy, he took us to see a movie and then out for ice cream. All in all turning 30 wasn't so bad.....I feel terriably old....but as it says in the song "Lord have mercy on my next 30 years!"

Parker's 4th Birthday!

We started Parker's birthday weekend with a dinner out with Grandma, Grandpa and "Doots" (Aunt Steph). We went to Joe's Crab Shack and Parker got through his meal as fast as he could to get outside to the toys. Parker usually likes to get chips and dip with Grandpa at Applebee's, but he was content with what Joe had to offer.

On the day of the birthday Kyle and I were so excited to give Park's his present. We thought he would think that a big boy bike would be the coolest thing ever......we were wrong. We put the bike in the kitchen and ask him if he'd like to go see his present, so he went running to see...looked right at the bike and turned and ask where his present was. It just takes the wind out of your sails when you are more excited than the four year old. He is starting to come around to the idea of the bike..but it's going to be a long road to get him riding it confidently.

The highlight of the birthday for Parker was his cake. He told me for months that he wanted a Transformer birthday cake that transformed from a guy into a car......Dream on son! I can do some cool things with cake....but that is NOT one of them. I decorated it while Kyle took him to the store and I got the best reaction when he came home. It totally made up for the bike reaction.

No better reward for me than that big smile on my little guys face! It was a great birthday...and the party was still to come. I can't believe that he's four already...and starting pre-school in just a week or so. Now I get to look forward to what next years birthday will bring....

Fun At the Fair!

August has been a busy busy month for the Rands and it all started with the Salt Lake County Fair!! This was Parker's first experience with "wild" animals up close and he wasn't very excited about this picture. He was terrified of the cows, and the goats, and the pigs. He did like the rabbits and pigeons however. They were more his size and speed.

Zoey however was unimpressed. It was hot and she had to ride in the stroller for most of the day. She did get to have her first Tiger Paw and sips of Pepsi and I think that was the only highlight of her day.

The game workers were kind enough to give her prizes as well. Parker couldn't wait to play the games to win himself some junk. He wanted the blow up light saber and other assorted "treasures". Zoey got a flower and a blow up dolpin which was alright with her.

This was the reason that we went to the fair in the first place. Kyle had gone online and saw a cake decorating competition and let me know about it, so I thought I'd give it a go. I didn't win, but I had a great time coming up with my cake idea. The judges loved my pretzel and the blue ribbion. For all the work that it was, I think next year I will do a cake that will really blow them away...and win....not that I'm bitter or anything.

All in all the day went really well. We got to fill that need for corn dogs and tiger paws, and we got to participate in all the fun activites, but I think this picture says it all. At the end of the day it was about sitting in a shady spot and enjoying a cold drink...Best part of the fair!

What a difference a year makes.....

So Kyle found some pictures we took last year, so I thought.....Hey why not some pictures of the old people in our famiy, plus I was much lighter from just having Zoey, so I look pretty dang good in the picture if I do say so myself. We took these last year for Kyle's parents. They hadn't had a picture of all of the children since they had only one grandchild, and now since they have five we thought that they could use an update. This one would have turned out as a super great family picture for us, except for the cars in the background....oh well!

I have no idea why the photographer....let alone myself thought that a picture of me from the backside would have been an awesome idea. I do like this picture for a couple reasons....We could not get Parker to focus on the photographer at all...He was much more interested in all the goings on at Wheeler Farm. I also love this picture because you can actually see how small our Zoey is. I think she's only about three weeks old at this point but there's few pictures that actually show how itsy bitsy she was.

Parker thought that this was the best thing in the world. He was actually allowed to climb into the chair of the tractor and pretend to drive and the parents didn't care.

Didn't care too much for the yellow tractor....but still wanted to give it a try.

This is all of the cousins together (from left), Griffin, Harrison, Zoey, Lauren and Parker. It was a really fun time by the end of it. We were all sweating and the children were done with all of it, but we had a really good time. I cannot believe this was just last year.