Cape Cod Day

So one of these years we will indeed make a trip to Cape Cod for more than just a day's worth of activities. Maybe we'll get smart and go in the middle of the week and stay through a weekend?

We were invited to go to Nickerson State Park to do some camping with friends from the hood (neighborhood). Boo and I packed up our beach gear the night before and decided we'd head out early Saturday morning, as to beat the crazy end of summer beach goers. For those of you who have never driven to the Cape on a Saturday in the summer, it really only has two ways on, Bourne and Sagamore bridges. We haven't ever gone over the Bourne bridge, but the Sagamore creates a serious bottle neck for getting on and off the Cape. But if you leave early enough like we did you will avoid all of that nonsense.

Noelle eating some spilled Fruitloops out of the dirt. Ah, I love my scavenger baby!

We hung out at the camp ground for a while before heading out to Marconi Beach. Boo and I tried some boogie boarding.

Noelle just played in the sand and made new friends on the beach, as she wandered off while I was snapping pics of Boo in the water. I think they group she was hanging out with was laying bets on how long it would be before someone in our group noticed she was gone. (disclaimer - no we're not bad parents, its just that the baby sensors were turned off for those who agreed to watch her for us, and its ok, we can still be friends.)

After the beach we went back to the campground and went on a nice bike ride just before dark. Seeing how I was on a tiny little bike the workout was a little more intense than I had planned on. But it was still a really beautiful ride.

- We'll just call this picture "WIFE" the ultimate ball and chain

We ended the night with a tasty dinner compliments of Papa Bokovoy. He even made his own ketchup.

Thanks for a fun day on the Cape. Next time I go to Nickerson I plan on bringing my bike and sleeping in a yurt. Yes three state parks in Massachusetts offer yurt camping, I bet you're jealous.

Blueberry Picking Dejavu

We went blueberry picking again, but this time we went for the smaller more tedious berries to pick. I don't know blueberries very well, but Jen says they're better to cook with. I'll take her word for it. However I'm so smart I put two boxes full of berries on the top of the stroller and then tried to do some four wheeling and dumped my hard to pick berries into the crab grass. It made me swear. Poor Ian's virgin ears. We scooped up as many as we could and then had to go back and pick some of the fat berries to top it off. Good enough for me. When I rinsed them I found a bunch of sticks and grass in the strainer.

We thought maybe the babies would like to just hang out in the stroller, but they didn't fit as well as we would have liked them to.

The Freedom Trail for the Millionth Time

Riley and Tate win the prize. I think I just did the Freedom Trail for the millionth time. We didn't get going until later in the day so we weren't able to complete the whole thing, but we saw some good stuff and and did the Bunker Hill Memorial at the beginning of their Boston tour. It has a new visitor's center that just opened this summer. Pretty cool.

They also saw Fenway Park (which Tate had never heard of, duh), the Museum of Science, and the aforementioned Six Flags. No beach though. We like to go to the beach, but I couldn't convince those boys. I guess three days really isn't enough time to do it all. And its kind of an expensive journey if you try to do it all.

Roller Coasters and White Trash

This summer seems to be a summer of firsts. Blueberry picking and now Six Flags! My brother Riley and his friend Tate skipped on over to Boston after their week at EFY in Palmyra, NY. We made the venture out to western Massachusetts to experience its major attraction of Six Flags New England. I wasn't sure if we were going to the Massachusetts version of Lagoon or if we were going to the Warner Bros version of Disneyland. Needless to say all of these places have one thing in common; the common definition, in demonstration of white trash. Yeah, I said it. Honestly folks, I realize there is a water park attached to the theme park, but is it really necessary to pretend that your swimsuit is part of your roller coaster riding attire? Absolutely not! Not only did I see things I didn't ever want to imagine, but I guess I had no idea that body shape versus swimsuit really doesn't matter to the general theme park population. One word: scary. Maybe I only noticed because we were standing in line for long periods of time and I had a lot of time to evaluate the fashions.

Despite our neighbors in line we got to ride some awesome roller coasters. Superman was so fantastic that I honestly couldn't say or scream a single word. I thought my tongue might fall out. Seriously. It was crazy scary/fun/pee your pants cool. Another fun one was Batman, hence our picture.

L to R: Tate, Riley, Boo (with flamboyant hand pose), Rach

Noelle unfortunately didn't get to come, however we are so indebted to the Jackson's for letting her pretend she was Ian's twin sister for the day.

A very New England thing to do

Last Friday we participated in one of the classic New England activities of the summer. Fruit picking!!! Yes folks, there are many places around where you can go and pick your own fruit. Common varieties would be raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, and of course apples. Ryan and I have gone with the youth in our ward to pick apples for the annual apple pie making night at the church, but that seems so limited with such a large variety of produce to choose from.

Rachel with Noelle and cousin Ian

So Noelle, Ian, Jen, Lindsay, and Spencer all got our pick on. (sounds like something you'd say about the guy in the car next to you who is picking his nose.) I digress. We found a lovely orchard for picking and with the rainy conditions and cool summer air it was one of the most spectacular things my Utah native eyes had ever seen. I wasn't exactly sure what a blueberry patch looked like and much to my amazement there were loads of berries. I decided that there aren't too many things much more beautiful than a loaded up, ripened blueberry bush. Be still my heart.

Needless to say we ate our fill of berries and took a bunch home too! Definitely a tedious task, but worth the experience and money.

Something to blog about

So we haven't been doing too much in the past week besides pretending to be hermits and staying in our house because its too damn hot to be outside and chances are that it might just be so humid it will rain. I played the inside outside and back inside game while trying to rid our garden of some weeds. I won't be playing that one again.

Besides being completely perplexed about returning to the working world versus raising my child, we've just really been reinforcing that bond between mama and Jelly. However she does put on a good show when Boo leaves in the morning. I even think it makes him feel better about himself to know that she's sad to see him go and so happy when he returns.

Noelle got some more immunization shots today and she totally knew they were coming. Poor girl. But she did get some super-fly band aids that sparkle. But besides the shots, our doc said she seems so much older than she really is and its not because her head is the size of a three year old either, or that she's a little bit tall for her age. Its really because she wanted to chat the head off the doctor with her baby gibberish. Does that sound like anyone we know? Guess not. We're so lucky.

A girl's got to have her shoes...

Noelle has discovered shoes. She has dragged a few pairs into the living room so that she can try them on and walk around in them. You'll notice her carrying her "purse" which is also her bucket. However what you can't see is that she has her comb in the bucket as well as the shovels. I couldn't help but to laugh a little as she continually tried to get the one shoe on. What a persistent child, that's why we love her.

Utah Wrap Up

Phew! That's right, I said it. We survived, all three of us. Three weeks and one day. We returned from Utah today to the hot and steamy bum hole of Boston, but actually we're happy to be home. I can't wait to weed the garden, which by the way, Boo did a great job taking care of. We only had one plant fatality. Boo survived the NH bar exam and Noelle was a dream on the flights home.
I've thought of a list of things that make me glad to be home:
1. Boo
2. My bed
3. No need to borrow a car
4. My garden
5. Jelly Bean in her own room

Ok so this list is lame but really I'm happy to be home.
We did do some fun stuff while in Utah. In chronilogical order:

Fourth of July - Cooling off on Independence Day '07
Grandma Nay's birthday at the zoo
High school reunion, twice
Lunch with old friends - Noelle and R at the Fowles'
Water skiing at Bear Lake

Pickleville Playhouse
Golfing at Sweetwater
BBQs - Noelle with Great Grandma and Grandpa Grow
Settlers of Catan
Basket Loft
Swimming in Grammy's pool
Playing with cousins - the "little lady" swinging with Maddy and Bud
Herding cats at Target Portrait Studio
Deseret News 10K - no I didn't run it! (Vic, Reb and Kate after the 10K)
Pioneer Day

Thanks to those who drove us around or lending us their cars, for feeding us, and for the extremely cheap entertainment, new clothes and good company. We love you and can't wait for those of you to come and visit in the next few months or to see you on the web cam.

Week at Bear Lake

I haven't posted anything about our week in Bear Lake, mostly because I am afraid of leaving my pictures on my parents archaic computer and never getting them back in a format I find suitable. So I've linked to The Gold's blog for their version of the same thing. "Bear Lake" - plus I probably couldn't have said it better.

Shame on us all... you know who you are.

62%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Free Online Dating from Mingle²

So thanks to my great friend (who I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with recently) I took a quiz on blogging and what I thought was a minor addiction. I know I'm a blog stalker. I think anything over 50% needs adjusting in one way or the other. This leaves me a couple of choices. I can either ramp up my blogging so that I can achieve a crazy high percentage or I can be more focused and blog less but about more. We'll have to see what I come up with.
This brings me to another thought, which is there are people who I know are looking at my blog and I'm not sure if I should thank them for publicizing it or not. You know who you are (M Lowe, J Andersen, you blog stalkers.) I would most love for people to leave comments. I know, I know my posts might be lame, but at least give me something to look forward to when I check to see if anyone has looked at my blog. Maybe I'll put a hit tracker on here. Hmm...the possibilities.
PS - I expect this to have a home on Jen's Blog of Random Thoughts because I know she thinks about her blog a lot during the day.

But it's a dry heat!

So we have been in Utah now for just about a week, and my word is it so blasted hot. I've lived in New England long enough to know that it gets hot there too, but its not 105 degrees (Fahrenheit of course.) Just standing on the curb at the airport I could feel the desert breeze, drying out my contacts.

Then as we celebrated the Fourth of July the temps crept up on us. We luckily were done with the neighborhood parade early enough to not have been cooked by the sun and by the time we were at grandma's for a BBQ there was enough shade to seek shelter.

Noelle wasn't fond of the heat and so I finally stripped her down and filled a bucket with water and let her play in it to cool off.

But the worst was the 5th of July. What in our right minds would have possessed us to go to the Hogle Zoo when it was 100+ degrees? Well we were celebrating Grandma Nay's birthday with all the grand kids. It was fun, no one complained and we saw the "Ghost of the Bayou" - or a rare white alligator. Noelle had fun and was great as were the other kids. She was so exhilarated that she zonked out waiting to be put in her car seat to go home. It could have just been heat exhaustion though. The misting contraptions at the zoo helped but really they should open at 8:00am and then close for a siesta and reopen in the evening.

But really it is hot and there is just no escaping the burning hot steering wheel, hot car seat buckles and air conditioning that just doesn't get cold until you've finally arrived at your destination. I think the heat is getting to the car too. It doesn't want to start for some reason. Today I had to pull out the jumper cables. I'm sure the scene was odd to the neighbors, one actually said something to me but I was in a hurry and was concentrating on the task at hand so that I didn't short out the batteries on both cars. I was just trying to run a couple errands and then have lunch with some old friends. I got all packed up and ready to go but when I went to start the car it just clicked. It had done this a day prior and Bear and D helped me charge it, but I guess some light or something was on because it still didn't work. So luckily one of my parents other cars was home and I could use it to jump start my car. However nothing can ever be easy. I had to figure out how to open the darn doors since none of the locks seem to work. And since luck never seems to be my companion at the right time, I happened to have on white pants and it was a 100 degrees out. The good thing was though that I have always had a half crappy car, or at least for most of my teenage years. I drove cars that were on the brink of being put out to pasture or at least in a junk yard and my skills were such that I didn't worry about putting the cables on the wrong place. Crappy cars can teach you a lot in life. Good thing for hindsight.

Camp Joseph - Sharon, VT

Rather than preparing to spend three weeks in Utah, we decided our time would be better spent with some friends camping in Vermont. I'm glad to say we were right! Camp Joseph is situated next to the monument that commemorates where Joseph Smith was born. Its a nice place even just to go and ride bikes around. We drove up Saturday morning and spent the night in a cute, very little, cabin. By little I mean probably an 8' x 10' space that has two bunk beds and a chair. We managed to put our port-a-crib in between the two bunks, but that's about all the space you have. In total we had nine families, 29 kids. It was amazing to see people rally together to feed that many people, put kids to bed, help find frogs and salamanders, clean up and many other things. I think it was a true sign of being part of a church that teaches us to help one another and also to rely on one another. We were so glad to have gone and on the way home we made mental notes of the things we'll be better at for next year. Here are some of the things we came up with:

1. We will pack more food and beverage. - Once again relying on others for a meal or two.

2. I will bring shoes and socks. - It got a lot cooler than I anticipated. Socks and flip flops are so yesteryear.

3. Remember our camping chairs that we've never really used because in the eight years we've been married I only recall camping maybe twice.

I'm sure there is more but I can't think of them, maybe I should add pen and paper so I can write it down.

It was so much fun to watch the kids play together. They were able to roam free and play and just be kids. I think its a hard thing to be in this day and age of modern conveniences and electronics. I think that kids really forget how to be creative with sticks and dirt. I also loved the "play" that some of the kids performed right before we left.

Does this resemble anyone we know?

So I've been going through some pictures and scanning ones that are relevant to the upcoming high school reunion, aforementioned. And I came across this picture and thought I would post it on our blog. We have this hanging in our house and as I was getting ready to put it on the wall a friend of ours was over and asked if I was hanging some pictures of Noelle. Clearly after looking at it she realized it was not in fact Noelle, but indeed I told her it was Boo. Wasn't he cute?

They do look a lot alike. This picture was taken by Uncle Len.

Walden Pond, Book Group and Reunion Anxiety

This seems so silly that I'm even posting anything about this on my blog. All these events can be seen as somewhat trivial at best, but what's a blog for? So today we spent the better part of the day at Walden Pond. Yep the same Walden Pond that Thoreau wrote about. Its a great spot to go on a hot day like today, more like sweltering actually. But I imagine that Thoreau probably didn't think of Walden with beaches and tons of kids hanging out enjoying it too, then again maybe. But its cheaper than going to the pool and it really makes you feel like you're in a more remote spot than you really are. Its only about a fifteen minute drive from our house. Needless to say it was "lovely," and Noelle got a kick out it too and we came home sunburn free to boot.

Also, tonight was the last book group of the season and I so blindly offered to be the leader of the discussion. I had great intentions when they started in the fall, but hells bells the last time I read a book in less than who knows how long was before I had a baby and took public transportation to work an hour in each direction. When that is the case you can get a lot of reading done. The book we read was Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously (or something like that it has two different names) Its not for the faint of heart as far as language is concerned especially a church book group - uh hello. Anyhow, I have spent the last two days making sure I have the book read so I can actually ask real questions and if I have to carry the discussion I could. It all worked out fine and I'm still alive to tell about it. Duh. Anyway if anyone wants to borrow it let me know.

Last but not least, I'm getting ready to head to Utah for my 10 year high school reunion and as of late I have serious anxiety over it. Its so dumb really, but seriously I'm a little apprehensive being that Boo will not be with me, so what if I'm left talking to myself in a corner? That won't be the case because I'm hardly at a lack of words and could talk anyone into a coma. But really I'm a little scared. Does anyone want to come with me in place of Boo? Let me know so I can pass it by him first. Just kidding actually, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Garden Update

So I was scrolling through some of the old pictures on our blog and found the picture of me working in the garden. (I haven't taken any recent pictures, but will add them when I have a chance.) WOW! That is all I can say when I look back from a few weeks ago. Wow how my plants have grown, wow, my how MiracleGro works, Wow, I have actually managed to not kill any of the plants off yet, Wow I actually have blossoms on almost every plant even some green tomatoes. I am just amazed.

However at nearly the same rate Noelle is growing, saying more "words" and shuffles her feet a little less and wants to run a little more. She's found great accomplishment in climbing the stairs, climbing on top of the LittleTikes table and even can entertain a crowd of strangers with her banter and the Itsy Bitsy Spider. She gets so excited to see her friends and finds simple joy in flipping through the dictionary. How did we get to be so lucky? Not only is she smart, but she's cute and funny - everything I'd want in a girl. I hope she always can find humor in her life like her dad. What a sweet baby. I'll miss the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Noelle at the beach

First Beach Visit of the Year

This past week my younger sister Kati, her boyfriend Ben, and our cousin Stacey came to visit Boston. As part of the "tour" we visited Wingaersheek Beach

We got there as the tide was going out. Noelle managed to find a puddle from a leftover sand castle to lay in. Notice she has two shovels with her, which are a reoccurring theme since she wouldn't put them down the entire time we were there. Something she has always done in the bathtub is kick her legs. She also figured out that the water has a salty taste so why not get both effects at the same time.
She also liked the taste and texture of the sand. So despite rolling in it, she also has it all over her body, including her face.
The Shovels
She had no problem with the chilly water either. This was shortly after she plopped in and tipped over from some wave momentum. Kati is checking her out making sure she's ok. Looks like she managed to hang on to the shovel.

Father's Day 2007

In regular Rachel fashion, I made Ryan trek up to the temple for some Father's Day pics with Noelle. He hates having to pose for any kind of picture so for him this was torture. But someday I hope they both look back and think, wow were sure were cute back then. Just kidding I'm sure they'll be cute in 20 years too. Noelle was none too happy to be having her picture taken. She preferred to be walking all about and pulling the flower heads off and then shredding them into little pieces, which she does at home. However while we were snapping some photos she saw one of her friends, Eleanor. As you can see she wants to get down and play.
As long as she could roam free she was happy.
I could have sworn I looked cuter when I left for church, but our new Sunbeam class took it right out of me. Oh well.

We've Been Busy - and Handy

So for the benefit of all the people who have heard me talk about "my bench" here's a picture of it. For those who actually look at our blog and don't know the story I'll do my best to make it short and interesting.

This is my new bench, that I made! Isn't it cute?

It actually was once upon a time our old coffee table, which was neither used for coffee or much of a table. In our BC days (before child) it served as a catch all for our junk that we fully intended to do something with, but rarely did before it expired or became obsolete to the current situation. So when we moved last September we decided that it wouldn't have a space as a coffee table in our new place and was whisked away to Maine to someday become what is now "my bench."

For Mother's Day I received a drill set, partially because I needed an excuse to make the bench an actuality rather than a dream. So two weeks ago while we were in Maine visiting with our family I explained to our Papa that I would like to use his saw to cut the coffee table in half and to make my bench. After much amusement to the fact that girls "shouldn't use power tools" and a little help from Uncle Scott, I had my old coffee table/ new bench ready to take home and upholster. I think I did a fine job. I even matched my plaids. Its served us well so far as an extra place to sit and also as an ottoman. Thanks Scott. (So much for short) :)'

Enjoying our Backyard

So for the first time pretty much since we've been married, which is now eight years, we have finally found a place to live with a backyard we can actually enjoy. This is largely in part to the fact that we don't have wacky neighbors that watch our every move. We also have the luxury of using the swing set that is there for the relative neighbor who is the only other kid on the block. Anyhow, as you can see we use the swing set and have been given some space in the garden. Apparently I can't find a rake that isn't fit for a five year old. But I am an amateur. This is my first real garden. I've been dreaming about it for a while now. (Thanks to my good friend Jenny C. who has always had lovely gardens and I've probed over time for tips.) I love it! Ryan's mom was in town recently and she was kind enough to help weed the space and turn the soil, as well as helped me get many of the large rocks, pieces of cement and fragments of asphalt out of the way so we could get the tomato cages deep enough. In short it was really hard work and I'm so grateful for her help. In all we planted six tomato plants, two bell peppers, a ton of beans (see the poles), cucumbers, and three different kinds of squash. I can't wait for the harvest!

She has mastered the zipper

So I'd like to think I was so clever when changing to a diaper bag with a zipper and also storing my important items in the diaper bag within another pouch which also has a zipper. But it seems I can't out smart my young child who now will not only unzip the bag and unpack my wallet, it seems she will also find the mini Oreo cookies that I stashed in there for a long car ride or some unplanned trip to the store. Caught red handed. But how can you get mad at a face like that?

Trying out the new swing in Maine

We recently bought a new swing so that we can use the swingset in the backyard with our little neighbor friend. Since it arrived just before we were leaving for the weekend to Maine we decided to take it with us. Noelle likes the swing (although our first attempts were terrible, and the other mothers at the park stared at me for making her stay on the swing while she screamed her head off), however the misquitos in Maine this past weekend were out in full force. Needless to say, we only stayed out for a few minutes.