Zac Gets Brave on the Tramp

We spent the night at my sister's house and that night Zac was out there on the trampoline and I could hear my sister laughing at him. She came to get me to see what my crazy kid was doing and he was indeed doing some pretty funny stuff.

He was flipping for the most part, but one was pretty good, we thought he'd crack his neck.....he got a running start (tramp is in ground), jumped once on the tramp, did a flip, accidentally went for a second flip but didn't quite make the entire flip, he landed on his hands and his body was still up in the air like a handstand, but we thought somehow he biff it after that, but he just collapsed and came running back to do it again, laughing all the way.

We need to get this kid in gymnastics! But here is a video of him the next morning when he woke up, he wanted to do some more flips, but they weren't nearly as exciting as the night before.

Big Bo-Bo on the Head

Zac was playing with a friend named Patrick. He was at our house one night because I was babysitting him. Patrick is only 5, but has the appearance of a Goliath. So of course, when these two get together, Zac thinks he is David and can overthrow him. NEVER does David win in this story.

Upon playing, Zac went flying back and hit his head on the sharpest corner in the house, a real piece of furniture that is actually wood.....so he got a big hole in the head. He cried a bit, but was more interested in seeing the pictures and blood. I had to show him the blood on floor, the blood on my hands and on his shirt. He wasn't crying, he was intrigued. So then comes out the camera. Snapped a shot, "Lemme see, lemme see!" crys out Zachary. On the other hand, this Patrick kid, was screaming, kicking, on the ground crawling around, crying about the blood and that Zac is hurt. I told him to knock that crap off and be a big boy. Every time Zac went near him, he would scream at him, "I don't want to see it, Zac!" and then he would shut himself behind a door. So much for Goliath, who plays those video games where he chops the opponent's head and arms off with a sword?? Go figure.

So I had to make a decision, was this cut deep enough to need stitches or a staple? Zac was all about going to the hospital, but I didn't want to waste time and money if it wasn't necessary. So I had some neighbors come over and take a look. Deboni said, "Maybe you should!" and Russ said, "Let it scab over!" Isaac agreed with Russ, even though Isaac was in Logan and couldn't see what was going on....what's up with Men? They could care less that you have a hole in your head? Let it scab up and be done with it? Gesh!

So I decided to bandage the thing, didn't want more blood in the house from him rubbing it off somehow on the sofa, etc. My nice neighbor Russ helped out! Haha....a little overboard, but had to keep that gauze on the wound and band-aids aren't going to work in your hair. LOOK! This was nearly 12 hours later! Healed up quite nicely. Good thing for the men-folk encouraging the "let it heal on its own" philosophy.

Utah Arts Festival

Face Painting!!! Zac has never forgotten when he saw a girl in the airport wearing face paint. A couple of times I had to get out my black eye shadow and put it on his eyes to appease him. So when we went down to the arts fest, and he knew they had face painting.......he screamed in delight. He sat nice and still for the lady who was going to paint his entire face, not just give him a smiley face on the cheek. He choose an all-over mask.So what the heck is that face, you ask? Well, I think we decided it was supposed to be a Power Ranger. As Zac would call it, "Power Stranger."
Brynlee is a Beautiful Butterfly, Zac the Power Stranger, and Colten is an Orange Tiger! Mawmaw almost bought him a bow and sponge arrows.....but he wouldn't be able to do it by himself.....so I am glad we didn't get it. I don't like toys that need the parents to do it for them. ;)

Talk about some crazy art work. I loved this booth, all metal. They had the cutest and weirdest things built out of bolts and all sorts of things.....this one was a heavy metal guitarist, who was also a skeleton.

Miller Motorsports Park

SO.....Isaac and his Dad came up with a great idea to bike ourselves over to the Motorsports Park and check things out. I thought to myself, what great excersize, and according to Isaac, it was only 5 miles!

I am glad we went, but according to calculations yesterday, it was really a 21-mile bike ride. It was a 9 mile trip in and back was the same, so that makes 18 miles. While we were there, we figure we road around for another 3 miles. We biked all the way around the track, which according to Gary was over 3 miles long.

The wonderful thing about the ride, was that our muscles weren't sore from the ride, so we pat ourselves on the back and say what great shape we are in, right? Well, we were very fatigued. Part of the reason: It stormed on us.

On the way back from the Motorsports Park, it started to rain. It started to get cold. It started to be very windy. The wind pushed against us. The rain hit my arms like little pellets. I couldn't see due to the constant stream of cars going by and splashing us or spraying us. My arms were so cold, I couldn't move them, they were stuck in position. Poor Isaac was having trouble trailing Zac around behind him. Come to find out days later, his gears were messed up and the more he peddled, the less it seemed to get him anywhere.....no wonder he had troubles!? Poor guy. So we will give him the award for having the roughest ride.

We stopped at Virg's....we had to. We walked in and I said to the gal, "I know we look rough. You can sit us in the back if you want to. All we need is some hot chocolate. Got any?" She laughed and said we could sit where ever we wanted to. Then she asked me what my favorite love song was? I was very confused. So I told her and started to sing it. I then asked if I won a competition....Nope....just looked even more stupid then when I walked in. ;)

I go to the bathroom, see myself in the mirror, the mud, the rain, the speckled face. I wanted to go home.......but we were very hopeful. We only had to go a little more before we could shower and be on the sofa for the rest of the day.

We left for our ride just after noon and got home at 6pm. What an adventure. I told Isaac that this was the CRAZIEST thing we have ever done since we were married. He thought that was a blow, but I didn't. Who wakes up one morning and decides to do what we did? AND with a kid??? It really wouldn't have been so exhausting if we didn't get caught up in all the elements of the earth that day. A 21-mile bike ride is great, anyone can do it, the part that you can't understand is the part when the weather turned on us. But hey!, I didn't complain at all! Isaac was so proud of me!

ALL IN ALL........it was a blast and a great memory. I am glad we were able to experience the "wildness" that day had to offer us.

Davenport Canyon Dutch Cookout

We thought we'd head up to White Rock, make some good ole Dutch Oven grub and head home for the night. I told Isaac to grab a key from someone to get through the gate, but he assumed that it would just be open....however, I told him of the last conversation I remember about that gate, was instruction for everyone to keep it LOCKED. Guess who was right? ME! Of course.

We drove around for a while trying to find a small spot that wasn't taken (due to the Memorial visitors up there) and we finally found a spot that was big enough for the three of us and our dutch oven pot right next to the loud rushing, larger than life, stream. We couldn't hear anyone or anything.

He is so funny, he stood there and told me to take his picture. He positioned his [paint] gun and Lake Powell binoculars stood right infront of them for his photo opp!

Beautiful view up there in Davenport Canyon!


I am surprised he climbed inside of this hollow tree with all the bugs that "might" be living in there! Dad told him not to, but I wanted the picture, so I urged him to get on up in there!

Zac didn't wait for dinner.....he was starving. His nuggets tasted like lighter fluid, so he just started to eat the leaves. Strange kid........Even stranger, he doesn't ask if he can use the restroom or tell us he has to pee if he is outside, he just pulls down the pants and goes....this is even if we are at a neighbors house outside visiting. Em- barrassing! They laugh when it is someone else's lawn, but when it is their's....they can't believe it!

Memorial Celebration at the Mardanlou's

Addy and Gracie are the center of Zac's universe! I am surprised he survives between each visit. With Isaac up in Logan, we should head out early one morning and go visit them...stay all day long and let him get his tank full. It is sooo nice that they get along so well. We just love the Keisel girls! Who needs boys??!!

Mother's Day

This peacock was funny. Every time I tried to get a picture with him, he turned away from me, and the photographer, my mom, took about 10 shoots before we tricked him and got a good one!

For my Mother's Day celebration, my mother took me and the dudes to La Caille. Zac got to sit through a 4-course meal! Being the picker eater that he is, he only ate the vienna sausage we brought with us for him! Yuck! He didn't even eat the delicious swan pastry infront of him in the photo. He is seriously missing out on the finer things of life.

Easter Day!

Easter morning has arrived! The Easter Bunny, as tradition, hides the kids' baskets around the house. They don't get to see the fun inside their basket, or in this case, bucket, until they find it. So where was it Zac??!! In the dryer?! Wow! Good thing no one turned it on! Talk about some seriously, potentially, melted candy and plastic mess in there.

We went over to Gpa Ratcliffe's house for the egg hunt with other cousins. Zac wouldn't pick up the ones that were put in the potted plants...they were too dirty! Who's been teaching him crazy stuff like that, I wonder?! Hahaa...

Easter Eve - Making the Eggs

It was a first for Zac, coloring eggs for the Easter Bunny. He had a blast, and still talks about it to this day (yes, it is the very last day in May and Easter was forever long ago, but I am not good at keeping up this blog!)

After we colored the eggs, he hid them downstairs for the bunny to find....then we worked on trying to get all that food coloring off of his hands!

Wanted: Missing Easter Bunny ..... FOUND!

He's been stuck in a cage, looking pretty

miserable and old. Anyone have a comb?

Rockstar Pets

Rockstar Pets: Where scales, feathers and fur ROCK!

When we say Zac loves animals, we mean...ALL animals. We took him to Rockstar Pets in grand ole' Tooele, Utah and actually had a good time, although you come out of their smelling like a swamp. The animals were all very lively, even the snakes. They were crawling up the walls, sticking their tounges out at us, and even hissing! Frogs were climbing up their walls and sticking up to the top. The poor lizzard was trying to climb up too, but had no luck. The rats all stood up on an upside-down bowl to see Zac. They stood on their hind legs and weren't very stable, a bit wobbly...they appeared to be the Three Blind Mice. Since I had my camera in my purse, I got it out and started flashing away! The workers were really friendly and actually liked that I was aking "interest" in their pets.