Miscellaneous Utah photos

The Utah mountains had just received a fresh layer of snow, just for us Minnesotans, since we have not had much snow for several winters. And we were not that much below the snow line, but it was at times hot and steamy. We had lunch at the Golden Corral and just happened to pick a table next to the desserts, especially the ice cream machine. Ellie had difficulty eating her lunch. She said, "With that ice cream machine being so close, I can't stop thinking about it." So we eventually gave in and she had a cone and a bowl. She regained her appetite. It's a miracle.

One of the rare moments he did not have his pacifier.

I also had a birthday while visiting Kyle and Tiffany and fam, but I did not want to make any big deal about it. You know, it is just another day anyway. So this was my birthday cake.

Again, I had to wear the birthday hat. Hey, wait a minute! Why didn't Charlie have to wear it and I did?

Since Tiffany is the proud owner of a Vegemite juicer machine (or what ever you call it), she made leftover chocolate cake smoothies for everyone. Mmm, Mmm Good. Oops, I spilled.

Not to worry. I can handle this.

Slurp slurp. Almost done.

See what a good smoothie slurper-upper I am. Cheese.Hi Grampa! It is so funny at times because Charlie would crawl over to you, climb up your pant leg, look up with a sad puppy dog look and you knew what he wanted. Translate: pick me up before I scream.

We played outside on the patio and drew chalk drawings all over the fence. We do this each time we visit. Charlie likes the fresh air.

One morning was movie morning. Ellie watched a movie on Gramma's computer with headphones. It was " Happily Never After". But it was kind of scary so she wanted the earphones off so we could hear the scary parts. Erik watched "The Incredibles" on a portable DVD player

Ellie felt like a big girl.

Group photo before we left. See you next time on Skype.

A day at the fountains

We were kind of bored one afternoon and decided to drive to the Gateway out door shopping center in Salt Lake. There is a central park plaza there that was put in for the 2002 SLC Olympics. It is built of triangular stone slabs with holes. Through the holes squirts water. For most of the time the water squirts out the holes randomly, so you may get hit and you may not. You will be surprised. We were wondering why there were so many teenagers playing in the water fully clothed and asked somebody. They told us they were waiting for the music. Then all of a sudden the Olympic theme song started playing and the water was no longer squirting randomly but it was synchronized to the music. With crescendos the water volume and height increased and really blasted those standing in the middle. Looked like great fun for the young at heart. Good thing we had the kids' swim suits already in place and let them at it. As soon as the music was over the teens disappeared.
Cautiously they approach. What's going to happen? Are we going to get squirted from that hole or not?

Erik decided to stand over a hole to see what would happen. Nothing right now. Ellie on the other hand was dancing and bouncing her way thought the plaza getting blasted now and again and having a ball.

Then it was time to put the baby in the mix. He liked the water on the stones. But I was concerned that he would happen to put his face over one of the water outlets and get water shoved up his nose. Didn't happen so he was okay.

But Charlie just loved it. And all the girls around him were going "ga-ga" over him.

Here he is coming in from one of his swims. "I want to do this again, Mom!"

Here is a little fountain action for you.

A day at the park

We wanted to have some time at the park with the kids. Soooo, we went to the park on the Jordan River.
First it was off to feed the ducks. That was fine until the aggressive and territorial geese showed up and started hissing at us and all the ducks. They wanted all the Honey Nut Cheerios for themselves. Some of the ducks moved to anther spot and got fed but that lasted only a few minutes, when Mr. and Mrs. Goose and family took over that spot too.

Off to the park for kids. Charlie wanted in on the fun too.

Three at once. It would not be fun to have more than this.

I am King of the Jungle Gym.

This is my GQ look.

We spent a lot of time swinging and actually hogged the swings from others. But the kids loved it. I could get Erik really laughing.

Look how high I am going.

With the help of "Aunt" Kjersten, Ellie climbed up and over the ladder.

Eventually Charlie got a bit of a turn on the swing. Great fun.

It was rather hot that day, even with fresh snow on the mountains and we took a break in the shade of a tree. The funnest thing happened there. Ellie, without any prompting decided to hold an entire Sunday Primary class. She had an opening, songs, prayers, she even tried to teach us a brand new, just made up on the spot, song. She told the story of why we have the world and about Adam and Eve. Then she went on to tell the story of Nephi and Laban and the Brass Plates. She did not miss a beat. I do have it on film but it is several hundred megabytes and can't be posted. Even Erik got his turn leading some songs. Then we decided to go home.

Some things that Charlie has discovered.

We found out that Charlie discovered several things in his young life. He discovered his tongue. He loves to blow raspberries. If I made a noise that sounded like a raspberry, he would mimic it with about a pint of spit. But I didn't mind. It was so cute.

He also discovered my mustache. We were sitting in Sunday School class and I had Charlie on my lap facing me. All of a sudden, he reached up and was feeling my mustache. Then he ripped the pacifier out of his mouth (he is married to that thing), opened his mouth like a hungry baby wanting to nurse, reached up and started munching on my mustache. It was so funny. We started laughing. He did it time and time again. We were causing such a ruckus and making others around us laugh too. But I could not stop him. So I just let him continue with his discovery. But after about 15 minutes, it was getting a bit much so I would turn a cheek towards him when he came up for another bite. He did this for about three days afterwards before the newness left. We never got video of it but it sure was fun.

Since Charlie was standing up by himself, it was my mission to make sure that he was walking by his first birthday, the following Wednesday. We worked and worked with him on walking. He could stand unaided, with something in his hands and he was balancing well. He would take a step or so, stop to catch himself and then sometimes take off again. But most of the time it was "PLOP" on his rear. His birthday came and he still was not walking like I wanted him to. But his record was 19 steps, across the living room to the kitchen wall., and that was on his real birthday. Way to go Charlie. We will need to wait for the official walking date from Tiffany. But I tried.

Charlie is One!

I always take the week off for my birthday and most of the time I take a trip. Last year it was a trip to Utah by way of Texas. This year we wanted to spend more time with Kyle and Tiffany and their great kids. So off to Utah we went. We took theRAV4 and I was pleasingly surrprised with the gas milage. It is rated at 26mph on the highway. We avaraged 25.4mph with a 40mph head wind and a 30mph tail wind.

We rang the doorbell and I knelt down to be at eye level with the kids, because I could hear them fumbling with the door knob. The door opened and they saw us with ear to ear grins. It was so fun to see them again after almost a year. Wish they were closer. Charlie was having his first birthday the following week but we had a birthday party for him just a few hours after arriving.

It started with a ball pit, a blow-up pool with about 200 balls. It was kind of an appitizer for the caterpillar party. Erik and Ellie really enjoyed it but Charlie was not so sure this was a fun idea. We had earthquakes and hurricanes and the balls were flying, as well as the kids. Nothing but laughter, except for Charlie - he wanted out. The others played in the ball pit for quite awhile. Close friends and family were there to usher in birthday number 1.

As usual Tiffany out did herself again with the party decorations. And even though Charlie won't remember a thing about them, they were all recorded on digital film.

The creative theme and cake was inspired by the book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and all the snacks were taken right out of the book.

All smiles from Ellie, still in the ball pit.

As was Erik!

Charlie was enjoying one of his presents - an electric toothbrush, so that he would not keep taking his sibling's electric toothbrushes. Well if you buy one at the dollar store, it probably won't work. This one didn't. What do you expect for a buck?

We finally got the actual party started with the birthday cake. Charlie had his own - nobody else was allowed to touch it. There was some extra wind supplied to blow out the one candle but he got his wish and didn't end up with any girl friends.

Charlie didn't know what to think of the plate of sweetness placed in front of him. He started cautiously. This is the before.

Mmm. Tastes kind of good......

I need a bigger bite.

Man, this is really addictive. I hope I don't get any cavities; I have six teeth now, you know.

I am done now. I don't feel so well. Take the remains away. Sugar highs are a fallacy. Notice the gob of frosting on the wall behind the high chair. This is the after.

More blogging of our trip to follow.

Look Out Tyra!!!!

This is the newest America's Top Model. Lorelei loves to dress up, look pretty and pose for pictures. These are all in her port-folio, so enjoy.

Easter Day a Grampa's

It was a beautiful Easter day in Brooklyn Center, warm and sunny. The Barnharts came over in the morning and we watched General Conference projected on the wall. We had Kirstin's and Brett's over during the break and we had a delicious Easter dinner. It was so fun to have them all over, except for Kyle's and we told him that we would have an Easter dinner in Utah next month when we visit. Calvin was wide awake but it seems like only Grampa can quiet him down and that is giving Gramma a complex. Lorelei is her beautiful self and she likes to pose.

This is Gigi's mean girl look.

Joseph is showing off his skills with launching an airplane.

Mom with all four.

All of them still had happy faces on at the end of the day.