Ben's a Big Boy

Last (but not least) we need a little update on Ben. Ben now likes us to call him 'Big Boy' or 'Super Ben', and it is well deserved after all the things he's been up to (and put through) in the space of two months.

TRANSITION #1:

Ben began his transition to 'Big Boy' status by getting rid of his beloved 'sippies':

He would down gallons and gallons of almond milk every week, so we decided to save a few hundred dollars (and a few tantrums as well) by getting rid of his sippies. He now drinks milk from a cup, but only about 1/4 of what he used to drink.

The traumatic scene went like this:

Ben: I want milk, mommy.
Me: No, you've had enough for the morning.
Ben: (throwing tantrum...again)
Me: OK, well I think we are done. (I quickly gather all the sippies in the house, stuff them in a bag, and throw them in the outside garbage can)

And that was it. No elaborate ceremony like this one. (sorry Ben)

Now the conversation goes like this:

Ben: I want milk, mommy.
Me: Sure.
Ben: I want milk in a sippy.
Me: Sorry buddy-the garbage man took your sippies.
Ben: Awwwhhhh. (but no tantrum!)

Every time we saw a garbage truck for the next month, Ben would yell:

"GARBAGE MAN TOOK MY SIPPIES!! DARN IT!!"


(My apologies to all the garbage men out there who have taken the blame for my actions)


TRANSITION #2:

Ben is a Big Boy in a Big Bed. He transitioned pretty well, and like the rest of my kids did, he still stands on his bed and yells for me in the morning to 'get him out of bed'. Old crib habits, I guess. I haven't told him that he can get out himself. We'll ride that train as long as we can.

Cute Ben with his favorite snuggle toys: pooh bear and Sophie's pink pillow.

TRANSITION #3:

In the past few weeks, as a grand finale, Ben decided he wanted to be potty trained. (yeah!!!) We can thank BFF Kian for his example to Ben. One night he just looked at me and said "Mom, I want to wear undies." So we did, and about 20 accidents later, he was potty trained.

I'm so proud of you Super Ben! I love you!

As a bonus, here's our Big Boy doing his pirate act on camera. Argh!

Sophie's Super Spring

Sophie FINALLY got her year to shine. She has been waiting and waiting to be just like Gracie and do the things Gracie did. She had a great year in ballet, and said she loved performing more than practicing :) She did great and was the cutest little ballerina up there. She even made her dad cry out of cuteness (he does it all the time....I'm sure he doesn't appreciate me telling this, but I think it is sweet).

Here's the little ballerina backstage before her curtain call.

Here's mostly a picture of a guy's head and a little of Sophie on stage.

We were all so proud of her!


May was also her preschool graduation. Sophie learned so many great skills this year. Miss Brooke is such a great teacher.....we love her!

Sideways picture of Sophie and the preschool froggy.

And finally.....(drumroll).....Sophie learned to ride a 2-wheeler! Our neighbors gave her this little bike from the D.I. after seeing her struggle to ride her "big bike". While Jake and I were on a walk, she taught her how to ride it. Way to go Sophie!

But sadly, a week later she fell off her bike and broke her elbow. She was surprisingly tough and was trying so hard not to let the doctor she was in pain. She was more terrified of the doctors than the pain. But after 4 or 5 hours at the hospital, we survived (with Jake out of town, of course).

Sophie's only two comforts were Gracie and her new bear, Joey. As long as they didn't leave her side, she was OK.

Poor girl was in lots of pain that first night.

But look at her now! She is sporting a groovy rainbow tie-dye cast complete with sparkles. Life seemed much better for Sophie after the cast guy applied the sparkles.

Gracie's Grand Gigs

Gracie has had a busy month! (May is always crazy at our house for some reason) She had her first real piano recital! She wasn't even very nearvous. Jake calls it the Garlock "ice in her veins" like before you shoot a free throw. Free throw....recital.....I guess that's the same:)

She played "Tiger Chase" magnificientlly

Jake was out of town, but Grandma and Grandpa Shaw came up just for the evening to cheer Gracie on. Afterwards, we all celebrated with ice cream at Caspers. (our favorite)

Gracie also wrapped up her soccer season this month. She is getting better and better each year. She LOVES playing goalie, but is starting to enjoy playing the forward position now.

St. George '11

I think year might have been our best St. George trip ever, thanks to some amazing weather we had. Plus, it was fun to see our kids finally remembering some of the traditions we've tried to establish over the years on this annual trip. Here's some of them....

Even though it's a huge pain to pack all our bikes for the trip, we're always glad we went though all the effort. With Ben getting older, we can go on some longer rides now. Here we are finishing up our bike trip down Snow Canyon. It was so fun. Of course, we also had to find our 'Garlock Rock' we visit every year. I've always hoped we would be a bike riding family. My dreams are coming true! They did awesome.

A little picnic in Snow Canyon. Ben was freaked out of the rock formations at first. He kept saying "I scared of monsters!".


I think we swam all four days we were there. Our family's favorite pool is the 'waterfall pool'. All three of the kids made great strides in the swimming skills over the week.





My two favorite dudes scoping out the pool scene.




Gracie and Sophie are so funny. They are just the best of friends and have all these intricate and fanciful adventures together. Here they are exploring the 'jungle' together. I've always been grateful that they have each other to play with on our trips.

My three kiddos warming up their toes in the hot tub.

Gracie kept finding little times to steal away and read on this trip. I love this about her.

Of course, being Garlocks, a great majority of our St. George traditions revolve around food. Here we are pigging out at iceberg.

We always love to visit the St. George temple, too. Ben thought that we would see Jesus there, since we always say it's His house. It was so sweet to see him so sad that he couldn't go inside to see Jesus. But we did get so see His statue at the visitor's center.

We love St. George! What a lucky family we are to have the chance to stay in the condo each year!

Happy Easter!

Silly Thoughts

Graice's thoughts on TOLERANCE

After a family night lesson on pride and loving those who are different from us, Gracie proudly declares:


"There is a girl in my class who is different! She is the only one who loves Justin Bieber, but I'm still nice to her."

Sophie's thoughts SAFETY

While leaving a track meet, we see an ambulance speed up toward the track. While trying to figure out what is wrong, Sophie concludes:




"Mom, I bet someone got poked with the pole."



Pole vaulting...a dangerous spectator sport.

Ben's thoughts on LACTOSE INTOLERANCE

And finally, poor Ben gave a prayer last night for all lactose-intolerant people out there:



"Bless the cheese that it won't hurt my tummy."



We'll keep praying!

Lots of Celebrating

This time of year is always one party after another for us, and it's a good thing too. Winter tends to drag on around these parts, and we need some motivation for some celebrations!

This February was our 10th anniversary!

FYI, I looked it up and the traditional gift for your 10th anniversary is tin or aluminum. (really!?!) But my sweet husband actually got me something better that that...a week long vacation for just the two of us! It has been since our honeymoon to Jackson Hole, WY that we spent a week together without the kiddos. And it was SO wonderful! It also happened to coincide with the WAC basketball tournament in Las Vegas, so most of it was on Jake's employer. Sweet!

Of course there was lots of basketball. Our little Aggies did great!

We ate the most amazing food...what else do Mormons do in Vegas? This particular restaurant was a Wolfgang Puck's 'Lupo', which came highly recommended by my parents, who told us to order the pizza that had potatoes on it. Mmmmmm....so amazing.

This was the highlight of the trip...The Lion King! If you have never seen it, go here to catch of glimpse of the amazing puppetry and music.

I have to admit that I an not a fan the Las Vegas strip...it kind of wears on you. So Jake and I took advantage of this time without kids to hit the temple a couple times. It was so peaceful and beautiful...just about the most opposite place we could be from the Las Vegas strip.




And none of this would have been possible if it weren't for my sweet mom who stayed with our kids for the whole week. It was no small task, I we will always be grateful for her help! Thank you mom!



Now for the rest of the celebrations....

Our Sophie turned 5 this week! Sophie is such a unique and special person in our family. She has her own way of going about things, her own 'flair'. She is so thoughtful, and is always writing love notes for people in our family. She is getting to be very smart and is looking forward to kindergarden. She wants to play with her friends everyday, and loves to call her friends herself. She sits and talks to them forever like a little teenager. (gives me glimpses of what might be the future-yikes!) She is also our best child at reminding us to read the scriptures every night...she doesn't ever let us forget. We love you Sophie and are so glad you are in our family!

Since her actual birthday fell on a Family Night, we had a good-old-fashioned family birthday party with just the five of us. Compete with our new favorite game, "wrap the mummy".


If you haven't caught on yet, we are a pretty silly family.
Thus the chocolate covered faces.





And because this year is a 'friend party year', we celebrated all over again (whew!) later in the week with a ladybug party...inspired by the ladybug pillow pet that Sophie got for her birthday from Grandma.

Sophie, like most girls, loves the planning part of a party more that the actual party itself. I enjoyed doing all things ladybug with her!







And last, but not least, Jake had his 33rd birthday! He has a name for each of his birthdays that coinsides with a basketball player's jersey number, but I can't remember it. His Larry Bird Birthday, maybe. Anyways, he is such an AMAZING husband and father and keeps getting better at it. The last few months have been a little tough around here for me, and Jake has risen to a new level that I never imagined possible. He has done so much for us around here. Jake, you are such a light in our home and we love you more than ever.


And when I asked if he would rather go out for dinner or have friends over for games for his birthday, he said "Actually Jen, can I just watch the BYU game and have pizza?"

So here he is enjoying his birthday pizza and cream cheese dainish, at his request. Love my low matanience man.

Ben's Birthday

Yeah! Ben is 2! We had a great time celebrating his big day. Ben is very fun to do things for because he gets really excited about things. Like "yelling every word 'Dora the Explorer style" excited. Some of his favorite things to yell are "YESSS" and "AHHH...MISSSSSS" (depending on whether he accomplished what he was doing), as well as the ever popular "BEN-A-DO- IT!"

He also loves to sing now. We have decided to give Ben the 'song' job for every family night because he's just so cute up there. He sits in the front and waves his arm around while shouting out songs he wants us all to sing.

As I've said before, Ben has loved balls ever since he could hold one. We got him these great blocks for his birthday, and even though he liked them, his favorite thing has been a $2 ball he got for his birthday from walmart. Go figure.

Ben's favorite movie right now is "Little Einsteins". It's a great little show that puts words to famous classical music. He goes around singing Handel and Mozart all day. Of course, I envision him as a musical genius:)

Ben, you are wonderful and we love you. Happy Birthday!