My chatterbox

Another post about all the silly and awesome things James is saying:

"I got cries. I got tears. I got many big tears." When he was sad, obviously.

"Where did all the special drink go? In the tummy already." He says this with each and everything he is eating when he finishes it.

"Ohh! Look like a beautiful day!" He says this every single time we go outside, no matter the weather. I love this kid.

"All the deers are already asleep. Tucked in already. It's nighttime!" When we were driving home one evening past his bedtime.

"What's to do today? I want an Activity! Mommy's new car!" He asks me this most days, usually first thing in the morning. He wants to know the plan. He wants an activity!

"Like it so much!"if he likes something. "Don't like it so long!" if he doesn't like it. Love that he adds "so long".

"Good job kid-DOH! Good job smarty pants!" As I'm sure you are aware, we call him kiddo a lot. He has decided it is pronounced kid-DOH with extra emphasis on the doh. If he does something that is nice, good, smart or silly, he congratulates himself.

We had this billboard near the house for awhile and James LOVED it. He asked to drive by the "silly Juliet billboard" every time we got in the car, and when he saw it he said "There's Juliet! Silly face! Silly old gurl!" Totally cracked me up every time. I've never in my life called Juliet (or anyone for that matter) "old girl".

"Another big dark comin' up!" whenever we'd drive under and underpass on the freeway.

"There's a snug-bug! Snugbugs are James's favorite." When we see VW bugs on the road.

"I'm turning to Planters." when he'd eat peanuts. He thought he'd turn into this guy.

"I want a fish taco with candy in it!" when we asked him what he wanted for lunch.

"There's a huge owl! I love to snuggle owls so much." All right then.

"I'm fine!" He says this 100 times a day whenever I suggest something that he doesn't want. "Want more water?" "I'm fine," "Let's get in the tub." "I'm fine."

"It's clean! James tooshie clean!" This cracked me up because I asked him if he was poopy. The funny thing, I always call it his bum, never tooshie. Don't know where he picked that up.

"Don't crash into the wall Mr. Kiddo! I like it totally dark! Thats a good dance!" He loves to do wacky dance before bed. Now he does it in the pitch black. I thought it was so funny when he said "Mr. Kiddo."

"I want to cook bacon! It's delicious!" Well, he's got a point.

"That was totally fun!" after he and E finished another hike to Rocky Mouth Waterfall this weekend.

"Don't like that plan." This is what he says if you ask him to share his toys, or finish his dinner, or go to bed. Ha! Goof!

Above: practicing sitting on the potty. He has yet to pee or poo in there, but he sure does like to request candy for just sitting on it. Nice try kid-DOH!

My week {in Instagram}

Another hot week. Hotter than hot with occasional glorious rain.

1. These two, I am so thankful. I don't take a moment for granted.  2. This boy, he has my heart.


3. Shhhh.... don't tell. Juliet's thighs are so "healthy" that they don't fit in outfits that otherwise fit fine. So we just snap the middle snap and leave the side ones open.  4. Rio Grande for my Mom's birthday. So so awesome. It is our family favorite (I think Juliet has already been three times!)


5. This girl? She keeps getting better and better.  6. Sparklers to celebrate our statehood.


7. A snowcone at Liberty Park. We asked him what flavor he wanted and he said blue! Then said orange, then said blue. The snowcone lady said she could make blue and orange. He was thrilled.  8. One trend I've liked on Instagram (IG) is showing 9 sky photos. I liked it so much I decided to share nine of my sky photos. If you have IG check out the hashtag #oncloud9. You'll be blown away. So much talent.


9. "I feel a raindrop on my head! I feel a raindrop on my back! I feel a raindrop on my shoe! Whoa!" 10. These two...


11. James has quite a fan club these days. She won't take her eyes off him. 12. The moment I say "don't get me soaked" is almost as funny as when he actually does it.


13. More stay at home days this week, due to Juliet's nap schedule regulating a bit, so a lot of time with the water in the backyard.  14. Only half of those times he was naked. ;)


15. My mom's new house is spectacular. It is amazing. I'll have to take more photos soon, it is perfection. 16. A few more shots from our afternoon in Albion Basin.


17. More rock throwing with James. We do this so dang much I made an IG hashtag, #ThrowingRocksWithJames to organize all of the photos I have. 18. Dada, Mama and baby on the train at the zoo.

My goof ball

*All images are courtosy of my sister-in-law Chelsea. Gah, he's a goof.

Red Butte in the summer

Over the years and years of going to Red Butte Garden, we noticed something. We love Red Butte in the spring and the fall. However, we are lucky if we go once in the summer (due to the heat) and once in the winter. It's weird, because we love Red Butte so much, we need to really visit more in the hight of the summer, since all the flowers are their most glorious now.

The fact that yesterday morning was a touch cooler was perfect for walking around the garden. This is the face I got when I asked James to look at Dada and smile. I love his personality. This kid is a goof ball and he can really ham it up when he wants to.

 I am always drawn to red.

 More red. With a butterfly.

And more red. James has two pairs of saltwater sandals, navy blue and red but he asks for the red almost daily.

I've mentioned in almost every Red Butte post that James loves the bridge overlooking the waterfall, it is always were we head to first.

Trying to get a photo of the three of us ended in a lot of jumping. At least E caught the goof ball in the air.

 And then it was my turn to catch of photo of the three of them. At least 2/3 are smiling.

 And there's a baby girl smile.

 Across the floating bridge. Everything is so green and lush!

 Red Butte, we love you. We'll be back.

Rainbow Garden

This morning we celebrated the last day of our long weekend by going to our favorite spot in Salt Lake City: Red Butte Garden. I got lots of photos that are just dying to be shown, but I also did a Rainbow Garden project, which I've done a few of times before (here, here and here).

All these photos are SOOC (no editing, no level adjusting, no saturation changes). These are just how vibrant the colors were. Lovely.

RED

ORANGE 

YELLOW 

GREEN 

 BLUE

 PURPLE

PINK 

WHITE 

Craving more rainbow? Click on the links above. I'll be back with more Red Butte photos. (All photos in this post were taken with my 50mm lens.)

Back to the zoo {with the zoom lens!}

Zoo photos are only somewhat interesting in my book. These animals are not in the wild and are often behind a fence, so most the time zoo photos only turn out so-so.

However, when we went to the zoo last we mentioned that it is silly that we never bring our big zoom lens. We have an awesome zoom that we've never used at the zoo. So today (E took the day off since tomorrow is a state holiday!) we decided to finally break out the zoom at the zoo.

We got there early and the place was packed. We met up with E's mom Connie because she has been dying to see the new exhibit and insisted we invite her next time we see it.

As soon as we got there we zipped down to Rocky Shores and all the animals were active and awake. Seals were swimming and sunbathing.

Polar bears were doing underwater acrobatics.

And the water was so crystal clear, what a treat.

Grizzlies were drinking, swimming and eating. And our zoom is so awesome we caught the drip on this guy's chin.

I think this guy had a corn on the cob, he was happily working on it for quite some time. His claws? Terrifying.

And this huge guy took a dip in his pool. I love his little round ears when you see them from the back.

James wanted to wear his purple shirt again, he asks for it almost daily, so I decided to wear purple stripes too, so I could match my favorite boy.

Although the tiger photos have that pesky fence in the foreground, I still think its a nice shot.

James says the tigers are his favorite, and they are E's favorite too.

Daddy and James keeping a close eye on the elephants.

This little girl is the easiest baby in the land. She happily napped and cooed in her stroller, and then got out and held onto Damma like she was a baby monkey. She would not let go. So many hugs for this little one. And quite a few kisses too.

Zuri, the baby elephant is a few months older than James. It has been so fun to see her grow up along with my two year old.

Dang, love this lens.

More kisses, more hugs.

What a fantastic day.