Flashback Friday - Grandpa Pace

Ok, so I've been meaning to steal the Flashback Friday idea from my sisters for some time now, and I finally thought of one I really want to post. This is inspired by Britta's post last week about our Grandma Pace. Reading her post got me thinking of all the wonderful memories of our grandparents. It was kind of funny because I had a pretty memorable experience brought to mind the day before I read Britta's post.
I was out to dinner with some of the gals in the ward, a fun little girls night out. On the drive home we started talking about voicemails. (Can you believe there are people out there who still don't have it? Neither could we!) This made me think back to being a wee child (ok a teenager, honestly) and when my parents got their first phone with an answering machine. We got a new cordless phone for Christmas, and it was sooo spiffy because it came with an answering machine in the base. The whole family was pretty darn excited about this technological marvel! That was the gift that we told EVERYONE about. As we were visiting Grandpa and Grandma Pace we of course told them of the newfangled contraption that my dad had set up before we left. Grandpa decided he needed to test it out, of course. So, he called. With all of us sitting there. "Hello, George! This is Al. When you get home, give me a ring. Unless it's late, then tell him to wait." We loved this message. We kept it on the voicemail for a while, just for the fun of it. My brother Joel even had a variation of it for a while as his voicemail (he still might...I haven't left him a message in a while). His jokes have been the fondest memories that we share. The slightest mention of this message will get a recitation from everyone around, in unison. George also used to be his go-to name whenever he needed something generic. There was another phone incident which is quite memorable. We were having an open house for my brother Dirk, either mission homecoming or farewell...I forget which one. The phone rang and Grandpa was the closest one to the phone, so he picked it up. "Hello, George! This is Al." Seeing a pattern? Needless to say, Dirk's friend was quite confuzzled.
I am so glad that I have these fond memories of my grandparents. It makes not being able to see them anymore, in this life, easier to handle. I am also greatful that I have my wonderful family to share them with. Most of the time when we laugh about our inside jokes like this our spouses will share a look, that I'm pretty sure interprets as something like, "What did we get ourselves into?!"

Nap Time

Zack has unfortunately been starting to outgrow his naps. He still needs one the majority of the time, but he is more prone to fight the naps now that he's gone without them a few times. Last weekend we put him down for a nap. He was exhausted! But for whatever his own reasons were, he decided to play instead. Aaron and I tried multiple times to convince/threaten him to go to sleep. It wasn't working. After 2 hours we decided to let him come downstairs. He told us he couldn't take a nap because he wasn't tired. We were watching a movie, so he cuddled up next to Aaron on the couch. Not even 5 minutes later we found him like this.

Not tired? Riiiighhht!

Forts

One of the best childhood memories is making pillow and blanket forts. I remember making some that took up the whole family room! Ranna, Christina and I were experts. Unfortunately the bigger they were, the less time they lasted. It was always a bummer to tear them down and put all the blankets away. And all the fat encyclopedias we used as anchors.
Well, Zack has joined in on this honored tradition. We have a lot of pillows that came with our couches. Since these are sitting couches, not decorative couches, we rarely use them on the couches. For now they sit in the corner and are pulled out as we need/want them. These pillows have been great fun for Zack. He likes to make "Zacky Sandwiches" with them. His latest use for them is his "castle". It's a simple pillow fort made in the corner of the two couches with a blanket for the door. He insists on the blanket because he wants it "darker and darker". With the convenient location and small size, we've been able to keep it up for quite a while for him.

Peek-a-Boo

Lexi has caught on to peek-a-boo. It's her new favorite game. When she doesn't have a blanket, she'll just use her dress and pull it up over her head. Shortly after we shot this video, I had her on my lap. She looked over at me, gave me the cutest "look at me" smile, and started it all over again! I love new tricks!

Special Agent Zacky

There is a new show on Playhouse Disney called Special Agent Oso. Zack has taken a real liking to it. It's a fun little James Bond-type show. Oso is a special agent who helps kids complete tasks like wrapping presents and making party hats. It's a cute way to show kids that they are capable of doing many things on their own. Each "special assignment" has a name that kinda resembles Bond movies, like Birthdays are Forever. Fun little add-ons for the parents. Oso is given 3 special steps to help him accomplish his tasks. Each assignment then helps Oso complete a training exercise that he was working on prior to receiving the assignment.
Anyhoo! Zack has fallen in love with this show. It's his new favorite. The other morning, while Lexi was napping, I decided to bite the bullet and try and weed our front flower bed. Zack came out with me to play outside and help me dig. He dug for quite a while, then started running back and forth down the sidewalk. After a little while of doing this I heard him talking to himself when he was on the other end of the sidewalk. Then he would come running up to me. "Mom, say Special Agent Oso, what are you doing here?" He would then tell me he was here to help me dig:

"Step One: Find a shovel."
"Step Two: Start digging."
"Step Thee: Dig the hole!"

I'm excited to see him applying his new found skills to his play time! This will come in handy when I need to teach him new activities. What a cute little smarty pants!

Dinner: Impossible

We love the Food Network channel! We love many of the shows they produce. But our favorite has to be Dinner: Impossible with chef Robert Irvine. For each episode, Robert is told to show up at a certain place, he is then given a challenge of making food for a different amount of people every time and a deadline. Sometimes it's for a huge party with only 9 hours, and sometimes it's for a smaller group and 12 hours. But they always throw some twists at him. We love to watch him handle the stresses of small kitchens, under supplied kitchens, and ingredient restrictions. It's fun to see how he pulls together such wonderful meals, and always right on time. Last year Food Network found out that he had lied on his resume (who hasn't?) and fired him. Aaron and I were very upset about this! But we decided to give his replacement chef a chance. We watched one episode with the new guy (I don't even remember his name) and gave up when he made chocolate covered bacon. We weren't happy about it, but that night we deleted Dinner: Impossible from our DVR list.

Two weeks ago, after the kids were in bed, we were watching Food Network. We had to rewind the commercials to make sure we saw what we thought...a new episode of Dinner: Impossible coming up with Robert Irvine! We were so excited! I even jumped up from the couch and started clapping. I decided to get online and send the good people at Food Network a note to let them know how happy we are that they re-hired this magnificent chef for this show. We then made sure it was set to record again. It feels so good to have our show back!

What an Adventure!

We went on a family adventure today! Aaron's wedding ring has had some problems over the year. The gorgeous black jade inset in the ring kept breaking. We were tired of repairing it, so we decided to talk to Farr's about options for replacing. They said we could trade it in for current value for another ring. Aaron picked out a ring that is a similar design, but with antiquing instead of stones inset. The ring has been ready for us to pick up for a few weeks, but we haven't had a lot of time now that Aaron is out mowing lawns on Saturdays again. When we found out it was going to be rainy all day today we decided today would be a good day to make the trip.

We decided to make an adventure out of the trip. Since Zack loves trains so much, we decided to take TRAX and the Frontrunner up to Ogden. Farr's is less than a mile from the train station, so then we could walk up to the store and pick up Aaron's ring. When we told Zack that we were going on a train ride he was expectantly excited. We took off early this morning and drove to the TRAX station on 90th. We then rode it to the end of the line where we got on the Frontrunner up to Ogden. We had so much fun! Zack was sooooo happy to be on a train!

When we got to Ogden it was pouring rain. Good thing we were prepared! We had umbrellas, warm jackets and hoods. We had Lexi in the stroller, warm and dry, and Zack had his own umbrellas. Unfortunately, he only made it a block before he wanted to be carried. So, Aaron made the rest of the walk with Zack on his shoulders. By the time we made it back to the train we were soaked! Poor Zack was not happy about it. Fortunately, the train was warm and dry, I brought snacks and downloaded a movie on my ipod, so Zack was happy again in no time.

When we got back downtown we went to Happy Sumo for lunch. Aaron loves his sushi! I was just excited that Zack ate his lunch, after 3 pieces of string cheese and 2 packs of fruit snacks on the train. By the time we were done with lunch and back on the train, the kids were exhausted. We rode TRAX back to our car and came home for a much needed nap, for all of us. What a fun way for us to make the trip to get Aaron's ring. I certainly appreciate my car more now, I wouldn't want to take the kids on public transportation every time we needed to go somewhere, but it was fun for today!