Paige 'gets' Grandma

I am currently helping Doug's mom type out some journal entries. I thought this one was particularly funny about Paige and thought you would enjoy it also. This is written by her:

Paige and Preston stayed with grandma on Saturday, May 3rd for a couple of hours while Doug and Shauna went to the temple. Grandma, Paige and Preston went outside. It was a beautiful morning and Paige kept saying, “I really like this day, Grandma.” She said that three or four times and then she disappeared. I asked Preston where she was. He said, “She’s in the house.” I looked in the backdoors and could see her sitting on the couch watching TV. I knocked on the door and called her name. She just sat there looking at the TV. It was then I noticed the door was locked. Again I knocked and yelled. She didn’t even blink. I knocked harder and harder and yelled louder and louder. She still didn’t even blink. Now I was yelling and hitting the door. Finally, after two or three more yells, she just calmly got up and came and unlocked the door and turned without a word and sat on the couch and was watching TV. I said, “Paige, why did you lock me out?” After a couple of minutes she looked at me and said, “Grandma, I’m sorry for locking you out,” and went back to the TV. It was over.

Heeeeeere We Gooooo .....

Our long awaited trip finally arrived - and is now past and gone. Thank heavens we have pictures to preserve the memory. I'll take up several posts with our trip pictures. I hope you enjoy them.

We left on the 4th of July and stayed at the Green Valley Ranch outside of Las Vegas. They had a special firework show at the resort that we watched on comfortable couches spread out on the grass. The only people who could be down in the area where we were was guests of the resort. That was fun. There were a lot of people there and most of them were not allowed in the grassy area where we were. We thought it was pretty fancy to be sitting on a couch with extra pillows. And luckily there were pillows because I had to use one of them to cover mine and Preston's heads from all the debris falling on us from the fireworks. It was a spectacular show (other than the debris).

We were surprised at how nice this resort was. They had free valet parking (tip only) and brought our bags to our room. When we went out to the pool area there was a little beach for the kids to play in.After a long drive the day before it was nice to relax, although extremely hot and dry. When we came out to play at the beach one of the hotel workers asked if we needed some chairs and how many. He went and found two lounge chairs for us and dragged them over. We also got 4 giant towels for our use at the pool. I guess you could say we're not used to these luxuries, so it was a novelty for us.
I guess it was too much for Paige. She came up and got cozy on my lap and fell asleep. I love that. So I was happy as a clam holding my little girl while Doug had to get all wet playing with Preston. Ha ha!!We had to take a picture of these beds. There were 5-6 of them lined up above the pool area. They were huge and complete with comfy pillows. I guess this is for someone living the high life. We didn't even know what to do with them other than get on and take a picture.Since we were "living the high life" we decided to go to the Terra Verde Restaurant inside the hotel. This is the restaurant that was featured on the TV show 'Hell's Kitchen', which we really like to watch. The prize at the end of the show is to win a spot as an executive chef at a new restaurant through a process of elimination. I think it was last season's winner, Rock, who used to run this restaurant. We found out he didn't do so hot and wasn't running it anymore. Well, we spent $120 on some bad food. The calzone I had was soggy with the sauce. I won't go into detail on all our food, but so much for the high life. We'll make do with peanut butter sandwiches and McDonalds and an occasional trip to P.F. Chang or Olive Garden.

It's official ...

Paige can now officially ride a bike. I had noticed this summer that quite often she was balancing on her bike and didn't know it. She relied on the training wheels, but I was pretty sure if she tried she could ride her bike. Her training wheels would occasionally flip up when she would go over a big bump and she would tip over. On this day her wheel had flipped up and we fixed it. It flipped up a second time and she sat there for a second and came up with a grand idea, "Why don't I just balance?" We agreed that was a great idea. She rode around like that with one side flipped up for about 5-10 minutes and then asked us to take her training wheels off. Within another ten minutes she was riding her bike. It's a cherished moment for a parent.

Paige loves to ride around the block with dad.

An action shot.

Paige and Preston ride around on their bikes pretty much every evening and quite often are joined by a few neighbor kids. They have a great time. Preston refuses to use the pedals. He pushes with his feet and can go very fast that way. We think it's funny.

A cute picture of my baby boy.

What is he up to?

Preston came up to me this morning all mischevious-like and quiet. What is he doing?

Aaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!! Don't scare me!! He thought he was quite the funny man.

Paige's Display

Here are two more of Paige's displays. She loves her toys.

A Day Out With Thomas - May 23rd

We thought this train ride was expensive, but it has paid dividends for many months afterwards. Nearly every day Preston comes up to me or Doug and says, "We rode on Thomas today." We talk to him about it and he is always very excited. It was well worth the money paid for the happiness it created. Paige is shown here enjoying the last of a huge puff of cotton candy.

The train ride lasted about 25 minutes. We saw a lot of people looking out their windows as we puffed by their homes showing their kids the train. Thomas was at the front end of the train for show and another engine was at the back and actually pulled the train, but the kids don't need to know that. As long as they've seen Thomas attached to the train, as far as they're concerned they're 'Riding on Thomas'.

Preston sat with his face against the glass enjoying every bit of his ride.

After our ride we were able to go and climb on other trains that were in the yard.

There was a booth set up with all kinds of Thomas toys to play with. This was a popular attraction. Preston got upset that another kid was already playing with the Thomas train, so he found this boxcar that looked like the one we rode and he was thrilled with it. Even after Thomas was available (because mommy watched the little boy who was playing with it closely and when he had to go potty, mommy nabbed Thomas), Preston wanted the boxcar - and after all that watchful work!

Preston wanted to go around and around the table with his boxcar. He didn't care who was in his way. Adults move and are understanding, but never mind the little baby who couldn't walk yet. Yes, Preston tried to push her out of the way too. Her grandma picked her up when Preston came around and put her back when he went through. It's nice when people understand and help the situation instead of getting upset.

A long day for dad.

Paige spent a lot of time building the perfect Thomas train car. She had a good share of the pieces by the time she was done.

She's very proud of her work.

Bye bye, Thomas. We love you!

Park City

We took a two night trip to Park City to listen to a time share presentation. I know, we're idiots! And it was really fun up until the presentation. The girl was nice and friendly until we made it clear we weren't interested. Then all of a sudden she didn't seem to like us much anymore. I'm sorry, but I just hadn't planned on coming up to stay at this 5-star hotel only to be told we would be going back down to the Holiday Inn until our presentation the next day. I think I'll go ahead and keep my $25,000 instead of getting a nice luxurious trip every other year. Yeah, what a bargain.

So here is proof of our trip. It's just us with a different background. But as always, the kids are so cute. And our friends Royce & Danielle and their kids came up to stay with us on the second night. We had a great time with them. Unfortunately, we had already put the camera away. Sorry Royce and Nano.

Paige found this hat at Old Navy and begged us to get it. We finally relented and she has worn it quite a bit since. She likes it flipped down and she looks so cute in it. Thumbs up, dude!