Clayson Camp Out 2014

We have another camping trip done and in the books!  This past weekend the entire Clayson clan (Nana's side of the family) got together for our annual camp out reunion.  We've been doing this for the past 4 years now and it's something that we all look forward too.

We camped up Payson canyon, just above the lakes at a really nice, green, flat spot.  We had quite the crew this year.  The kids had a blast playing together, for the most part.  Poor Tyke met up with his little cousin Jeter and they did NOT get along too well.  Jeter is about six months older than Tyke and he let him know who was boss.  Tyke shed a lot of tears but by the end of camp they seemed to be friends.  For meals we all took turns cooking.  We ate super good food, as always!

Friday night our little family made it up the canyon late.  Chad had had to work until seven or so.  Tyke and I did some last minute grocery shopping while we waited for him to get off work.  As soon as he was done we grabbed a bite to eat (because we knew we'd be too late for dinner up the canyon) and headed on up the canyon.  It was freezing up the canyon!  It was still daylight but getting dark fast.  We got things situated while Tyke got busy playing with his cousins in the dirt.  Tyke had a rough night Friday night.  He had fallen asleep in our arms while sitting around the campfire and was super upset when we took him inside and changed him into his pajamas.  He scrame and scrame for nearly an hour.  It was a hurt/scared scream and there was nothing we could do to calm him down.  Chad and I just looked at each other clueless.  We finally got him calmed down by giving him a cell phone to play games, and a flashlight to play with.  We checked his mouth to see if his new molar had popped through yet and sure enough that was the problem.  It was finally starting to break through and not just a little bit but the whole thing at once.  His poor gums were swollen and tore up.  Poor guy!  We gave him some Motrin and he finally took his bottle and fell fast asleep.  It was nearly 1:30 a.m. before we were all finally able to crash.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early.  I woke up around 5:30 a.m. starving so I had some yogurt and tried my hardest to go back to bed.  It was too short of a night for me to be up already.  I finally dozed off sometime after 6 a.m. just to be woken up by Tyke, leaning over my shoulder and yelling: "MOM! MOM!" like he always does.  I love waking up to my little alarm clock!!  It was 7:30 a.m., too early, but we got up and Tyke hopped off the bed to hurry and go wake up his Daddy.  He's fun like that in the mornings!  For the record, we sleep in separate beds when camping because there's no way all three of us will fit on the full size bed and Tyke won't sleep by himself.  So Chad takes the bed, and Tyke and I turn the table into a bed and sleep there.  It's a lot more comfy for me too being so preggo, to have a more firm bed and some moving room.  That morning we had a yummy breakfast of biscuits and gravy, hash browns, eggs, bacon and ham.  Tyke didn't eat too well, in fact he slapped his plate and half of his food ended up in the dirt.  Eventually we got him to eat a little bit.  We spent the morning sitting around the fire pit visiting.  It started to get hot so out came the awnings for some shade and we all grouped together under them.

The kids were able to talk us all into going swimming at Payson lake.  They got their floating toys blown up, swim suits on, and loaded up in the back of Uncle Merrill's pickup truck.  Chris & Danielle and us decided we'd do some fishing instead because we hadn't packed swim suits.  Once we were finally able to get into the lake's parking lot, and saw how much fun the kids were having, we decided to leave our poles in the truck and just hang out.  Luckily I did have a swimsuit for Tyke in his diaper bag.  He was freaking out about the water so we hurried and changed him, I rolled up my pant legs, and we headed for the water.  He is seriously a little fish!  He loved it!  The water was a little too cold for me but it didn't phase Tyke one bit.  He kept trying to walk out deeper than he should have and he would get so mad at me for stopping him.  He's a stubborn, determined little guy and wants to do what he wants to do, NOW!  We played in the water for quite a while before I made him take a break to warm up and eat some snacks.  After playing for a couple of hours we all decided it was time to head back to camp to rest.  Tyke got to ride in the back of the truck for the very first time.  He sat with Uncle Chris, Aunt Danielle, Waylon and Autumn.  He LOVED it!!!!  He had so much fun not being strapped in (yes this made his Momma nervous but it's tradition and something we've all done, so he had to experience it) and waving to the cars behind us.

That night for dinner everyone cooked.  A few of us cooked the meat, a few of us cooked the side dishes, and a few of us cooked dessert.  It was a yummy meal of dutch oven BBQ chicken, ribs, yummy potatoes, corn on the cob and rolls complete with two different kinds of cobbler and ice cream.  It was the perfect ending to our day!  Tyke chowed down on the yummy potatoes, roll and corn.  He wasn't a huge fan of the chicken.  He can be so picky sometimes.  After dinner I took Tyke inside to bath him and get him ready for bed.  He was exhausted from such a fun day and we didn't want a repeat of the night before.  After his bath I checked his mouth, his new molar still looked really sore, so I gave him some Motrin, rubbed a little peppermint oil on his gums and got him his bottle.  I bundled him up in blankets and we went and sat around the campfire until he fell asleep which didn't take long.  Tyke slept through the night like a champ!  We all did.

Sunday morning our family was in charge of breakfast.  We got the food prepared, mountain man breakfast, while the rest of the camp loaded up their stuff and cleaned.  As soon as breakfast was over everyone headed out except for the Long's.  We spent the afternoon hanging out and visiting, and rearranging our camp trailers positions because we decided we'd come back next weekend for some more camping.  It was nearly 5 p.m. before we got home.  It was nice to have a relaxing day with minimal cleanup!

We had such a great time, as usual, at the Clayson camp out!  Everyone had so much fun that we are thinking about doing it twice a summer from now on.  Time will tell if that happens or not.

Splash Pad Fun!

We had the best time last night!  Nana was kind enough to take the entire Long family swimming at the Provo Rec Center!  We had a blast and our little guy couldn't get enough of the water.  Tyke loved splashing his cousins, kicking his feet as hard as he could while I layed him on his back, and dunking his face in the water (which nearly gave his Momma and Daddy a heart attack each time!)  Tyke has NO fear of the water and it makes me happy but also very nervous.  We had to keep a very close eye on him which drove him crazy I'm sure, but he is just too brave!

Tyke refused to leave the water, even though his arms were purple and his little lips were turning blue.  He was covered in goose bumps and his teeth were chattering.  I kept asking him if we should get out and he would violently shake his head no while yelling "NO!"  He loved it!  I took him down a water slide, which he wasn't too fond of, and in the lazy river, which he loved.  I finally won the battle to take a break from the water.  We headed back to our saved spot on the lawn and took a good break to warm up and eat some snacks.  As soon as Aunt Jenny offered to take Tyke back into the water though, he was gone!  It was so much fun watching him play and grin from ear to ear.  Tyke loves his cousins, he loves water, and he loves being outside so it was a perfect combo.

After swimming for what seemed like forever (but was really only two hours max) we all gathered outside the pool gates and had a little picnic.  Nana took care of everything and it was so nice!  We had chicken salad sandwiches and potato salad.  Tyke was way too busy to eat anything other than veggie straws.  He was having fun loving on McKenna and chasing Quade around the park.  We sat and visited for a while and finally decided we were all exhausted and ready to go home.  Tyke fell asleep as soon as we got on the freeway and slept the entire night!  He barely stirred when we changed him into his jammies.  He was one exhausted boy from playing way too hard!  Thanks for such a great time Nana!!!

Little Beggar!

This child of ours is a little beggar!  Last night for dinner we decided to go to the local Mexican restaurant since neither one of us were in the mood to cook.  Chad and I had our usual and Tyke munched on some yummy chicken nuggets, fries, and tortilla chips.  He even got brave and dipped his chips in some salsa but wasn't too sure of that.  After we were done eating and had received our bill we sat and talked for a few minutes.  The new owner/cook came out with a big bowl of fried ice cream and sat two tables away from us to take a break.  Tyke stared him, and his ice cream, down and would not take his gaze off of him.  He kept exclaiming: "Mmmm! Mmmm! Mmmm!" to this guy.  The owner asked us if Tyke liked ice cream and we told him that yes he's a fan.  After a few moments he got up and disappeared and brought Tyke out his own giant bowl of fried ice cream!  Tyke was so excited and grinned from ear to ear!  He told the nice guy thank you twice and then quickly grabbed the cherry from on top!  He played with it for a few seconds, grabbing the chocolate and whipped cream off and eating that, then he wasn't quite sure what to do with it so I helped him eat it.  He pretty much just sucked the juice from it and then decided he didn't want it.  He devoured his share of ice cream, which wasn't much, and kept exclaiming: "Mmmm!" with a big satisfied grin on his cute little mug.  Chad and I enjoyed the ice cream too, in fact it was probably the best fried ice cream either of us have ever had!  When we were finished, we walked Tyke over to the nice man that had given us our ice cream and Tyke gave him knucks and then turned super shy.  Thanks for the free ice cream!  We love our little beggar!

More Honey!!

Yesterday was cold!  It was so cold in fact that we ended up with a fresh blanket of snow on the mountain!  It was a perfect fall feeling day so for dinner we made potato soup and homemade corn bread.  I figured Tyke would be OK eating it because the soup had the consistency of sausage gravy and he loves that stuff!  Well he refused to eat the soup and the bread and instead spent meal time scooping the soup out of his bowl and piling it on his corn bread.  Occasionally he would take a bite or two but he didn't really eat too well, until his Daddy introduced him to honey.  I had put a little bit of honey on the bread to begin with as soon as it had come out of the oven.  Once Chad poured a little on Tyke's bread though, Tyke stuck his finger in it, licked it, pull a disgusted face and exclaimed: "MMMmmm!!!!"  And then he couldn't get enough of the the gold stuff!  He kept begging for more and more until finally his bread was drenched and we hid the honey from him.  He was heartbroken!  He seriously broke down in tears when we told him he couldn't have any more honey (we were worried about over doing it, we're still careful with honey and peanut butter even though he's shown no signs of food allergies).  He cried the saddest little cry ever to try and guilt us into giving him more but we're mean and just laughed at his cute little self.  He eventually couldn't keep up his gig and started laughing, then crying, then laughing and so on.  He couldn't decide what he wanted to do but he sure wanted more honey and every time we said the word "no" the tears would start falling again.  This little guy sure knows how to work his Momma and Dadda but we were tough last night and didn't give in.

And yes, it was fun trying to scrub the honey and soup out of his hair!  

17 Months Old

Tyke is now 17 months old and getting more and more sassy and fun!  He is developing the cutest little personality.  He's a very determined, stubborn, adventurous little guy.  He knows what he wants and how to get it.  He can be sneaky at times if he's doing something he knows he shouldn't be.  He's just so much fun to watch learn and grow!

Tyke is a smart little feller.  He knows how things are supposed to be in life.  He goes to the babysitters with Daddy every morning, waffle and sippy cup in hand.  If for some reason Chad has to work extra early I take Tyke to the sitters and this does not sit well with him.  He constantly asks me where his Dadda is?!  I think it messes up his whole day when we switch this routine up.  Other routines he has down pat are, when it's time to eat and he knows it he will run right over to his high chair and wait for us to put him in and give him his food.   He blows on his dinner before digging in.  He eats like his Granny Gaye.  After nearly every bite he looks at us and exclaims "mmmm!" with happy eyes and a small smile.  After dinner time it's bath time.  After asking Tyke if he's ready for a bath he ducks his head and takes off running for the bathroom, swings the door open, pulls back the shower curtain and tries, but can't, to turn on the water.  We turn the water on for him and he constantly sticks his little hands under it to check the temp.  As soon as it's too warm he pulls out and looks at us with a wide open mouth and big eyes and whispers "hoooottttt!"  It's adorable!  We adjust the water temp, strip him down and put him in.  He loves his bath time and hates when it's over with.

Our little guy is so good to help us out with so many things.  He brushes his own teeth.  He occasionally tries to comb his own hair.  He rubs his Mommy's back when she doesn't feel good.  He helps get himself dressed, when he wants to.  For the most part he hates putting on clothes but once we get started he helps put his arms and legs in and will even bring us his shoes to put on him.  Tyke is obsessed with the vacuum and wants so badly to be able to help push it around but it's too heavy for just him, and he doesn't want our assistance.  He's a very independent little thing!  Tyke will, for the most part, help put his toys away.  He likes to turn on the surround sound and then points and the TV for us to turn on his cartoons.  Tyke almost always helps close doors behind us.  He always helps his Daddy go get the mail and then he proudly brings it too me.  He loves to help water the garden and lawn.  And he is just itching to get outside and help Daddy mow when Daddy mows the lawn once a week.  It drives Tyke absolutely crazy to be stuck inside watching out the window.  He squeals and waves at his Dadda the entire time.

Tyke's vocabulary continues to grow.  He will try his hardest to repeat what we've said but most of the time it's still jibberish.  His favorite phrase, and answer to nearly everything, is: "umm, nah!" (Um, no!)  He uses it quite often and it's always used right.  Like when I ask if he needs his diaper changes, wants lotion, etc, all things he dislikes.  Tyke can say powder (pow pow) and requests it a every diaper change.  He also says "bra-ber" (brother), "Bow Bow!" (for Bowdee), bampa, momma (nearly a million times a day, and I love it!), bye, later, bir (bird), ba (bath), pooh (Pooh Bear).  We sure love hearing him try to say new things!

Tyke's is growing like a weed but his clothes, shoe and diaper sizes haven't changed much at all.  He's getting tall!  He wears a size 6 shoe, they're a little on the big size but 5 1/2's are too small.  He's in 18-24 month clothes.  18 month pants/shorts and 18-24 month shirts.  The 24 month shirts seem to fit him a lot better.  Tyke is still in size 4 diapers.  And our little guy still only has 9 teeth with a couple more on the way!

We love our little Tyke so much it's hard to try to put it into words!  He is so much fun and such a good, happy little boy.  He's a goofball and likes to make us laugh.  He likes to tease, he likes to laugh, he likes to play.  He's just perfect!

Father's Day 2014

Happy 2nd Father's Day to our favorite person!!!  We had such a great Father's Day weekend!  Sunday morning Tyke delivered his gifts to his Dadda.  Chad got some new shirts and a movie.  Afterwards we hurried and got ready for the day and took Chad out for breakfast at Lisa's Country Kitchen.  Tyke enjoyed sitting in a booster seat like a big boy and eating his biscuits and gravy (it's pretty much his favorite breakfast).  After breakfast we went back home and relaxed for a while before heading out to Bampa and Grandma's house for a big Kay family BBQ.  We had a yummy BBQ of hamburgers and hot dogs along with a lot of different potluck items.  It was fun visit with the fam, and Tyke had fun playing with Kayson and Swasey.  After everything got cleaned up it was time for a big game of volleyball.  It's almost tradition to play a game or two when we all get together.  Tyke and I enjoyed watching from the balcony and staying out of the action.  It was a great day and we're so grateful for the father's in our lives.  

Happy Father's Day to the best Dadda ever!!

20+ Weeks

We have officially hit the halfway mark!  I can't even explain how excited I am for this!  And at the same time depressed because we're only at the halfway mark, sigh...  I can honestly say though that this pregnancy is flying right by compared to our last one.  I don't know if it's because I know what to expect, Tyke keeps us busy, or the fact that we were able to wait so long to announce it.  It may be a combination of the three, whatever it is though I'm loving it!

I haven't had any strange cravings so to speak.  My cravings for pickles is long gone, thank goodness.  I can't stand the thought of chocolate but I've been drinking chocolate milk, which for me is strange since I hate milk too!  I crave a lot of veggies with ranch and salads.  My salt cravings are starting to ease up thanks to changing my meds but I still use more than I probably should.  And the last strange thing that I can think of is I can't eat meat of any kind that has been mixed in with other foods.  Like hamburger and rice, chicken fettuccine, etc.  I have to dig the meat out because it makes me gag to try and eat it all together like a normal person.  Odd, I know.

My clothes are starting to get tight!  I was able to wear all of these maternity clothes during my pregnancy with Tyke, but with this one I'm afraid it's time to do some shopping.  All along I have felt bigger than with my last pregnancy.  Right now, stomach wise, I feel like I'm as big as I was when I was 40 weeks with Tyke.  People comment all the time though that I'm still so small.  I appreciate that, but I sure don't believe it or feel it.

My energy levels are starting to come back a little.  I still try not to over do it too much otherwise I get run right down.  Since upping my meds the morning sickness has eased a little bit which has been fabulous!!  I'm hoping it will eventually go away all together but I'm not getting my hopes up.  With Tyke I was sick the entire 9 months!  Our little guys is moving more and more every day and I can tell that he's getting stronger.  I think I feel him more now, and harder too, than I ever did with Tyke at this point.

Tyke is going to be the best big brother!  I'm not sure if he fully understands what's going on but he loves to pat my belly, lay his head on it, and kiss it.  It's totally adorable!  He's also gotten really good with babies in general lately.   He used to get super jealous of them and want nothing to do with them but now he likes to pat their heads, touch their cheeks and give them kisses.  He's surprisingly gentle with them and thinks they're pretty fascinating.

We're so excited to meet this new little one!

Monster Truck

Painter Motors had a fun party, monster truck included, today.  The truck did two shows, one at 2:15 and one at 5:15.  We opted to go to the earlier one since we had a wedding reception to attend that night.  Painter's had hot dogs, cookies and soda pop for food.  We each had a hot dog and Tyke had a cookie.  He's still not a huge fan of hot dogs.  We snapped a few pictures around the truck, Tyke and his Daddy inspected the engine and all of that fun stuff, and we visited with friends and family before finding ourselves a good spot to watch the car smashing from.  

We were so close it was almost scary!  All that was between us and the cars that got crunched was a line of caution tape.  The truck started up and did some spinning in the dirt before finally lining up with the cars and smashing them.  Tyke hated every second of it!  He was terrified of the noise and shook and cried the entire time.  There really wasn't much we could do for him except to hold him and try to comfort him.  The show was really short but not short enough for Tyke!  Afterwards we headed back over to the dealership and visited some more before heading home.  It was fun for us, but not so much for Tyke.  Maybe next time...

Sleepy Head

There is nothing better than watching this sleepy head wake up in the mornings.  He's like his Momma and is NOT a morning person!  He stretches and groans and moans and toots as he tries to wake up.  Eventually he wakes up with sleepy eyes, fuzzy wild hair and a big grin on his mug.  He's a happy boy and that makes us happy too!

Moving Cows

I had mentioned to Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Terry that when it came time to move Gramps cows out west we wanted to take Tyke.  We just knew that he would love it.  When Gramps decides to move cows it seems like it's usually a last minute thing and we always find out after it's all said and done with.  Late Friday night Grandma Cheryl called me to let me know that cows were being moved bright and early the next morning.  I'm glad she thought to call us because our little boy was in heaven moving those cows!

We got up super early, Chad got the rhino loaded, and we headed for the hill.  As soon as we pulled up we walked over to Grams and Gramps house for some yummy "Chef Boy-Wally" breakfast.  Grampa Wally can cook breakfast like no one else can!  There was quite the crew for him to feed and he made sure that each and every one of us got something to eat.  After cleaning up and visiting for a few minutes it was time to start herding the cattle.

We loaded up our gear in the rhino and drove around lost for a few minutes.  We weren't really sure what we should be doing and we had lost everyone else.  As soon as they had exited Grams and Gramps house they scattered and disappeared really quick.  We finally just drove up into the mountains and kept stopping to listen for anyone.  We eventually heard Grandpa Terry and Uncle Blair.  Chad got out and hiked with them down to the shop while Tyke and I drove the rhino down.  Tyke fits perfectly in the passenger seat and does really well to wear his seat belt and hold on to the handles.

When we got to the shop a huge herd of cattle were being pushed into the corrals.  Tyke went absolutely crazy with joy!  He was squealing and mooing and pointing and giggling.  That right there along made it worth it taking him!!  Someone took a head count and decided we were still missing a few cows so we all headed back up into the hills to search some more.  Tyke and I took it pretty easy and just rode around while the boys hiked.  We were able to gather about a dozen more cows.  After a second head count it was time to start moving them out west!

It was a long slow day of moving but Tyke had a blast!  He rode with me in the rhino for a while and just mooed and squealed and took it all in.  He loved watching cousin Lisa work on her horse.  He was in awe of her.  He got to ride a baby cow, a horse with Joey, Grandpa Terry's shoulders, the four wheeler with Daddy and the rhino with me.  He even got down and did a little foot work, running after the cows while staying close to Grandpa Terry.  The boy was seriously in heaven!  All of that hard work wore him right out and about half way through our route he zonked out.  He slept for maybe thirty minutes before getting his second wind.

Once we made it to our destination Grandpa Wally treated us all to soda pop, donuts and candy bars.  All warm and semi melted from the hot day as you can imagine.  Tyke was a huge fan of the mini donuts and ate a couple.  The guys moved the cows on up the mountain while the rest of us and the kids stayed behind and enjoyed some shade.  Tyke had fun playing with his cousins Joey, Swasey and Kayson while we waited for the men to get back.

It was a fun morning and afternoon spent with family!  I'm so glad Tyke got to experience his first cattle push.  I think he's going to be a lover of working with the cows just like his Bampa!