Toone Family

Kara is up at Stake Young Women's Camp this week which means that I get to be a stay-at-home dad ... Yea! I love being able to spend time with the kids and doing fun stuff with them. It's a nice break from the routine of going to work. Since Kara left, I have gone to great lengths to maintain my position as the favorite parent, and it seems to be working very well. Already, we have stayed up way past bed time every night, eaten kids meals at Burger King, had pancakes or cheese things (what we call quesadillas) for almost every other meal, watched more than one movie per day (Kara only lets them watch one), and gone outside whenever (and for however long) we wanted ... without sunscreen. It's been great! Tomorrow we are going to go to Krispy Kreme and will do some kiddie-pooling. I'll probably try to get around to folding laundry too. One thing that I didn't realize is that Benson throws up or poops on something about every hour and a half. It makes for lots of cloth...

I know I’ve mentioned several times that we’ve undertaken a big project in our front yard. It’s been done for quite awhile now, but I’m just getting around to blogging about it. Everything we planted (with the exception of some of the herbs and the potted annuals on the porch) is perennials, so it will be pretty low-maintenance. I’m excited for it to fill in over the next couple of years! I’m glad we were able to do the front yard all at once. The backyard will be a different story; it’s going to take years for it to become what I envision… By day... ...and by night! The approach. At the time this picture was taken, the roses were in bloom, but nothing else was. Now the roses have slowed down a little, but everything else is blooming! The herbs! I love fresh herbs in the summer. They're great to cook with, and they smell so nice as you approach the front porch. I think they look pretty, too! Logan piped sprinkler heads into each of these planters so the herbs are sure to get...

One of the best things about having a garden is seeing how excited the kids get to harvest the produce. Amanda doesn't look particularly excited in this photo, but if this doesn't make you crave a juicy, red strawberry straight off the vine...well, you're just not human. Here's an Amandaism: Amanda loves to watch mine and Logan's wedding video. Once she asked me why she wasn't in it, and I told her she hadn't been born yet and that she was just a twinkle in her daddy's eye. Yesterday when we were coming home from our trip, one of the songs from our wedding video started playing on Logan's Blackberry. Amanda said, "Hey, this is from your wedding! Daddy, I was tinkling in your eye!"

Logan and I took the kids down to Monticello for the 4th of July holiday. For those of you don’t know where Monticello is (hard to imagine, I know), it’s in the southeastern corner of Utah in San Juan county. It’s a small town; the population is around 2,000. My grandparents have lived in Monticello for their whole married life (over 50 years), and my Grandmom’s family settled it 120-some-odd years ago. I took a TON of pictures, so you’ll have to forgive me for posting so many. One of our favorite things to do in Monticello is visit our family cabin. Our family built it at a family reunion 18 years ago. There are cabins that are essentially second residences, complete with every comfort a home offers. This is not that kind of cabin! There is no plumbing or electricity. It’s a place you go to get away from the world, and we have some wonderful memories there. Amanda really enjoyed her time at “the cabinet,” especially the playhous e that Granddad built for the grandkids and great-grandk...

It occurs to me that in the last post I made (when dinosaurs roamed the earth), I was instructed to take pictures of whatever my husband/kids were doing at the moment. Weeks went by before I realized that I had listed the whereabouts of Logan, Amanda, Lily…and not Benson. This illustrates several facts: 1) I’m not 100% accustomed to my status as mother of three; 2) I am a somewhat-negligent mother of three, and 3) Benson is the world’s most content and low-maintenance baby. I sleep at night by telling myself that it’s mostly due to fact #3. Anyway, in an attempt to make up for the fact that I overlooked his very existence, I’m dedicating an entire entry to my adorable, ignorable baby boy. I hope I haven’t already given him a complex. When Logan and I first decided it was time to start having kids, it took a lot longer than we expected to actually get a baby here. After a year of trying, we finally got pregnant – but I miscarried before the first trimester was over. It was nearly two ye...

Did you know that in the five or so months since I started this blog, I have not been officially tagged until today? It's a big moment for me! : ) Becky tagged me, so here goes nothin'. The instructions are to take the following photos exactly as they are at this moment. No cheating! I guess I'll be showing my true colors... #1 Post a picture of the kitchen sink (In case you're wondering about all the sippy cups, my sister-in-law's kids were over this morning and they had snacks while watching a movie.) #2 Post a picture of your toilet Oh, geez. Logan and I were just saying the other day that our bathroom is in need of a major overhaul. Little did I know that I would be asked to post pictures of it just days after this conversation. #3 Post a picture of your laundry room As you can see, I am once again procrastinating folding the laundry. Sigh. #4 Post a picture of the inside of your fridge Exciting, huh? #5 What your hubby/kids are doing right now Logan's ...

Since Father's Day is right around the corner, I thought I'd pay tribute to two of the most important men in my life... Let's start with my father-in-law. David was born in 1954 . During his childhood, his parents were in the business of "flipping" houses (buying them cheap, making improvements, then selling them), so he moved quite a bit. He graduated from Bountiful High School and then served in what was then the southern states mission. Soon after returning home, he met my mother-in-law (Nancy), and they were married in July of 1976 at the ripe old ages of 21 and 18, respectively! He earned a bachelor's and master's degree from BYU (in agricultural economics -- I don't really have any idea what that means). He currently works as a regional manager for Deseret Industries (my FAVORITE place!). What I love about him: He is the fix-anything dad. Really, I don't think there's a problem he can't solve. If there's something that needs to be...

(This post was written by Logan) I must say that Kara has given a pretty accurate description of the events that led to our being together. However, I don’t think the two quotes from my journal were an adequate representation of the way I truly felt about her at the time. For some reason, when I write in my journal, my thoughts come out a little wonky. (“Wonky” is a word we use in our family to describe anything that is … well … wonky. There’s not really another word that can be used in its place. It’s kind of like “messed up,” but it doesn’t have the same connotation … You know how it feels when your sock gets crumpled up under your toes? When that happens, you could say that your sock is “wonky.” That’s the best example I can think of right now. If you feel that you could clarify a little further, feel free to post examples of situations in which the use of the elusively-defined adjective is justified.) Anyway, like I said … my journal writing is usually a little wonky. In t...

Life has been busy around here lately! We've been completely preoccupied with yard projects and the like. I'll post some pictures later (we're not quite done; Logan needs to finish wiring the landscape lights). Anyway, I was talking with some people the other day about courtship stories, etc. I thought I'd share ours for posterity's sake... Logan was born in San Diego but has lived pretty much his whole life in Utah. His very early years were spent in Provo while his dad finished a master's degree at BYU. After that, the family built a house in West Jordan. He enjoyed a pretty typical upbringing (paper routes, bike-riding and scouting -- as you can see). When Logan was 12, his family built a house in Centerville. The stars began to align... Little could Logan have known that only a mile or so away, little Kara Baker was ekeing out her existence. I was born in Vernal but moved to a condo in Centerville at the age of three. Not long after that, my family moved to...

Here is the video of Lily being offered a banana. Please try to ignore the annoying Amanda who is trying her hardest to make this clip about her. : ) If you want to hear the audio better, hit the "pause" button on the playlist at the bottom of the blog so the background music doesn't interfere.

I realize that it has been 4 million years since my last entry. What can I say? On some level I knew that this blog would go the way of my journals (I actually have a journal entry that goes something like, "Gee, it's been a year since I last wrote. Well, let's see. I got married..."). Yeah. Tonight Logan is in St. George for work. He doesn't often travel for work, but I hate it when he does. It feels so weird to be alone overnight with the kids. Right now I have Lily in my bed because I don't like to be in here alone -- despite that it's 10:41 and she should be sound asleep in her crib. Well, it's not like I was a contender for the Mother of the Year Award anyway. Besides, I'm always saying that Lily gets lost in the middle somehow and needs more one-on-one time. Here it is! Today started out pretty good, but there was a definite spoiler right around noon. I accidentally left my credit card at the local Arctic Circle when I went through the drive-...

Remember a few posts back when I introduced our family and described Lily's occupation as "Human Tornado?" Well, today that title fit. Take a look at my little sweetheart here. What the heck is that on her face? That was the question I asked when I first caught a glance of her. The answer wasn't far away; the case of watercolor paints in her chubby little fist outed her. I guess they just looked so delicious, she couldn't resist. Not long after she decided to sample the paint, she decided to give one of my chairs a kiss. Thank goodness this stuff is washable. (It was the second case of vandalism for this particular chair; it was recently the canvas for some of Lily's "artwork." Her medium? Blue pen.) Anyway, I cleaned her up and served lunch to her and Amanda. I don't know why I didn't just leave the paint on; I could have saved the paper towels and the time it took me to wipe her down, because it wasn't long before she looked like this:...