The Davis County Fair

Rob’s sister Kim invited us to come to the Davis County Fair.  We decided to brave it and go.  We had a wonderful/terrible time depending on the current moment we were in.  The following are a few highlights in both categories:

Terrible: 1) Zekie having to wait at the top of the bounce slide to let the boy at the bottom have some privacy as he was peeing off the slide. 2) Isaac telling us that the “hamster”/rabbit in the prized animals area was sad and wanted to get out of his cage. 3) Caleb locking the cash register key inside of the cash register. 4) Kim wanting to “stab Mark in the heart next time she saw him”, after Mark disappeared minutes after arriving.  Good thing she’s a nurse and could administer to him after inflicting the wound.  Not to worry.  Mark redeemed himself by taking care of a very tired Ryker the rest of the evening. 5) Feeling guilty for sneaking into the pony ride after they’d already closed off the line…Kim was clearly saving our spots.

And now for the Wonderful: The boys thoroughly enjoyed the kiddie rides.  Motorcycles, cars, boats…it was a little boy’s dream come true.  Even the pukey twisty ride that my tall baby technically qualified to go on.  As it started he said “Whee” then it got up to full speed and he started yelling “ALL DONE MAMA!!”  Shortly after as it slowed he said “That was fun”.  I wonder if they take requests to do half speed…too bad I don’t know how to say that in Spanish…Rapido Media?  Isaac and Zekie loved the bounce house.  Our little gymnast Isaac especially had a hey day.  Rob said Isaac’s finale bounce house performance was running full speed into the corners and catapulting himself back to the middle.  Such a Squeaks.  Which reminds me of one of my favorite interchanges with Isaac lately:

Katie: “Quit being such a Squeaks!”     Isaac: “But I is a Squeaks!” Caleb thought the tractors were by far the BEST thing there.  I gotta find him a John Deere T-shirt.  I seriously debated letting the crusty grandpa farmers in charge of the tractor area, babysit him the rest of the night. Caleb’s new best friend.  The hand sanitizer just didn’t quite cover the whole *hugging* area. Behold our “inkblot test” family.  Can’t you just imagine folding this picture in half and then telling the psychiatrist what it looks like?All in all THIS is what we come for…the look of pure happiness in our children’s eyes.

The Dogs Days of Summer

Why call them the dog days of summer when it hasn’t even gotten that hot yet?  Well because my boys smell like puppies.  That’s why.  And act like them too for that manner.  Case in point: While carrying Caleb home from church Rob was receiving an abundance of kisses on the cheek from Caleb and he said “Caleb! You’re giving me big slobbery kisses.”  Encouraged, Caleb full on licked his father up the cheek…several times.  What’s better or for that matter messier, than spending all day long running around outside with your twin?  Umm… I don’t know.  Eating a popsicle?!

The 7 Year Itch

Today Rob and I celebrate our 7 year anniversary.  Last year my Dad jokingly warned us of the impending “7 year itch” which according to WikiAnswers is “, after being married for seven years or just being with someone for that long, you start looking at other options. Hence you have an itch to scratch. In layman's terms, one is expected to leave/cheat at this time.”  Well…hmm…NOPE! Rob is a fabulous husband and I’m sticking with him.

We sat down with the boys and looked through our wedding album and they decided that Rob looks the same and I look different.  I guess having 3 boys will do that to you.  On the other hand apparently I’m aging quite well…atleast according to some random guy on the street that yelled to Rob when we walked by “Hey Bro.  Next time you’re going to cheat the stork, bring me along.”  Cheat the stork?  Ummm? Was he trying to say “rob the cradle?”  Apparently I need to sophisticate my look a little.  Anyways, we rounded the corner and arrived at our Anniversary dinner location of Bombara.  Soooo delicious!  We had blueberry lemonade, wheat sourdough bread, corn bisque with crab meat soup, orange vinaigrette salad, incredible halibut, and melt in your mouth bison.  We were beyond stuffed but just had to have dessert too.  Ice cream filled profiterole cream puffs drizzled with hot fudge.  Who knew anniversaries could taste this good?

 

I’m so grateful to have such an amazing husband.  Rob is my best friend, a great communicator, helpful around the house and with the boys, the best Dad, a wonderful and righteous example, an awesome provider and hard worker, entertaining, caring and loving.  I’m so lucky to call him mine and am in love with him and our forever.  Cheeeeese end.

Day Out With Thomas!

Zekie’s been anticipating this day of all glorious days for months! Day out with Thomas…a little boy’s dream come true.  “Mama, you thought Thomas was a just a cartoon didn’t you? But, I knew he was for real.” We caught the train and had a dandy time singing and dancing to Thomas tunes, sneaking peaks at all the interesting passengers, and of course enjoying the beautiful rolling hillside.Caleb was a little leary of Sir Topham Hatt.  I just hope that guy’s got some sort of air conditioning going on in there. All the boys thoroughly enjoyed the imagination station.  Isaac stamped it up, Zekie made the rounds, and Caleb had no qualms with hard core train playing with hoards of complete stranger toddlers inches away at all times. Isaac decided to get his Thomas tattoo on his shin…and I think it may just have been to get a better look at his gorgeous blondie tattoo artist.  I have no idea what her name was but I’m pretty sure it must have been Ashley.

Wouldn’t you know it they had a miniture golf course.  I think they must have set it up for the Dads that were taking their sons to Thomas instead of golfing.  Isaac happened to be playing next to another little boy named Isaac and they both thought was so cool that they were playing well enough to have both their parent and a complete stranger saying “Good job Isaac!”

We were just about to leave and I forced Rob to stay an extra 15 minutes to get pictures with Thomas.  You can see how well the boys will smiling for a picture I’m taking vs. the one the stranger took.  So much for my big speech to Zekie before hand on where to look when someone’s taking your picture :) Happy Thomas Day or as Caleb would say “Namaste”.  The Thomas in me salutes the Thomas in you.

 

A Typical Family Home Evening at the Bachmans

Oregon Trip!

Being the lucky duckies that we are, we got to go on a fun family trip to Oregon!  This trip was sponsored by Rob’s work (E&Y) because he has a client in Lake Oswego and we were more than happy to tag along.  In past trips we have always flown but now that are children are no longer free babes on board we decided to make the long haul by car.  We ditched Caleb with Nani and off we went!  Thanks Nani for watching the chunk-a-lunk.  I’m pretty sure him being the only child with his favorite Nani who spoils him silly was a major vacay for him too.

We began our drive around 7 hoping the boys would sleep most of the way to our pit stop in Meridian and we were not disappointed.  We stayed the night in a lovely Marriott, complete with pool, breakfast, elevator rides and hallway raceways for little boys!  Isaac and Zekie made the most of their hotel experience by insisting on pushing all elevator buttons and opening the doors with the special keys.  Isaac also made himself feel right at home and untwisted the tops off of the lamps upon arrival.  That is his latest obsession: lamp screw tops.  You can see in the above picture his prize possessions.  The picture of Zekie is the “after” picture of complete road traveling exhaustion.  I told him this was going to be THE longest car ride of his life and when we eventually got there he confirmed “You were right Mama.”  Luckily 2 separate DVD players for the boys, 2 mp3 players for the parents, LOADS of candy and snacks and a token traveling ABC game or two and we survived the 13 hour long journey to Portland.

Our first day there Rob went off to work and we went off to Tillamook to see Auntie Ev & Ann.  They live at the top of a beautiful countryside and it was so grand to see all of the green tree and rolling hills.  Not to mention…IT’S SPRING in Oregon!  Not here in Utah.  Everything still brown and dead…but in Oregon…it’s Spring.  Cute baby cow, pretty pink blossoms, purple rhody bushes all in bloom.  Ahhhh.  Ev took us on a lovely stroll around the neighborhood and being the good auntie that she is, even hauled Zekie around in a wagon.  Then we let the boys be boys and climb up on the tractor and climb some dirt hills.  Next we ate a hearty lunch of delish quiche and off we went to the beach.Mighty Squeaks did lots of shoveling and rock collecting for our incredible castle and moat. Auntie Ev was a glorious hostess and loving auntie and help the boys with our splendid caste and doted on them continually.What’s gonna work?  Team work!  Notice the seagull in the background.  Quick side story: Isaac saw a seagull in the Idaho parking lot and exclaimed “Yook! A flamingo!”  He was doing his best to make our trip as exotic as possible.Zekie LOVED the beach!  He had so much fun running away from the tide. Twas a most joyous occasion for my Zekes.A moment caught in time: Zekes squishing his toes in the sand.

I asked Ev if she would roll Isaac’s pants up so he could run from the waves with Zekie.  Next thing I knew he was off and running pant-less.  I raised an eyebrow at Ev.  She rebutted “I tried rolling up his pants and they were only 6 inches off the ground!”  The boys had soo much fun unless Isaac’s grand finale face plant into the sand.  Funny thing is, not a tear was shed.  We took off his sopping coat, he spit out some sand, gave a quick shiver, and ran back for more.  Ev knew that it was just a matter of second before he would turn into a Squeaksicle and called it.  We stripped them down, wrapped them in blankets and headed back for a warm bath.To complete our day at Tillamook I felt it was a must to take my boys to the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  My boys live off of Costco Tillamook cheese and I thought that they’d enjoy seeing where and how it’s made.  They weren’t so convinced until I told them that their two favorite things would be there.  Ice cream & Candy.It was an absolutely wonderful day at the beach.  Thank you Auntie Ev…we love you and will be back soon!