Let the Fun Begin!

Who knew potty training could be so FUN?



I decided to just get with it and potty train Rylan. At 3 years and 5 months I felt he was plenty old enough and knew what it was all about. He's still fine with wearing a diaper, but I think I'm done changing diapers on two kids! For the most part Ry has done really well. Day number one was great. We set a timer and every time the timer beeped we'd stop whatever we were doing and run to use the potty. We started at 15 minutes intervals and if he didn't have to go, we'd just practice. Then we added more time throughout the day. By the end of the day I was exhausted. That was some hard work!
Day two was a little rough but mostly because I wanted him to be a pro and he wasn't...yet. We had a few accidents but really, for day two he was doing well. Tami brought over a bag of tricks and I used every resource possible. Candy did the trick for awhile--a gummy bear or two m&ms each time he went potty. Tami had a great idea that worked wonders. If he went poo in the potty then mommy would play the fish game with him. Having that time with mommy was a good motivation. After several days I was starting to feel like the fish game was going to be a part of the rest of my life. I started wondering how I was going to get him to go potty and not request the fish game for his reward! But the time came and he grew tired of catching fish--whew!
I don't usually want my boy to grow up, but in the potty training instance, he can grow up just a little bit :)

How Old Are You?

If you ask Rylan how old he is he'll flash you this gang sign. Where he learned to hold up three fingers this way I'm not sure. Maybe it's just a normal kid thing to do. So being the nerds we are we joined in and let Rylan take our pictures...

or maybe he'll be in a funny mood and tell you he's four or five...He's a nut!!

Niagara On The Lake

So I'm a pretty terrible blogger. I'm late on my vacation posts and I just posted the end of our trip. But guess what? I totally forgot a day in there and it was a great day. So I'm back here to post about it.


Our hotel was on the Canada side of Niagara Falls and one day we went to a nearby town called Niagara on the Lake. We all fell in love with this little place. It's pretty much a bunch of estates and I'm sure most people who go there go on a bunch of wine tasting tours. But not us! We just drove by saying "oh I like that one" repeatedly. Of course we were on our way somewhere, not just driving around aimlessly, but really just driving around aimlessly would have been fun! We stopped for breakfast?/lunch? at a roadside store. There were samples all over the store and we couldn't stop. Dips for pretzels and chips, spreads for bread, salsa, jellies...it was heaven. I don't think I had one bad sample (should I be ashamed of myself for feasting on samples? nah!) Okay, so we did order a sandwich and a piece of cherry pie that was super tasty. All I can say is our time here was cut short (and so was the cash flow) and I think I'd like to go back someday :)


Our real destination this day was the Whirlpool Jet Boat tours. We split up our group so half of us could go while the other half could babysit. We did the first round of babysitting with Tami and Garren. We mostly babysat at the above mentioned store :) We met up with my parents, Kacy and Adam when it was time for our turn on the boats. They were all wet and said they had fun but no one really expounded on their experience. So it was our turn and we were excited. After a little instructional talk from our guide we all dressed in this fancy getup:

I had to take a picture of our picture 'cause we don't have a scanner...I'm not cool like that!


So you get to pick your seats on this boat. Kevin was insistent that we sit in the front on one of the "power rows" as our guide called them. So we picked a seat in the third row. I'm on the edge with Kevin next to me. Tami, Garren, and their kids had to sit in the very back because of lack of space plus their kids weren't allowed in the first three rows. So the boat takes you up the river while the guide talks about history and the boat and what's gonna happen. She informs us that the seat on the outside edge in the second row gets the most water. That was the seat right in front of me! I was extremely glad that I wasn't in that seat, but I was a little nervous thinking that I was so close to so much water. But away we went. (And come to find out my parents sat in the same seats Kevin and I were in!) Okay, so what happens is this jet boat takes you through the rapids and you just get soaked (depending on where you're sitting of course...but really everyone gets wet. We had a practice run and I feared for my life. Our guide warned us when to take a deep breath and I did. But I thought there would just be a splash of water and we were done. It was the second gush of water up my nose that frightened me...good thing we had a practice run--I have to do that again? Yep, we did it several more times and since I was more prepared I held my breath longer and tried to cover my nose when possible. It was certainly an adventure and I'm pretty sure I won't be going white water rafting in serious rapids...talk about scary!

So again, I'm in the third row at the top of the picture and Kevin is next to me. At this point we don't look like we got much water and I really don't know when they took this picture, but I can guarantee you there was lots of water!

It was raining which added to our already soaking bodies so on the way back we all put our hoods on and kept our heads down to avoid the pelting rain on our faces. Luckily they give you a fleece to wear under the poncho and boy does that help keep you warm!So we experienced a hurricane (well, kind of) on the Hurricane Deck at Niagara Falls, and now we experienced the rapids of the river...neither one of which I ever, ever, ever want to experience without the control of professionals.

While we were away Kacy took Rylan to the butterfly conservatory and he still talks about how he fell in the water and squished the butterflies (which is only partly true. He did fall in some water but no butterflies were squished!). My mom had Asher and I'm not really sure what she did with him. Did he sleep in the car?

After our adventurous day we showered and got ready and had dinner at some UFO joint. I'm forgetting exactly what happened but I'm thinking Kevin took Ry swimming with the other kids and some other adults while I stayed at the hotel with a screaming Asher. I tried everything to calm him down but nothing was working. Tami and my mom came by my room to try to help so we chatted and then my mom and I decided to take a walk outside to find a pharmacy (which sold Bounty bars and I bought one and I haven't eaten it yet...partly because of my "no candy this year" new year's resolution cause Kev made me feel guilty...although he ate most of the Bounty bar I bought for him and he has the same resolution!!!). Anyways, Asher calmed down, we went to bed, and really, I think that's all of our vacation :)

Big Teeth

I just think Asher is so cute in his helmet! He's such a happy baby and I'm so glad this whole helmet thing has been so much easier than I had initially anticipated.
I was trying to get a picture of his huge top front teeth coming in. You can kinda see them in some pictures...why do they seem so big to me? Okay okay, it's genetics. I could say he gets his big front teeth from me or Kevin!



And what is it about these door stops that babies love? I remember Rylan twisting these off as well when he was little. I don't normally allow him to play with these, but he was cooperating so well for pictures that I just had to let him have fun with it!

The End

Why didn't I ever finish posting about our vacation?

Our last day of Niagara Falls was Sydney's birthday! We checked out the falls from the Canada side and enjoyed a few views. We were planning on going to see the IMAX movie but we ended up not having enough time. Sydney wanted pancakes for her birthday breakfast and by the time we actually headed out to eat it was closer to lunch time. IHOP solved that problem for us and we had brunch instead...I enjoyed their strawberry stuffed french toast and seriously, it was delicious. I gotta go back to IHOP soon...very soon. So thanks Sydney for wanting pancakes :)

We all got in our cars and headed out for a 3 hour (?) drive to Kirtland, Ohio. My dad drove, my mom navigated, Rylan watched Cars, Kevin took some cat naps, and Asher and I played (well, I got to talk to my parents, too). We went straight to a tour of the Kirtland temple which is not owned by the LDS church but by the Community of Christ (RLDS). They do the upkeep and give tours and they do a decent job. I think most of us would agree though, there certainly is a different feeling there than at the sites owned by the LDS church.

The tour guide told us this was a very colorful temple with a green door, red roof, and blue exterior. Then she later said the exterior may not have been blue but maybe gray. I know the saints used their china to build the temple which made it a little sparkly when the sun shone on it--pretty! (And notice the cloudy skies? Most of our time out here was overcast.)

From there we went to the Visitor's Center where we saw the Newel K Whitney Store and home, including the room where they had the School of the Prophets. It was a very spiritual place and I hope I never forget the peace I felt there. Maybe it was the overcast skies or the uncrowded area but I like to think it was the spirit that was there that was so calming and pleasant.
Our group minus Kacy, Kirra, and Adam

That night we ate dinner and had birthday cake for Sydney and went to our hotel.

We were hoping to go see some of the Amish country but we really didn't know where to go or what to see. We also wanted to go to the John Johnson Farm so we went there first and really enjoyed it! The tour guide was a lady who was a former teacher and she was so good and patient with the kiddos. This farm was so unique in it's decorating because they apparently were quite wealthy and it should. The barn was a bright red but the walls on the inside of the house were painted yellow which was the most expensive paint color (why I'm not sure. I was probably distracted with a kid. I guess I could look it up!!)

We drove to where we thought we could see some Amish families and the way they live. We saw a few horse and buggies and a few little amish kids walking down the road but not really what we were hoping for. We stopped in at Mary Yoder's restaurant for lunch. Kacy and her fam got their food to go because Adam was on a different flight and he had to be to the airport earlier than the rest of us. So after our lunch we piled into our cars and took the 3 hour drive to the airport.

Our vacation was at an end and I was super sad! I had such a great time--what can be better than being with family and visiting church sites? The power the Lord has through nature was very evident on this trip...whether it was through the powerful waters of the Niagara Falls or the powerful experience of Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove.

Funny Boys

My Rylan sure is a funny boy. I get such a kick out of him! Kevin left out the ice chest from a recent campout and Ry found lots of ways to play with it...including watching a good episode of Curious George in it.

I was eating cherries and Rylan asked if it was a baby apple. Then he pointed to this:

A wrinkly peach. And you'll never guess what Rylan called it--"a dirty apple"!! Oh wow, I had a good laugh at that one!

And Asher makes me laugh, too. I need to get it on video because he claps with his feet. It's a talent he's picked up from laying on his back so much (he still is not a tummy boy). But he claps his feet and it really makes noise--real clapping noise. Maybe it doesn't sound so great, but it really is!!

What about Kevin? Yep, he's funny too! He's currently listening to an audio book that I randomly grabbed for him at the library. I just walked over to the audio books, grabbed one without reading what it was about, and he's listening to it. And today he said "I'll tell you what this book is like. It's like Twilight without the werewolves, vampires, and romance. And the main girl is psychic". Wait a minute....that sounds NOTHING like the Twilight book I read. How does it even compare? Then he assured me that the kids in the book are in high school. Oh yes Kevin, it is just like Twilight :)

Niagara Falls

Okay so here are lots of pictures. But we just had such a good time I didn't want to cut any of our fun! Monday was spent doing things on the American side of Niagara Falls. We bought a discovery pass that included the aquarium (where we watched an embarassingly ridiculous magic show) and a discovery center, neither of which were really worth going to. My mom thought (and we all agreed) that they included those on the pass just to get people to go there. But also on the pass were Maid of the Mist and Cave of the Winds.

I just love this picture of Asher and my dad. They make a great team!

Maid of the Mist is a boat tour that takes you out to where the falls meet the river, creating a huge mist. Of course we wore some cool ponchos so we didn't get wet. It was really cool and I think both my boys liked it. Rylan was just excited to be on a boat!

Cave of the Winds was a.maze.ing. Seriously so cool. Again, wearing those cool ponchose you take some stairs up into the falls. At the top there is a spot they call the Hurricane Deck and you can get soaked. Kevin took Rylan up there but Ry didn't like it too much. He loves playing in water but apparently not in a hurricane! We passed the boys off to someone while Kevin and I went back up and I just couldn't believe how powerful it was...and we were only by a small tiny portion of the falls. This adventure was the favorite for most of us. I don't know why it was so exciting, but it was!

Preparing to go up. Rylan was already blocking the water from his eyes...he sure didn't know what was about to happen!

That's Kevin on the Hurricane Deck, but not quite in the hurricane.

This picture is taken from the observation deck above Cave of the Winds

And here are just some more pictures from the day...

The kids were able to play in some water at the Three Sister's Island...much safer than over by the falls!

We observed the falls from several observation points, had dinner at Hard Rock, visited the Three Sisters Island (I nursed my baby here so i didn't see much, but it was peaceful) and retired to our rooms for some much needed sleep...evidenced by the following photo!