Miles and his BFF

Belnap Family Reunion 2009

We got back Saturday from family reunion #3 for the year. This time it was the Parley Belnap family reunion (or Dan's immediate family). It was up by the Palisades Reservoir in Idaho this year. To get there, we took I-80 from Utah to Evanston, WY, then a po-dunk road that took us back to Utah, then back to Wyoming, then into Idaho, back to Wyoming, and finally back to Idaho (where the cabin we stayed in was one mile from the Wyoming border). We got there on Wednesday and unloaded our stuff and took posession of the "Moose Room". We had a beautiful view of the reservoir from our bedroom window! We had dinner together then had river rafting orientation for the river trip. 34 (I think) people were all together!

The next day we got up and had pancakes, then rushed out the door to get to the river ontime for the launch. The rafters went down an 8.5 mile stretch of the Snake River in Wyoming. Jonathan, Dan, and Nolan got to do 2 runs. Julie's sister and her husband were the guides. They loved it! Miles and I went and watched the launch then went to a viewing area and saw them go through "Big Kahuna" and "Lunch Counter" rapids. The boys did run #2 while Miles and I went back to the cabin. After dinner, everyone did their own thing... movies, chatting, playing, Scrabble, etc.

On Friday we all went to Teton National Park. I was telling Dan that I really wanted to see a moose, and that if it was a bull with a big rack I would be really excited. Lucky me! Just before the big visitor's center at the main entrance, lots of cars were pulled over. There was my Mr. Moose! I jumped out of the car before it had completely stopped, ran across the street, and took Mr. Moose's picture!

We met up with the rest of the Belnap clan at Jenny Lake. The plan was to eat lunch, then do a 6 miles hike around Jenny Lake to Hidden Falls and back. Just then, we got hit by a big rainstrom. We ate lunch in our cars as we waited out the storm. After the storm passed, we didn't have time for the whole hike so we compromised and took a boat ride across the lake and hiked .5 miles to the falls then .5 miles back to the dock and took the boat back across the lake. It was beautiful (thank goodness I just proofread this... I had a nice typo... it said "I was beautiful". Ha ha ha!). After dinner, the grandkids did a play of "The Sneetches". It was cute. Then it was off to bed!

Saturday moring was filled with breakfast, family pictures, and cleaning. We left at various times and planned to meet up for dinner at Sizzler in Layton. What Bona didn't know was that this was no regular dinner, it was a belated surprise party for her 75th birthday. It was belated so that all her kids could be there. She was surprised! Several of her siblings and Parley's brother were there. We ate; the sons gave tributes to Bona and they sang her a song. Bona, in the past, has changed the words to a song and made the song about Parley. This time, the brothers changed the words of that song to be all about Bona. It was really funny.

We had such a fun time getting to see everyone. We aren't together very often because some of Dan's brothers live far away... Arizona, Texas, and Japan. It's great to have the chance to reconnect and to watch the cousings play together. See you all in 2 years!

D.O.D.

My "Deal of the Day". This one was pretty good, not my best, but still pretty good. Today I bought 2 boxes of Cheerios, 6 boxes of Trix, 2 gallons of milk, 2 loaves of WW bread, 1 dozen eggs, 2 Twix, 2 Milky Way, and 3 4-packs of Danimals yogurt. Original total was $54.40. I paid $14.91 (that's a 73% savings)!

Another First

I forgot another "cool-to-me" first for Miles. For Christmas, Miles got some baby sign language DVDs. We watch them occasionally, but I use the signs regularly when talking to Miles. I use the sign for "want" multiple times a day. Miles uses it intentionally and correctly as well. It's cool to see him use it. The other night he was eating ramen and I had animal cookies. He clearly communicated via the sign for "want" that he wanted my cookie and when he got it, he was so pleased that I understood (and that he got what he wanted!). Now, if he would just sign "I'd like a nap, please" then I would be in heaven!

A Couple of Firsts

The first "first" applies for Jonathan! Jonathan has been growing long peach fuzz on his upper lip that he's been quite proud of. He even refers to it as his "stash". I hate the ugly fur and have been pestering him to remove it! Well, He is at EFY right now and before he left I had him read the "Dress and Grooming" standards which said "no facial hair". On his own he decided to remove it. So yesterday was Jonathan's first experience with a razor. It was successful!

The second "first" was for Miles. Parents, in general, spend a lot of time teaching their babies what things say... "Zeke... what does doggy say? Woof!" "Lizzie, what does kitty say?... Meow!" Well, we are no exception, except that Dan doesn't do anything the traditional way. Rather than teach Miles his animal sounds, Dan has been focusing on "Miles, What does the lawnmover say?" This is followed by a growl. Dan's teaching persistency has paid off and Miles does his first "What does the __________" say? He'll growl at you when you ask about the lawnmower. Last night, we were going over some things with our renters and they had their weed wacker and mower out and Miles kept crawling over to them and growling at them. It was really cute. Non-traditional, but still really cute!

Baby Food?

What was Dan thinking?

BedHead!

Nolan spends a lot of time in the pool. His hair is severely chlorine damaged which makes for some gnarly bedhead! The end of the swim season/back to school haircut is coming soon!

A Great Swim Meet

Nolan was on fire today! His Medley Relay team dominated their race. He took nearly 2.5 seconds off his 50 free, 3+ seconds off his 25 fly, and had a season best backstroke. As anchor of his free relay team, he chased down another swimmer and clinched the win for his team! His times were fast enough to secure his place at the county meet, so can take next Saturday off and doesn't have to leave the Belnap family reunion early. It was an exciting meet for Nolan (and he'll be bringing home 5 blue ribbons soon!)!

Mini Miles

Miles had his 9 month check-up today. I can't believe his stats... he's skinny? Miles weighs 19# 2 oz. which puts him in the 24% for weight. How? He's got the chunkiest knees and cutest bum-dimples ever! Where are the heavier 76% of the 9 month old boy population? Everyone tells me that Miles is huge... so where are the really big boys? He is 28.5" long which puts him in the 55% for length (which means that weight vs. height, he is too skinny!). I don't get it. It doesn't really matter either... he's still stinkin' cute to me!

Miles & More Miles

So Miles now has 4 teeth. The top two teeth came in within hours of each other. He has already discovered that with top and bottom teeth, he can bite pretzel rods in half! Miles has expanded his vocabulary. He reaches his arms out and says "Bup! Bup! Bup!" until he gets picked up. Here are some more new Miles things...

Miles can clap! He's so proud of himself too!



He also tried a new "big boy" food. He's Jonathan's Brother!

Curious Cat

Yesterday I caught 'Jing peeking out the front door!

Slip-n-Slide

Miles gave Nolan a Sip-n-Slide for his birthday. Yesterday Nolan decided to try it out. Nolan had a great time. He had it going downhill so at the bottom of the slide he was going so fast that he'd fly out of the slide's "catch basin". Miles wasn't too thrilled with the Slip-n-Slide. He liked playing in the spray but didn't like being hit in the face with the spray. Jonathan was being a direction abiding citizen... the instructions said that no one over 5' tall or more than 110 lbs should use the slide. Instead of sliding, he made sure that the slide remained appropriately wet at all times. Dan wasn't instruction abiding at all... he went down it a few times.

Deal of the Day

So "couponing" is my current obsession. I've been busy studying expert couponers' blogs to learn how to use coupons the best way possible. Here's my score of the day, which I figured out on my own! Kraft Mac & Cheese is normally $1.39 a box at Albertsons. There's no way I'd ever pay that much for "Yellow Death". This week it's on sale for $1 a box, which is still a rip-off! Anyway I did buy 10 boxes (to Jonathan's delight) and got a great deal. First, I saved $3.90 just based on the sale price. Then Albertsons is running a buy 10 get $5 off promotion. That took my total down to $5. Next I used 2 "buy 3, get 1 free" coupons which saved me another $2, bringing my total to $3.00 for 10 boxes of Mac. Sales tax was .15, so I paid $3.15. So I got $14.60 (with tax) of "food" for $3.15 Pretty good, right? No... it gets better! Kraft is running a "buy 6 boxes of Mac and get a coupon for $2 off your next shopping trip" promo. That coupon printed at the register after I paid. Then, at the bottom of my receipt, an Albertsons promo survey printed which if I completed it (which I did... called an 1-800 number and answered 3 automated questions) was also worth $2 off my next shopping trip. So to summarize... I bought 10 boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese and handed the cashier $3.15. In return, I got $4 back in "like cash" coupons! I think that was a smokin' deal! Now, hopefully Jonathan will keep eating the Mac and Cheese and not decide it is yucky!

High Ceilings

Here's a benefit of having 9' high ceilings... no bonked heads!

Grocery Score!

I love a great deal and love it more when I just stumble onto one! Yesterday I went to Albertsons because they had a double coupon promotion and I actually had a few coupons. I bought 6 jars of 16 oz Skippy Peanut Butter (because Nolan has decided to chunky is gross) that were regularly $3.29 each, 2 gallons of milk (regularly $1.88 each), and 4 Yoplait yogurts (on sale for .69 each). My initial total was $26.26, but after coupons and sale prices, I paid $5.98 before taxes! That felt good! I think I'm going to look into this coupon thing more seriously!

Army Deserter

Miles has left the army behind, the army crawling that is. For the past 2.5 months he has been the cutest army crawler ever, but recently we noticed that he'd been mixing more of the traditional crawl with his army style. Well, now it's all regular crawl (darn!). I wonder if he qualifies for G.I. bill benefits from being an army man for so long...

Miles & Movies

I've been taking more movies than pictures lately. Miles has discovered the piano. Check out his demanded practice session! He's got some Victor Borge thing going on.



Nolan has a game he likes to play with Miles. It's a baby version of "Chase-Chase"



And tonight we went to Sweet Tomatoes. Miles tried lots of foods. He loved Jello, but found it difficult to eat!

If Today is the 5th of July

that means yesterday must have been the 4th of July! We had a mellow day around here. It was just Miles and me for most of the day in Lindon while Dan and the Big Ones were at the Heber Valley Camp for the Belliston family reunion (I went with Miles on Friday night, but came home because there were "communal cabins" and I was afraid Miles would have a "baby night" and scream all night and irritate our cabinmates). Miles and I spent the day playing, unpacking, organizing, breaking down boxes, and napping. Dan and the Big Ones went canoeing, paddleboating, and challenging coursing (which included a big zip line!). They got home around 7 p.m. Dan and I went to Home Depot and bought 6 more gallons of paint (master bed, master bath, and dining room) then went to Cafe Rio (where we ran into Dan's cousin who livesin Oregon)- no BBQ'ed burgers or ribs for us! We went home and got the Big Ones and went to Pleasant Grove to watch the fireworks. We thought Miles would be excited about the fireworks, but they started too late and he was asleep within 5 minutes of the show starting. So that was our day...what a lazy, and basically atypical way to celebrate the 4th!

When We're Helping We're Happy...

... and we sing as we go. For we like to help mother for we all love her so! Today we worked hard! I got 4 hours of housework out of the older boys. We attacked the PG house today. We got there at 11 a.m. Nolan went to piano and returned around 12:30 p.m. I let Jonathan doink around while Nolan was gone. Then it was lunch time, followed by KIITG (Kick It Into Gear) time. The worked from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Nolan cleaned every set of blinds in the house... 10 2" horizontal blinds. Then he finished sorting the last of the stuff in his room... keep, DI, or trash. Then he helped watch Miles. Jonathan washed every wall in the house. Then he washed the inside of every window in the house. He cleaned all the mirrors. Then he took care of the last stuff left in his room and watched Miles too! As for me... I just watched them work! Hahaha! No, I cleaned the storage room. Collected all the odds-and-ins together. Vacuumed some, did some baseboards, cleaned a toilet and tub, cleaned the stove, washed the refridgerator, washed out the kitchen cabinets, then cleaned all the window sills and tracks (yuck... my least favorite job in the world). We made great progress. Hopefully tomorrow, we can finish the baseboards, attack some grout, wipe out the oven, and check the doors and doorframes for fingerprints. Then, all that's left to do it the touch-up painting, clean the Pergo and tile floors, and get the house rented! The end is in sight!

Miles & Dan

Miles loves his dad!

Golf Tournament

I must start by saying I didn't get any good pictures of Jonathan because his group started at 7:30 a.m. when I was at the pool with Nolan who was at swim team.

Both boys played in the Provo Freedom Festival Youth tournament. They found the day to be educational. They'd never played at Cascade golf course so it was obviously unfamiliar to them. The course wasn't set for junior players so they had long distances to cover. Nolan played 9 holes. Jonathan played 18. The back 9 are referred to as the "mountain course" as they are literally playing on the side of a mountain. Hard! Hard! Hard! They both finished their games though. It was a good experience for them even though they got impressively high scores!.