Bethany flushed her Snoopy toothbrush down the potty. We were NOT happy. Apparently, toothbrushes are very hard to remove. But before shelling out lots of cash for a new potty or a plumber, we thought we'd try to get it out ourselves. It was a pretty nasty job. A plunger didn't work. A grabber didn't work. We (Hiram) eventually took it out of the floor and tried to push the toothbrush out from the base of the toilet into the bathtub, but that didn't work either.

Liz and Bethany "supervising"

Finally, in a last-ditch effort, we took it outside and sprayed our hose through it. Imagine our excitement at seeing Snoopy staring back at us from the grass when we turned the toilet right-side up!

So we (mostly Hiram) fixed our problem for just the cost of a new wax toilet ring! What a handy husband! And now Bethany is not the only one who has played in the potty:)

PS. Bethany was kind of sad that we threw Snoopy away.

"Swimming in the Pool"

Bethany is obsessed with saying she's doing things "in the pool." Even when there's no pool even close!
We went to Salt Lake's Liberty Park with our friends, Amy and Brandon and their kids, and ended up with some very wet girls! There was a small replica there of Utah's water system, and they had the BEST TIME splashing around "in the pool" (according to Bethany.) And having a picnic and playing at the park.

BFFs Emma and Bethany

"Splashing in the pool"

This picture includesAmy and Liz at 7 months. WAY bigger than she was with Bethany!

Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Day, we went camping in Provo Canyon, (right near Bridal Veil Falls). It was a little rainy, but we didn't care. We went with our friends the Seegmillers. Very fun! Here are some pictures:

We went on a REALLY nice bike ride along the Provo River. Hiram smoked me, even trailing Bethany behind him!

Bethany loves to wear her Dora helmet-- except when she is in her bike trailer, of course!

A huge mouse we saw along our trail. Not even scared of people!

The Provo River was crazy! From all the snow melt this year, it was so deep that it actually spilled over into the trail in some parts!

Bethany's favorite part of our campsite. And we love this hair!

Adventures in Potty Training

We thought we would give potty training another chance, since we would REALLY like not to have to buy diapers for two kids at once. Bethany was showing some interest in the potty (as always,) so we decided to jump on it.

One morning Hiram just took off her diaper, put her in little undies, gave Bethany to Liz, and went to sleep! That turned into a rather messy day for Liz. But after a few days, she seemed to really catch on, and now she's dry most of the time (even at night!)

Bethany loves potty training. She's never gotten so many treats in her life! Yay Bethany!


She likes to show her stuffed bears her tinkle and even helps them use her little potty too!

Oh my!

Liz has an interesting growth in her abdomen. We decided to get it checked out. Here is what we found:

It has legs!

This growth is expected to come out one way or another around August 9th this year:)

Shout hooray!

No sooner had we gotten home from New Jersey than we celebrated Hiram's 28th birthday! Can you believe it? We also celebrated Mary's 29th-ish(?) birthday. Hiram has very strong feelings toward pink toothbrushes which I will never understand (teeheehee), so me and Martha (mostly Martha) made him a pink toothbrush cake. It turned out most impressively.

That smeared white frosting? All me.

The birthday girl and family at dinner

Presents from Martha. Hiram shared them with Bethany, and she never let these squishy "gloves" out of her sight!

New Jersey

Two months ago (we're blog slackers!) we took a trip to New Jersey to see Liz's parents. Though Bethany was not a big fan of the plane rides (until we touched down- then she happily said "Bye" to everyone sitting around us), we loved seeing Mom and Dad again! They were very nice to let us stay with them, and Hiram loved the real home cooking- he doesn't get much of that around here... sorry Hiram.

And Bethany got lots of loving from Nama, Papa, and Uncle. Here are some pictures of our exploits:

Bethany and Papa share a laugh over Ike.

Nama whipped out her dance moves. Too bad we don't have this as a video. Or maybe that's a good thing;)

And some of Liz's high school friends came over to make gingerbread houses (and to eat lots of candy). SO FUN! These were definitely not your ordinary houses.

Lisa S did a shipwreck, complete with corpses.

Andy had a shower coming out of his roof, we think... Engineers;)

Lisa D always has the neat house. We don't know how she does this.

Uncle Sam had a pretty impressive house too.

Liz had a forest fire

Hiram made a park (we made a zipline between the two of our "houses.")

And let's be honest, Bethany just liked having her hands full of candy.