liar, liar, pants on fire!

it happened all of a sudden. i wasn't expecting it at all, though, i SHOULD have. isaiah with his creative mind, began "coloring" up the truth quite a bit. on our way to the albuquerque airport, just after our very short visit to see uncle chris at his homecoming, i looked down at isaiah's most favorite pants...his "camo" pants. there was a huge rip in the knee and it hadn't been there before - not even a worn down spot. so i asked him, "isaiah, how did you rip your pants?" he began, "well, mom. i was wrestling a bear and then he just wrecked my pants!" really?? "um, no. actually, i was riding on a dinosaur and he ripped them with his teeth!" is that so? "hmm, yep." i just hope this doesn't spread. my little liar. i'm gonna have to do something about this - after i write down all the good ones! makayah on the other hand, is still expanding her vocabulary. i'm not sure if i wrote this one down...but, she's taken to growling certain words, like "milk." i bursted out laughing the first time i heard her say it. and now she continues, just to get a laugh. and her favorite nonsensical phrase is, "eet, eet, NANA!" she sorta sings it. i listened as she said it for the 50th time and laughed, "i don't know why that's so funny!" isaiah was nearby, giggled, shook his head, and said, "me either!" however rascally they are, and however destructive makayah is, they sure do brighten up my day with the crazy funny wit they inherited from their daddy!

more on canada...

so we're back home in provo now. but i'll share some of our last shots in alberta. sam met up with us last thursday, what a LIFESAVER! the kids went crazy without him there, screaming hysterically, crying out, "WHERE'S DADDY?! WE MISS OUR DADDY!" and drama queen makayah began showing signs of illness, which later disappeared once she saw her daddy the next day. thank goodness! however, before i get into when sam came, here are some things that went on just before he showed up. earlier that week, we took isaiah to sam's uncle to give him some "batman teeth." unfortunately, he had a couple cavities, but they decided to just cap all his molars so we wouldn't have to go through this a second time. good thinking! so we made our way up to edmonton - which is a four hour drive from calgary...well, without kids i think it would be closer to 3 hours. anyway, isaiah and makayah loved visiting their crowfoot cousins. they had such a blast playing with all the cool toys, but i think they loved the trampoline the best. once or twice, we had to tell isaiah to stop bouncing so makayah could actually jump. but, isaiah just had too much fun bouncing her to the ground, and she- for a while, laughed her head off...and then several minutes later, she finally had enough. once she was off, i came on...its been years since i've had a trampoline. i think its time to get one! so this was all the night before isaiah went into surgery. i was a little worried about it, hoping that isaiah wouldn't be too sad. so, to ease my guilt, i allowed him to stay up until midnight, playing with his cousins, banging on the drum set, and playing with the pool table. the next morning went by in a blur. we arrived, isaiah was knocked out (whew!), and then he woke up a half hour later. he was pretty upset. but the thing was he was so out of it, so disoriented. it took me a couple minutes to console him and calm him down, and then he was fast asleep. after his half hour nap, he woke up dazed and confused...but happy. so here he is with his new set of batman teeth. the great thing is, he thinks they're pretty cool, and i'm not about to argue with him! and as they eagerly awaited their daddy's arrival, they had a blast with grandpa crowfoot and the tractor rides! so a couple days later, on thursday, sam flew in. that night he hung out with one of his long lost friends, and went to his punk concert. the next day, we went to the calgary zoo... after renting a wagon for our two little monkeys, and grabbing a bite to eat at the zoo cafe, we were on our way...first stop - the hippos. they were so incredibly close, i've never seen them that close up before. i seriously could've touched one, if i wanted to risk losing my limbs. but it was awesome, and the kids were mesmerized. it was makayah's first trip to the zoo...ever! and she ate up every minute. she tried making animal noises...mostly puppy barks, in an attempt to communicate with the various beasts. its so much fun to see things through their eyes...i mean, to only be in the world for two short years, so many new and wondrous creatures to see, the entire world yet to be explored. every animal fascinated her to say the least. and here is our little zoo veteran. lucky isaiah had the chance to see the brand new baby gorilla snoozin' right by the glass. the mama gorilla tried to wake her baby up to take him away from prying eyes, but the baby was OUT! isaiah sat by the glass watching the baby for several minutes when finally he turned to me and asked,"mom, when am I going to have a baby blother?" hmm. someday isaiah, someday. once i read that the daddy gorilla was thirty years old, i just had to get a picture of the two overprotective fathers. we tried taking a family shot here...but makayah wasn't in the picture-taking mood, and tried to slip out of the shot before daddy could snatch her back in...she's fine, really. ;) Anyway, we had tons of fun. and lots of laughs with everyone! there are so many more pictures with the uncles and grandmas and grandpa...so i will make a slideshow, i promise! love you and miss you!

"we're in CANADA!"

"are we there yet? are we there yet?" after 2 days of traveling, i could finally tell isaiah, "YES! we're here!" i wasn't sure how the long drive up to calgary was gonna go without sam. but thankfully, gramma crowfoot (sam's mom) was able to drive up with us. and thank goodness for portable DVD players!! so, it really wasn't too bad. the kids were great until around 8pm (their bedtime) and an hour later we were taking bubble baths and jumping on the hotel beds. needless to say, isaiah and makayah just couldn't wait to get to CANADA. as soon as we drove onto the acreage, and isaiah saw gramma and grampa's house, he yelled out, "i see CANADA!" a week has gone by since we arrived and we've had soooo much fun. the day i thought i was going to need 3 root canals (and turns out i was being a hypochondriac - sam's uncle deb said there was absolutely nothing wrong with my teeth, but that he'd give me the root canals if i really wanted- and i'm sure he thought i was crazy, because i actually did consider this, but in the end decided to take the splint to end my teeth grinding...and after a new toothbrush and tube of colgate sensitive toothpaste, my teeth really did feel all better!) so anyway, like i was saying, after the non-root canal situation we bumped into great granpa crowfoot. he was soooo excited to see the kids and we took advantage of the photo op. after a while we said our goodbyes and headed for drumheller and the "awesomest" dinosaur museum. we tried to get most of the ferocious t-rex, but it was pretty dark...and spooky! isaiah asked why the dinosaurs had to die...hmm, maybe cuz they'd stomp us to death with their monstrous feet! ...or swallow us whole! by the way, isaiah has a killer smile! mwah! i love this little guy. on our way to the prehistoric past...the kids just couldn't wait, they were like jumping jellybeans-the excitement was just too much to bare! lost in the jungles of the crestacious period (???), who knows!? and of course, my baby pakayah just chillin' next to the stegosaurus. "mommy, i'll never get to ride on a dinosaur.:(" here's your chance isaiah, hop on! makayah was fascinated with the turtle...so much so that she fell off the little step stool and took her frustration out on me, and gave crusty looks to everyone around us trying to cheer her up. "i don't think so..." the triceratops was my personal fave... the wooly mammoth was pretty cool too! makayah and her grandma crowfoot! after the going through the exhibits, we were starved! so after we snagged two dino-pinchers from the gift shop and pizza from the cafe, we were happily on our way back home. we had such an awesome time with grandma crowfoot...thank you!! after seeing all the dinosaurs, isaiah is obsessed! can we read a dinosaur book? can we sing a dinosaur song? we sure missed our daddy though! so we're saving the calgary zoo for when he meets up with us tomorrow!!! there'll be more posts later on. it took me a while to find the cord to download these pictures! love and miss you all!!!