Father's Day

We had a fun father's day weekend and enjoyed the time we got to spend with our family. We went to two big parties and saw family members we rarely get to see. At grandpa Turpin's house Jayden was his usual funny self. Grandpa Turpin has a motorized chair on his stair case that he lets Jayden ride when he comes over. Jayden thought it was a great "lagoon" ride. In fact, he was extremely sad that we wouldn't let him ride it again. Aunt Mildred was able to distract him by asking him about our trip to Lagoon and they a long conversation where he told her all about it. This subject is Jayden's current favorite. In fact, he still constantly asks to go back. During their conversation he said the funniest thing! He was sucking his thumb and Mildred asked him what flavor his thumb was, chocolate or strawberry. He pulled his thumb out of his mouth, held it up, and said "chicken."
Ethan spent some of his time charming aunt Barbara. She was his favorite, she carried him around and fed him lots of yummy foods. This is certainly his favorite pass time. Any time he sees food, he is a happy man. And he is pretty willing to try anything. (Except corn :) So sunday was a great day for him, because both the Turpins and the Jensens made lots of good food! Not to say this is all he thinks about!! He loves to read books, drive cars and currently LOVES hats. He has a little hard hat that he will crawl around the house in for hours. And yesterday (tuesday) at Steve's house he laid claim on his University of Utah hat. He kept taking it off and asking me to put it back on. But, as usual he was very particular about others touching his hat. He would completely lose it if any other kid(or me even!) touched it or came near. Sometimes I will try to help him adjust his hard hat so that he can see better, and he doesn't even like that. He usually wants to put that one on himself, even if he is bumping into walls with it over his eyes. He is in a funny stage right now, because he is striving for independence, but is often frustrated when he can't do things as well as he would like. My favorite thing is the look on his face when he triumphs! On Monday he was driving his car around the driveway, and he kept getting stuck. He would cry out in frustration, but with a little encouragement, would push his way out of the grass or whatever else would entangle him. Then, his face would glow with pure happiness and pride. He has the cutest smile. Nothing is cuter than Jayden and Ethan's smiles, and nothing makes my heart swell more than seeing them!
One more thing about Jayden. He has had a great week because last weekend, Jay put together our sand and water table. Now, Jayden has always loved playing in the dirt, and has even made his own mud by eating the dirt before!! And water is, of course another favorite thing. But now he has his two favorite things all in one box! Monday we made lots of sandy mud, and he and Dalton made sand castles and roads and got covered in wet sand! Then Jayden became the dirt monster and chased mommy all around the yard.