Fall Football

My favorite entertainment during the game was watching Liam. Here he is blowing a pom pom strand.

Yesterday Fall officially began in the Seolas household. What marks this changing of seasons? Is it the transformation of color on the trees or a crispness to the air? Is it the kids back in school or pulling out sweaters and long pants? No. In the Seolas household it is the advent of College Football that kicks off this lovely time of year. 

Yesterday College Football began... And I've lost my husband to hours and hours of watching and analyzing and stressing and pondering and predicting and hoping and wishing and LOVING College Football. 

The fun part of Football season is going to the BYU home games. Do I go for the love of the sport or the riveting games? Do I go to support my alma mater or the need to be with 60,000 testosterone fueled fans?  No. I go to spend time with my family and watch other people watching football. My favorite games are the ones that are exciting because they are neck and neck to the last second. 

Yesterday's home game was BYU vs Northern Iowa where BYU was victorious 41 to 17. We had a great time with Gavin, Liam, my niece Katie and my dad LeRoy, Rob and I. Before the game 

we got to go in the "Mystery White Tent" located east of the stadium. The "Mystery White Tent" is filled with yummy food and a festive spirit decked out with balloons and BYU decor. Liam and Gavin opted to skip the healthy food and instead headed straight for the chocolate fondue fountain. Liam was covered ear to ear and finger to elbow in chocolate and smiling ear to ear. 

                 

Liam eating chocolate covered marshmallow

Gavin and Katie

Gavin in the "mystery white tent"

Liam eating popcorn with one hand and a foot long Cougar tail donut in the other

So is College Football season all that bad? No, but I do think it would be fun if they handed out bubbles to all the fans and on the first touchdown everyone blew bubbles and the whole stadium was filled with shiny irridescent bubbles. How fun would that be? 

Peanut Pictures

In reference to the last post...Bird or Bat? here are some pictures of peanut indeed hanging upside down. :)

Bird or Bat?

Recently we added to our family a new pet. Meet Peanut...a green-cheeked Conure. Peanut is technically Alex's bird as he earned half of the cost doing lots of extra chores, and the other half was his 12th birthday present. Alex became enamored with birds after his 11 yr old trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa Florida where he loved hanging out in the Aviary and feeding the Lowry birds nectar. These birds were so cool because they would  eat nectar right out of your hands and liked to perch anywhere on your body. Just beware of the projectile poop!

 Peanut is not your ordinary pet, or bird for that matter. To start with Peanut arrived on a Delta flight from somewhere (I'm not sure where) not just from the pet store. When we were looking for a bird I was expecting a nice chirpy parakeet, or a melodious song-bird, but after extensive research by the research expert (Rob) it was decided that the Conure fit the expectations most excellently. Conures are supposed to love to be handled and played with like a parrot, can learn to speak a few words, make parrot-like sounds and are an overall good family pet. 

Peanut has taken a bit of time to "get used" to his new surroundings. We have found that he likes to be bribed with fresh fruit and will eat it out of your hand. His beak is constantly stained red from eating fresh strawberries (his favorite). He still doesn't willingly like to be held...we're hoping that is something he will overcome in the very near future. He's a cute little bird who likes to "sing" to music (especially classical, or Josh Groban), clanking pots and pans, clinking silverware, and the general chaos in the house. He loves the morning sun shining through the doors and greets the morning with loud chirps and squawks. Alex is very good at cleaning up after him and making sure he has lots of attention and fresh fruit throughout the day.

The most surprising thing about Peanut is he loves to hang upside down. He hangs upside down from his bird toys, from the top of the cage, from the side of the cage. One time he even hung upside down from his perch. So the question arises...is he a bird or a bat?

Ode to Owen

So, we are moving into a new stage of life. One that has been long awaited, but is bittersweet at the same time. Life without baby....whoa! Haven't had that for 13 years. It's taking time to adjust, but is so fun as well. This last week my brother and sister in law came and got our crib to use for their upcoming baby.(yay for first babies!!! and cute prego mamma's) It's the first time we haven't had a crib in the house for 13 years. 

Owen made the transition to the "big boy bed" with ease...in fact easier than I did. I was "transitioning" him to the big boy bed by removing the railing on the crib, and then maybe suggesting he sleep in the big bed. Owen, however, took one look at the bed and he was in it. I'm pretty sure the older kids didn't need or even get to choose a transitioning time to a big bed. It was, "hey, you're out of here. " and that was that. Anyway, it was bittersweet to lose the crib stage, but exciting too.  It sure will make traveling easier :) 

Owen is already doing pretty much what the big kids do....getting food out to eat, putting on and watching movies all by himself, going to preschool, buckling his carseat all by himself...etc etc. One thing he is resisting doing however, is giving up diapers and going potty all by himself. Potty training is my nemesis...so even though I'd like to move out of the diaper stage, it's really ok that we're not. I tried to bribe my kids to potty train him by offering $50 to whoever was successful...but, no takers. We just have to wait until Owen decides to do it, and then it's done.

So, what is it about a 3 yr old that is so yummy? That makes you want to squeeze and squish them and just devour them up? They still smell good, have sweet kissable cheeks and say the funniest things. Owen is going to "LD" Preschool which we refer to as "Apple Preschool" because they have a big red apple on the building. So yesterday was his first day of school and i was trying to get him pumped up to go to Apple preschool and he comes back with, "I don't want to go to Apple preschool. I want to go to Orange preschool!" Luckily he changed his mind by the time we got there. He is constantly asking for the sunkinjaya song...translated means the "Apologize" song by One Republic. It's his favorite song....and he knows all the words. 

I love the sticky sweet kisses, the "i love you mom", the "ooh, you're so pretty mom", the "I need snuggles", and even the "no, I want to do it by myself". I love the living life fully with abandon, trusting that you are loved and everything is right in the world. The simple child-like faith that mom can make anything better and dad is a super-hero. I love the "look what I did!" and "oh oh, look what Owen did" (spoken by Owen). I love the just out of the tub smell, and the playing outside smell. I love the big golden eyes that sparkle with delight and the happy little giggle that is amused with the simplest things.  I'm crazy about the kid. He's my little buddy :)

Why I love Summer!!! :)

School started this week...usually I am so ready for school to start, but not this year. We had such a great summer. It was so fun spending everyday swimming in our absolutely awesome pool. After a long, messy wait, our yard is finally done...and we have really loved it. Some highlights of summer has been 4 birthday swimming parties, lots of family BBQ's and friends over to swim. Liam has become a fish like his 3 older siblings, and Owen is an amazing swimmer thanks to great swimming lessons and lots of time in the pool. Here are some pictures from my vantage point by the pool....

Santa Cruz

Rob and I just got back from a way fun trip to Santa Cruz. We went down for his "step-sister's" wedding. Had an awesome time. We golfed the Pasatiempo golf course which was beautiful, and very challenging. I scored my all-time best score on 18 holes (woo-hoo!) I even out-drove Rob a few times if you can believe it :0)

Friday we drove to Carmel...wow what an awesome place. It had a whole Disneyesk feeling like someone had come in and made everything perfect. Flowers everywhere, quaint little shops, picturesque homes...wow! The only drawback was it was COLD! (ok, I do realize that i have a warped sense of what's cold, but 56 degrees at 3:30 pm in August is COLD in my book.) We had a lovely day wandering through art galleries, really expensive stores and more ecclectic shops. Rob really wanted to buy a WW11 bomber jacket, but it made him look like his head had been shrunk in comparison to his body. So he settled on Tommy Bahama shorts instead. Much more appropriate :) We walked down to the beach and even though it was foggy with the marine layer it was really nice. We found ourselves gazing at PebbleBeach and decided that next time we come we'll play there.

Saturday we had a spa morning...so nice. We both had massages and then Rob got a facial and I had a body scrub/wrap...so heavenly. Then we had lunch by the jacuzzi in the Serenity Garden and enjoyed the beautiful weather. (Not so cold that day) :) Then we headed off to Jessica's wedding. It was really nice at the Arboretum. I guess that means garden? Anyway it was set in a picturesque setting among natural plants and flowers native to the area. I was very grateful not to have to wear a suit and tie like the guys though because it was toasty! The reception was at a quaint little restaurant called Michaels in Santa Cruz with lots of good food, friends and fun.