Girls will be girls

Well I think I brought it on myself. I decided yesterday I was way overdue for a haircut. I just haven't gotten around to making an appointment. I have given myself haircuts many a time. So, I figured I'd just do a little trim because it was driving me crazy. Sydney saw me doing this and of course wanted a haircut too. We didn't have time to do one before getting ready for church though so I promised I would do it later. And I clearly stated "only grown-ups cut hair." I guess she considered herself a grown-up this morning and decided to cut her own hair because and she said, "it was bugging her." So I've done the best I could with it but I'm still debating on whether to take her to a professional or just wait it out and trim it again. There's still a pretty good chunk missing on her left side. I nearly cried when I had to cut 4 1/2 inches off. But I suppose I should be grateful because kids have been known to do much worse!

Natalie became my little sickling this afternoon. We were so looking forward to a family night playing tennis with the Weavers. But we had to cancel. I was also glad she let me know about her ailments when she did because I was gearing up to head to the grocery store with all the kids. That could have been awful. It's so hard watching such a small person be sick. These bibs are great though. The help keep the mess to a minimum.

The great outdoors

Every year for as long as I can remember my family has gone camping up in the Uintah's. Here is the beautiful Trial Lake where we have most often camped. It's not the warmest place to be in the middle of August so my little family has not slept over much in these last few years. Sydney headed up on Thursday afternoon with Kim and Nick and Josh, Tanner, Natalie and I went up just for the day on Friday. I just love the smell of it up there, the fresh air and campfires. We were not up there for the whole time so if you want to see more pictures from the trip click here and here. We weren't there for Sydney's exciting fishing excursion so that's where you can find those pictures.
Natalie was obviously very excited to see Grandma. Sydney said her favorite part of the trip was roasting marshmallows which she did a lot.


While the twins were taking a very short nap I took part in a little sudoku challenge that my parent's always like doing. I was the big loser of the game I'm afraid. I think it is because I play on the computer and it tells you when you've made a mistake. The old fashioned pencil and paper way just doesn't work like that.

During our sudoku match Josh did a little photo shoot with Sydney and got some great pictures. Our camp site was right next to a field of wildflowers and made for some beautiful shots. Cute stuff huh?

Sydney even picked a boquet of flowers for me. She seemed to really like the white ones. And she included the roots with them so I could have brought them home and replanted them!
The sun came out during the afternoon which we were all very happy about because it often rains all day up there. So we took off for a little hike up to Star Lake. The trail is very difficult to find so you just sort of go and hope you're heading in the right direction until you find some trail markers. Sydney got very good at pointing out every pile of rocks for us.


Sydney did a little "fishing" once we got there.

Natalie found a rock that she thought was pretty cool. Doesn't she look kind of like a little monk in her sweatshirt?

Tanner and Grandpa are just enjoying the scenery.

Now here's something you don't see every day at the lake. Adam and Eric did a few dives while up there. I don't imagine the marine life really compared to Cozumel but hey, they looked good!

Lake Powell

Every year my mother's extended family has a family reunion in Lake Powell. We haven't always been able to go since we keep having kids just before the trips, so we were very excited to go this year. My cousin Jeremy and his wife Sharla hosted the gathering on their cruise ship, I mean houseboat. Seriously, this thing is almost twice the size of my house. We are incredibly grateful to them for giving up their master bedroom to our family so we could fit 2 portable cribs in the same room with us. They are so generous! Above is a lovely picture of Peps I when Jer's helicopter was about to land on the top. He was getting just too many of those pesky tickets for landing his helicopter on the shore so now he lands on top of his own property.

Here's a picture of Animal House, Jeremy and Sharla's second houseboat. I guess it was decided that Peps was getting a bit crowded with the 40 of us so this one arrived on the second day of our stay. It's very stylish and appropriately named. It has cheetah patterned carpet and all sorts of animal patterns on the curtains and decor.

Sydney loves hanging out with her 2nd cousins since there are several girls close to her age.

My mom took charge of doing their hair every morning with these cute little hair clips and scrunchies she got them. Here they are all done up before going out to swim.
Sydney spent almost every spare minute outside and went through a lot of sunscreen. She has some pretty good tan lines now!

Natalie loved swimming in the lake which is funny because, as I mentioned in the last post, she has been afraid of swimming.

Tanner was a little unsure about swimming in the lake at first. Usually, he is my brave one when it comes to swimming. After a little while they were both loving it though.

The twins especially like being put in their floaties and passed around a circle.

My aunt Linda bought all the young kids fishing poles to play with. They spent many hours pretending to fish with them. Don't worry, they didn't have real hooks, just little plastic pieces. Here is a picture of Sydney being the fish.

The party just kept getting better and better when Jeremy offered a friendly little game of black jack with and $100 bill sitting on the table for the winner. Gambling with somebody elses money does tend to make it more fun! I snapped a picture before taking the kids out to swim again.


I was really glad we brought these booster seats for the twins. Here's a picture of them eating bananas which they do every morning. It's pretty entertaining because they don't take them out of their mouths. They just push them farther and farther in while chewing and swallowing until they're gone.

Swimming and Hiking

We seem to be doing a lot of these two activities lately. This last week we went swimming up at Josh's parent's condo pool on Monday which Tanner and Sydney both loved and Natalie was scared out of her diaper. She did eventually get a little bit wet while she clung to me for dear life. I didn't get any pictures of this event though.
We went swimming on Friday with Dan and Andrea Graham at their neighborhood pool. We are gonna miss these guys! They're moving to Arizona this week. :( Natalie was much more brave this time around. She got pretty attached to Dan though and just snuggled up with him the whole time. It was very cute.

We finally got another hiking backpack for the babies on ebay and we took it out for a test run on the 24th of July. It seemed to appropriate to celebrate our Pioneer day by doing some hiking. We went up to Donut Falls, my old stomping ground from the days of my youth. I spent many a summer evening playing up there. I hadn't been there in years though since they closed for a while due to reckless people. It's such a pretty hike and easy enough for Sydney to do.

This picture was funny because Sydney kept picking these little purple flowers whenever she saw them. Then we rounded a corner and there were bushes covered with tons of little purple flowers. It stopped her in her tracks.

On Saturday we decided we needed a little more of that fresh mountain air. We went to Lake Blanch this time with no intention of actually finishing it. We did about 1/10 of it and turned around. It is a much steeper and longer hike and unlikely that Sydney would be okay with it. Plus it starting raining just before we got back to the car.

Welcome to the world Noah!

We are very excited to have a cousin on the Ruben side! Up until now my kids have been the only grandkids and now they will have to learn to share the attention with a new baby. Rich and Rachel decided kind of last minute a week or two ago that they were going to move from Orem back to Salt Lake and stay in Kim and Nick's basement apartment for a little while. So yesterday was the big moving day but they missed it because at 4 in the morning they were on their way to the hospital! It's so funny how things work out sometimes. Everyone moved their stuff for them though and hopefully they approve of where they put everything. Noah Brett Poulsen was born around 4:15 weighing 8 lbs. 10 oz. and 20" long. He is absolutely adorable! He's got a nice big head which must be a Ruben thing because 2 of my 3 kids have big heads too.

Here are the cute new parents. Rachel was looking pretty good for just going through a 12 hour labor.

Sydney is taking her photography very seriously these days. She got right in their with everyone else that was snapping pictures. She is thrilled to have a new baby cousin!

Idol Mania

Monday night was the big American Idol concert at the E Center. It was awesome! I didn't get great pictures so it was obviously much cooler to be there than it actually looks. I went with my parents, Rich, Rachel, Adam, and his friend Ellen. Here's a picture of all of them singing at the end looking very tiny.

We had really great seats on the front row of the side. They would have been just slightly better if the lady next to me didn't keep moving right in front of me blocking my view. Ggrrr. So during the second half I moved back a row and could see just great.
It was interesting how much better the last singers were compared the the first ones who were cut from the show earlier on and didn't get as much stage practice. Here's my personal judging of how the concert went. I could totally be the next idol judge.
Chikezie and Ramiele were both sharp and I couldn't understand their words a lot.
Michael Johns was awesome and honestly I don't know why he was voted off the show so early.
Kristy Lee Cook was great on "God bless the USA" which gives me goosebumps no matter who's singing it.
Carly Smithson was at the top of her game. Incredibly strong voice. Here's a picture of her.

Brooke White was amazing and great with the crowd. She and Carly were the best amongst the girls in my opinion.
Jason Castro sounded great and looked goofy as usual.
Syesha was very strong. She sounded a bit like she was yelling at times though and she dressed a little slutty.
David Archuletta was phenomenal and brought more than a few people to tears I think with one of his songs. It was little difficult to hear him well though because people were screaming their heads off. Here's a pic of him.

David Cook was also incredible of course and had a great stage presence.
We were all literally deaf at the end of the concert. I don't think I've ever lost my hearing quite so much before. That can't be healthy. But it sure was fun!

Real Fun

Last Saturday I got to go to my first Real soccer game. Josh has gone to quite a few. His friend Nick gets tickets pretty often and invites him to go. This time he had four tickets so Nick and his wife Heidi invited both of us to come along. This was also a momentous occasion because its the first time we dared leave our kids for several hours with a non-family babysitter since the twins have been born. Fortunately, our 12-year-old babysitter did just great with the whole feeding and going to bed routines. This is very exciting for me because I wouldn't mind going on a dates more often with my hubby!
We had a really great time. Our friends introduced us to a little family owned chinese restaurant called the New Dragon which was quite yummy. We got to the game a few minutes late which was a shame because our team scored in the first 3 minutes. Anyways, the game was great and it turns out I am a lucky charm because they won! They've never won at any of the games Josh has gone to so Nick said he must be a curse. Hee hee. The players were really awesome. It always amazes me how they can head the ball without getting a concusion.