Wyland Update

The other day someone at work came to my desk and asked how old my kids are. I easily said, Baylee is 12, Jackson will be 4 next month, and Wyland .... umm well he's ... umm .. he's 1, he'll be 2 in June. I couldn't tell them how many months my baby was! I just haven't been counting with him. With Baylee every month was a milestone. With Jackson it was the same kind of thing, perhaps because it had been SO long since I had had a baby. But with Wyland coming on the heals of Jackson, I just haven't been counting. As a result I figured I owe him a little catch up. Wyland is 21 months old. He's such a smart little boy. He is his big brothers shadow. I adore watching them laying on the floor playing cars together and just think to myself what a great friendship they already have. Wyland is already saying more words than I can count. He just catches me off guard sometimes. When I ask him a question he answers me! They often say that the "2nd child" doesn't always do things as early as the first. But that is not so with Wyland. He's equally as clever as Jackson was at this age. By the way, technically of course Jackson is the 2nd and Wyland is the 3rd. But with such a big age gap between them and Baylee, I think that Jackson behaves more like a first born. As much as I loved Jackson's curls, I equally enjoy Wyland's little hair style. I can't believe that he's going to be 2 soon. They grow up so quickly. Wyland still has the sweetest disposition, he's a real charmer.

Look at those eyes!

And that hair ....

... and that smile.

Oh .. and Wyland LOVES my mum's dog Polly.

Gelasia's Wedding

So this weekend Jeramie's one and only sibling got married. His little sister Gelasia. Jeramie was a groomsman and I was a bridesmaid. Jonathan was an usher. J'Von was the ring bearer. Baylee was a flower girl. While the little boys weren't in the wedding they still had nice outfits to wear. Let me tell you, getting FIVE children dressed in formal wear is a nightmare!! They had a wedding rehersal Friday night which by some small miracle we were on time to. Jonathan and Baylee had an important role of putting a rosary on the bride and the groom during the ceremony. At the rehersal Baylee was not feeling very cooperative. I told them they had better have a back up plan just in case. However, when the day came even with the back up in place she did an EXCELLENT job! Daniel and Gelasia's wedding was at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. It was a beautiful ceremony. Lot's of standing and sitting, standing and sitting! They had a reception later in the evening that was lots of fun! Here's a handful of pictures that I was able to get my hands on. These aren't that great of a representation of the days events. But they are of my family since my mum was taking them! I'm hoping to get copies of the photographers pics at a later date.

Grandpa and Jackson

Baylee assisting her cousin.
Handsome Jackson during the ceremony.
Wyland follows suit in cuteness and in a literal sense.
Me and my babies!
Who's under that hat?
There he is. Looking a little Amish.
Kramer clan minus the bride and groom.
Baylee LOVES to dance, always has.
I think Jackson might have the dance bug too.

He literally STOLE the dance floor.
Aunt Gelasia dancing with the kiddies.

All in all it was a beautiful wedding and a really fun reception. We will the best for Gelasia and Daniel in their lives together. As Jeramie put it in his toast to his baby sister, may they be as happy as he and I are!

Babies, Babies and MORE Babies!

So my mum had this great idea to go to the zoo before it started to get too cold. It seemed that a lot of people had that same idea. It was really crowded. Not to mention warmer than it had been all week. She also picked up a Grandparents pass as well. So my guess is we'll be going to the zoo a LOT more often. LOL .. just in time for Winter! We went with Amber and their kids, me and all my kiddies, and my Mum. I brought the little red wagon that Wyland got for his birthday and it worked out great. I don't think that Wyland was too thrilled to have to stay in it the entire time, however when I'm juggling both him and Jackson by myself I need to have at least one of them strapped in somewhere. There were some really good babies there this time too! I say really good because we're talking tigers, giraffes and elephants. We aren't talking some baby bird, that would not be too exciting.

Baby tigers (there are three in there).

Baby giraffe. Wyland chillin' in the wagon.
Baylee, Owen and Zarley
Cute Zarley.
The baby elephant (cutest of all)!!
Check it out, Daddy's name is Jackson!
Winter and Baylee taking a break.
Baylee pulling the boys.
Going for a ride on the train.

Wyland REALLY liked the monkeys!
Elephant definitely won for cutest animal.

Jackson's First Trophy

So for the past 6 weeks Jackson has been participating in an intro to Baseball "class". It's through the city parks for 3 and 4 year olds. He was pretty excited in the beginning when we told him he was going to get to play baseball like Mommy and Daddy. Throughout the summer he has watched both Jeramie and I play softball. So basically the class taught them the general concepts of the sport, throwing, grounders, catching, and hitting. Jackson's favorite part by far was hitting the baseball. He was pretty good at that part from the get go! However, the rest he got bored pretty quick. Jeramie was a little discouraged so I had to remind him that Jackson is ONLY three and even that was only a few months ago. It was fun to see him participate in an actual organized activity. I am truly biting at the bit to starting being that mom cheering him on from the stands. I can remember watching both of my brothers play sports and I enjoyed watching them play almost as much as I enjoyed playing myself. I grew up VERY active in sports myself (softball, volleyball, basketball, swimming). Growing up in California we literally played year round. So I assume all my children will have some sort of natural talent that they have inherited from me! HAHA! So anyway here are some snap shots from Jackson's last day of class where they attempted to actually play a real game. It was really really cute, even though Jackson was very grumpy!

Evan, myself, and Mike (Jackson comes from a good breed!)

I thought the little tee they hit off was really cute.
Jackson looking serious with his swing.And there's the Dad's out there for support.

I think it's cute too how Jackson and Jeramie are

standing the SAME way.

Jackson listening intently to his coach.

Why so serious? Oh wait .. he was GRUMPY!

He even got a trophy for playing.

Watch how once the ball is hit Jeramie practically
pushes him over in "encouragement".

Hit and run to 3rd .. wait no .. I need to go to 1st!

Wyland's First Steps

Wyland is 14 months old right now and is now taking his long awaited first steps. He's doing the Frankenstein walk with the dive at the end. You mothers know EXACTLY what I'm referring to! It's so cute. I think that it's a pretty cute stage. I don't think that I caught either Baylee's or Jackson's on video .. gotta love the Flip camera for these little moments. In all reality we weren't in any huge rush for Wyland to walk, it's just another reminder of how quickly he's growing up. So we just want to say YAY Wyland! He also has some good words right now too, "Mam", "Da" for Dad, "Baylee" clear as day, "Ta Q" for thank you. AND he makes car noises when playing with cars, and gun noises when playing with the Nerf gun! SO SO cute, I need to catch that on video next for sure.

Lake Powell, Day Three

So on our third day in Lake Powell we decided it would be fun to pile into the boat and head over to see Rainbow Bridge. Only Mike and his kids had been there before. We debated at length about whether some people should stay behind. It was about an hours boat ride away and with all of us on the boat we were really stretched to the max with seating and weight limits. In the end we decided to go for it. It was a pretty drive out there and the kids enjoyed the "fast" ride on the boat. It's interesting because as you go down into the channel that the Bridge is at the end of it gets VERY narrow at some points, as you can see below.

When we docked the boat we could see these HUGE fish at the front end. We fed them a little bread and the kids enjoyed watching them. They were SO big.
Here we are preparing for the hike up.

First glance at Rainbow Bridge
Cheesey family picture in front!
Isn't it so pretty!
When we got up to the top there was a Park Ranger talking about the history of the Bridge.

A tiny spot of shade with the Ranger.
Park Ranger came out and sprayed the cement with some water. We could then see a dinosaur print! I think that Baylee was the most impressed with this.
After climbing back down we piled back into the boat in search of a good spot to stop for lunch. We did find a little cove and here are Mike and Evan debating about the safety of jumping from up there into the water. It's a funny picture and they DID jump as much as we all told them not to be stupid!

The kids had a little swim as well.

What you don't see in any of these pictures was the scariness that proceeded after lunch. We stopped for ice cream at the marina on our way back to Wahweep and were told as we finished eating that we had better hurry back because they had issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning and were recommending that all boats get off the lake. So we began our drive back to the dock as quickly as we could. Well we didn't get very far before coming to our left hand turn into the channel we needed and you couldn't see anything. It was SO stormy looking and dusty. After a moment of debate we decided it would be better to go find a small alcove where we could get a little shelter from the elements and wait it out a little bit. So we began by just all staying in the boat while the wind picked up and it sent small little waves into where we were. It seemed to be getting a little bit worse and I do believe someone was smiling on us from above because the alcove we chose to seek shelter in actually had a small patch of SANDY beach. In the end we decided to beach the boat and get everyone out. This patch of beach was literally just big enough for the boat. The kids didn't really have any clue that we were not in a good situation. Mum and Rachel tried some antics with a small game of charades. After about half an hour on the beach with the ladies taking care of the kids, and the men securing the boat in all directions we decided enough storm had passed that it would be a good idea to try and make a run for it. While we had been there we had watched a houseboat going in circles further out in the water waiting it out some. This houseboat had since left so we went for it too. Let me just tell you it was a very terrifying hour drive back to the dock. We never actually took in any water over the top of the boat. However we ALL had our life jackets on to be safe. At the time I really wasn't concerned for myself, what scared me was my children. I knew if it were just me I was a strong enough swimmer that with my life jacket I could make it to shore. But I wasn't confident that I could do that for my kids. How do you choose which one to take yourself? Which one to entrust in someone else? It would take TWO people to maneuver Baylee. Fortunately we in the end caught up to two more boats and rode in the wake of the second (as it was doing in the wake of the first). Mike made this suggestion and it worked REALLY REALLY well. The amount we were being tossed about reduced significantly and we could maintain a decent speed. We saw one boat that was tossed on the side of the shore with someone on the beach that was clearly hurt (they had emergency attention with them). Within sight of the dock we passed another boat, probably slightly smaller than our own that was sinking in the water. I will tell you that's a very eerie and disturbing sight! Knowing what we just went through to get back these people had not been as lucky. We heard the later that day that a houseboat had actually overturned as well in that weather. We were very fortunate in the end to make it back safe and sound. Thanks to the smart decisions of my Dad and Mike. Good boat driving Dad!! Thank you for bringing my family to safety.

This served as a reminder that as much fun as boating is and we get a great deal of enjoyment out of it. It is also dangerous. I think we have about one scary experience a year. With each one we know what to do differently in the future. That's definitely the scary thing about being on such a BIG lake, you can't get off of it nearly as quickly as we can at somewhere like Jordanelle. Congrats to us adults that kept our cool in this scary experience. I don't believe the kids had ANY idea that we were not in a good situation.