Now this may seem lame but Ty and I don’t go on very many vacations due to lack of fun funds but luckily we were forced to go to Logan earlier this month to my younger brother’s baby blessing. It was so nice to get out of the house after being stuck in for so long. We drove into Logan taking a sort of scenic tour which this time of the year was well worth it.

I love how the farms look like a quilt.

The first place we stopped was the Pepperidge Farm factory and that is always nice. However, this time we walked in right after the person who took the last of the Milanos. I thought Tyler was going to either freak out at me for being so slow or tackle the woman. Weird thing I ran into my first companion ( or mission mom we called our trainers) while there. I think I was more excited to see her than she was to see me. Which was actually a surprise since I thought we had worked out our differences. Oh well. 

Then we went to  Gossner Foods were Tyler and Jake looked like he was in heaven with all the free samples of cheese and milk. At Gossner Foods they sell milk that you don’t have to refrigerate and it is perfect for food storage. They have plain milk as well as several different flavors such as root beer, mango, banana and the classics- Strawberry and Chocolate. We left with a couple of flats of milk for our food storage and a few bricks of smoked cheese- our favorite. 

Later we went to the Logan Temple, not inside,  just drove around outside, We stopped to let the kids roll down the steep hill and they loved it…well Jake did anyway, Elizza was freaked out she got wet grass on her hands.

Jake rolling down the grass hill.

What a woose.

 Its a beautiful temple with lots of character in more ways than one.

Logan Temple

Sign by temple says: Thou shalt not park here

Building that housed the Copper Mill Restaurant

neat little gallery

I know it sounds like all we did was eat but Logan is known for their Food tour. So to work off all those treats we ended the day with swimming. The kids loved this part the best.

Growing up my mom used to sew our costumes and we used to dress up in themed costumes like one year we were soda pops, another year my dad was the bun, my mom was the hamburger and we were the toppings, one time we were playing cards, but my favorite memory of the costumes my mom came up with was my dad was Snow White and we were the seven dwarfs. Well I always had high hopes that when I had my own family I could continue on the tradition.  Everything was set for my theme costumes for this year  Marriah was little Miss Muffet, Elizza was Little Bo Peep, Ty and I were Jack and Jill and then there was our one exception who took all the fun out of my ideas and traditions by dressing up in scrubs and being a doctor although if you asked him he would tell you he was a monster truck doctor and wouldn’t be anything different even though I did everything to convince and bribe him to go along with the family and be a nursery rhyme character. Oh well, we had fun all dress up going to our Neighborhood Halloween Party, Melaleuca’s trick or treat day at their office, Ward trunk or treat and regular trick or treating to the empty nesters and widows in our ward. It was neat how grateful the widows and empty-nesters were that we stopped we told them we would stop for free candy anytime. It is sad how many don’t get visited anymore, they would say how years ago they would have tons of trick-or-treaters and now they only get a few and how they miss seeing all the kids in their costumes. We decided even though it is a hassle to get the kids in and out of the car and brave the cold and rain it was worth it to visit with people and make them happy- oh and get more candy, seems like because they don’t get many that stop they buy better candy like the mini candy bars and cans of pop. Needless to say we got tons of candy.

Little Miss Muffet not scared of spider after all.

Elizza dressed in childhood doll dress.

Monster Truck Doctor to the rescue

I am starting to think that I am cursing myself by writing these blogs about each of my kids. The day I wrote about Jacob it seemed he was out to get me. Today, the day I planned on writing about  Elizza, she turned into my little monster. All day it went from crying and fighting with her brother to fecal art on the wall. I am hoping the day I write about Marriah will be better.

One day old and as big as Pooh.

Wigs for babies at Build-a-bear workshop.

Elizza has a way of lighting up a room with her laughter. My sister once asked me, “does she ever stop smiling because every time I see her she has a smile on her face” And yeah, for the most part she is always smiling. The thing I love most about Lizza-bean ( her nickname) is her love for life, she teaches me everyday the importance of laughing at yourself and not taking things so seriously. Whenever I am apart form her even for a little, when we reunite its like she hasn’t seen me for years and runs to me excitedly yelling “Mommy!” You have no idea how much I look forward to that. She is my little helper, at one year she started helping me with the dishes by taking the silverware out of the dishwasher and handing them to me to put away. It was awesome!  Jake never helped me this much, ever and he was three and a half at this point. Now at almost two years, she actually puts the silverware away as well as the other dishes, dusts, cleans up spills, finds her sisters binky and blankets for me and helps clean the toilets ( which sometimes is a bigger mess for me in the end but oh well at least she likes doing it). Since she has started helping and getting praise from mom for it Jake has suddenly started to help more. She has been so good for Jacob. He goes out to play a lot more than he used to  and gets involved in other things more as well. She has a way of bringing the good out in people.

What me?

You know how the scriptures talks about being like a little child, when I think of that scripture I think of Elizza. She is thoughtful and loving, easy going and carefree but most importantly very forgiving. One second I will be getting on her case about something and the next second she is wanting me to comfort her.  It sure softens my heart from being so mad at her because I realize she is sorry and she forgives me for being so angry at her. It is cute to watch her play with her sister. From day one she has loved and adored her, now if I can just get Marriah to feel the same way about Elizza instead of being scared of her. I guess that comes from being mauled and drug around like a little rag doll by her older, but well intending sister. I know she will make an excellent mother one day because she gives love so freely.

Heeeheee

One day I watched Lizza put away the stools and not only did she put them under the bar where they go, but exactly where I like them and kept moving them around until it was just right. From that moment on I watched her a little more closely and realized she very attentive to detail. She is a very determined, independent girl who knows what she wants and tries everything to get it. Someone once told me the thing you try to suppress or change in your child is the thing they will need to make them the person they are when they are older. So I guess I will try not to suppress that as much since I know that is a good thing to be motivated to get what you want, I just hope that  what she will want will be a good wholesome things.  Elizza is a good singer and does a butt-wiggle dance that you can’t help but laugh at. She is very playful and because of that, she  is my little stress reliever.  I call her my little rainbow because after our miscarriage, things seemed so dark and dreary and then when we found out she was joining our family it was like a rainbow after a storm and she has been that for me ever since. I am so blessed to be her mother and hope I can be a good example of motherhood and womanhood for her. I love you Elizza.

In my last blog I gave a heads up that this was coming so I better follow through with it. There are three reasons now for writing this 1) for posterity purposes 2) to help you know my kids and 3) the final reason is for me. Jake’s preschool teacher asked the parents to write a note about what their child was good at, and sadly enough I actually had to sit and think about this. I am so caught up in what he is doing wrong all the time and getting on his case that I forget to look at the great and wonderful qualities he does have, needless to say it was a very humbling and wonderful experience and I am glad she gave us this assignment. Today, of all days, is probably the day I needed to write about his good qualities the most since he has hit my last nerve.

I guess I should start out by saying why we named him Jacob Tyler. His middle name was given to him for obvious reasons but Jacob was a name Tyler knew he wanted to name his oldest son since his mission. I, on the other hand, had to be convinced. I hated the name Jacob because I knew a kid named Jacob (we called Jake the Flake because it fit) and this guy was the biggest geek ever, so the name Jacob was not my favorite by far. One day, Tyler told me the story of Jacob Ashcraft, the first person to join the church in the Ashcraft family and so I, being a sucker for a good conversion story, would have agreed to any name at that point. I have since gotten used to the name and feel it fits him perfectly (not the flake part though).