Rockwood Family

Camping at Albion Basin

2010-07-25T18:30:00.000-07:00

We decided it was time for our first camping trip with all four kids so we headed up to Alta. It was absolutely beautiful and covered with wildflowers! We set up camp and headed for a hike to Secret Lake. The kids had so much fun climbing rocks and finding Salamanders in the lake. It really felt like we were on vacation yet we were so close to home. Sleeping that night was not so great but that is another story.

2010-06-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy Spring building a coop for the new chickens and getting our yard up to snuff for the 300 people who are going to come check it out for the Salt Lake Tour of Coops. Ivy still refuses to sleep through the night and so Naava is like a zombie in the day. Porter keeps getting cuter. The cuter he gets the more terrible he gets. Loch loves the Wii and everything Mario. Lila is a pleaser and just wants to make everyone happy, which makes everyone grouchy. Tyler shaves one a month, Naava shaves once a year and we are happy that way.

Happy to be here

The Family has been enjoying our finished basement.

On Memorial day we introduced Ivy to Ivy. They were happy to meet.

Porter has been carrying this lizard around making a crying sound. It is his new baby that he takes care of.

What we have been up to...

2010-05-06T13:01:00.000-07:00

Spring Chickens!

2010-05-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

The family decided to jump on the urban chicken trend! Henrietta, Gertrude, Grettell and Pearl have joined the Rockwood household. The coop is nearly complete and the chickens are not so cute anymore but still loveable. We are excited for eggs in a few months and the kids have enjoyed "parenting" by digging up fresh worms and daily grazing in the backyard.

Christmas Morning

2010-01-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve at Ruthies

2010-01-08T07:45:00.000-08:00

Welcome Baby Ivy!

2009-09-21T14:08:00.000-07:00

Birthday

2009-09-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

Porter recently had a birthday and he got to sing his favorite song. With him there is no such thing as just a kiss, it must always be accompanied by a hug.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2009-08-25T15:33:00.000-07:00

Spring at the Cabin

2009-05-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went up to the Rampton cabin and the kids were in heaven

Nana and Mason also joined us. Thank you mom for cleaning out the fridge. (see ugly picture contest blog)

Porter has developed a real attitude. Here he is hiking.

Happening Lately

2009-04-25T08:49:00.001-07:00

After Disneyworld Loch had his 5th birthday party at Little Gym, It was a success with screaming kids and exhausted parents. Aunt Martha sent him a gift in an envelope and everyday he kept asking if he could open it, when we said no "it isn't your birthday" he would throw a tantrum.

The Easter bunny made an appearance at our house, Lila was more excited for this event than for Christmas. She woke up at 4 a.m. and started going out to see if the bunny came. I don't know how much longer the bunny can go undetected in this house. It was a close call this year.
Due to the unexpected population boom in our household and the 2 small bedrooms that we currently occupy, it has become necessary to start working on our basement. We also found out that the new arrival will be a girl. If I don't finish the basement in time I'm sure she will enjoy sleeping in the closet.

Porter's face had another run in with a sharp object. He had to get 6 stitches in his chin. This is him after they squirted tranquilizer up his nose, and right before they started to stitch. All of these hospital visits with no insurance are making me very happy.
The musical Wicked is in town and with ticket prices starting at $150.00 and with me going to the hospital with no insurance it was unreasonable to buy tickets. But they have a lottery before each show where they choose 10 names and you can get 2 tickets for $25.00 each. Lila and I spent about 5 evenings there trying to win, she lost faith but I kept trying. Then they called my name for a Matinee, they only had 1 ticket so I went by myself (Naava had already seen it in NYC), after wards I went directly home and picked up the family to get in line again. Then they called my name again, so Lila and Naava got to go and sit in the second row. These are the kids waiting for our name o be called. It was wonderful!

Florida

2009-03-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to be invited by the Gabor Family to join them on their annual Florida vacation. We had a rough 5 1/2 hour flight from SLC while they had an easy 20 hour drive from Wisconsin. We visited the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center and while we had a wonderful time we still prefer Disney Land to Disney World. But we prefer being with the Gabors anywhere rather than not being with them at Epcot.

One day we drove to the West coast near Tampa, and spent the day on Honeymoon Island. The entire beach was covered with sea shells and the kids spent the whole day collecting various beach items. Lila even found a shark tooth.
We spent an evening at Downtown Disney where the kids dug for dinosaur bones, built things with Legos, and enjoyed themselves with all the Disney toys in the shops.

We spent a day at Canaveral National Seashore, where we played in the waves, went on a nature walk and saw alligators, turtles, armadillos, bald eagles, and the Space Shuttle from a distance. Lila and I also found a tiny marine animal that Lila was convinced no one had discovered before. She wanted to take it to a museum, but it got returned to the ocean.
On the way home I asked Lila what her favorite part of the trip was. I thought it would be a ride at Disneyworld, or playing with Isabelle. She said it was getting to see an Armadillo up close. Next time she won't be going to Disney World.
It was wonderful to be able to spend time with the Gabors, they are so much fun and can't wait to see them this summer.

Dressing Up

2009-02-16T11:54:00.001-08:00

Loch doesn't seem too happy about Lila's choice of his outfit. I will definitely save this one for embarrassing him when he is older!

Cute Cousins

2009-02-16T11:49:00.000-08:00

Fun with baby Sean

SUPERMAN?

2009-02-02T11:23:00.000-08:00

A conversation around Christmas time...

Kristie: "How are you feeling?"

Naava: "I was so tired today I couldn't even leave the house!"

Kristie: "Maybe your pregnant"

Naava: "I don't think so, I am on the pill"

Kristie: "It could happen"

Naava: "I am still nursing Porter!"

Kristie: "Maybe your husband is superman"

Naava: " ha ha ha! I don't think so!"

My point? Well folks, it looks like I married Superman! Our FOURTH! child is expected to arrive the first week of September, 2009. We are now accepting donations of your prayers, loving words of support, diapers, and anxiety pills for Tyler. Thanks in advance, The Rockwoods

Twas' the night before Christmas...

2009-01-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

2008-12-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

Due to a scheduling conflict we may have 2 children missing their two front teeth at Christmas time. Lila's are loose and if pushed hard and long enough my fall out soon. Loch had several more years before his were due to come out, but on Wednesday at preschool Loch collided with another boy on a bicycle. Naava knew it was bad when the teacher called and said Loch had hurt himself and asked "did he have his front teeth when you dropped him off today?" In tears Naava called me and I rushed to pick him up, where I found his teeth scattered on the playground. Loch was pretty traumatized by the event and was scared to eat or drink anything for the next couple of days. It was strange because just that morining Loch had told us about a dream he had where vampires were chasing our family, then that afternoon Loch was looking like one of those vampires blood in mouth and all. So Loch will now be without his front teath for the next couple of years, unless Santa brings some more.

Newport Beach

2008-12-07T06:40:00.001-08:00

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday down in Newport Beach at Grandpa Keith and Zia's beach house. Clay and Aria drove down with us and we were lucky enough to have my sister Lauren there as well. Dad even broke out all the old toys that I haven't seen since childhood, like his big dragon kite with the extremely long tail, which the kids tried to catch.

We spent most evenings playing and walking along the beach as the sun set. Lauren and Dad.

Dad even got out his Laser sailboat and gave each of us a lesson. As a child I was terrified of this boat because it seemed like every time I got in it with my Dad it ended up tipping over and dumping us. I took it out by myself and felt pretty good about it, and a little later Loch decided he wanted to go in it so I took him out. As soon as we left the shore the wind picked up and we almost tipped over, Loch started screaming and crying, and I kept trying to control the boat and we kept almost tipping over, eventually we were blown next to a a boat docked out in the bay where we waited for my Dad to rescue us in a Kayak. I have now put the exact same fear into my son that I had as a child, and now have as an adult.
One day we rented a little boat and putted around Balboa and some other small islands. In preparation for this Loch kept wondering who the captain was going to be, to his joy he was named captain. Then the boat took a turn for the worse and we couldn't get it to start, I thought it would be our second at sea rescue of the day but luckily we were able to drift towards the shore and we all walked home.

The kids wanted to move to California they had so much fun. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with everyone, and we can't wait to go back.

Asleep at the wheel

2008-11-23T09:29:00.000-08:00

We have been busy with the usual things, school, work, tenants that think they can live at our apartments without paying rent. We are getting ready to drive to California for the Thanksgiving holiday, and the kids are so excited. In fact this is how Porter feels about it.

Porter plays the Blues

2008-10-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

Typical Porter

The Monster Mash

2008-10-19T19:44:00.001-07:00

Veloure is midway through its annual Fall childrens party tour. We played a hopping childrens costume party last Saturday night, which was a follow up to an elementary school fundraiser we played a few weeks earlier. We were going to play at La Caille next weekend for the Montessori school, but due to an overwhelming request from our children fan club we will be playing another neighborhood kids costume party. Here is Cole (Courts son), Loch, Stella (Gershons daughter), and Lila.
Porter kept dancing all night and was his usual entertaining self.
The only way this could have been cheesier is if we had a smoke machine and strobe lights. Actually now that I think about it, we had those. Lila kept waiting for us to play the Monster Mash and when the time finally came there was a mad rush of children to the stage. Several had to be ejected from the area.

Lila turns 7

2008-10-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

Lila recently celebrated her 7th birthday. She had a party with Naava's family, with Ty's family and then her friends. It felt like it was her birthday for about 3 weeks. She wanted to have her party at Red Butte gardens again, but we waited too long to schedule it so her next choice was little gyms. She invited about 16 kids and they ran around like maniacs for an hour.

Lila picked her own special cake from Costco and then when we put a piece in front of her she said, "oh, I don't like cake"

Porter enjoyed the festivities on 2 feet

From quadraped to biped to emergency med

2008-09-28T10:54:00.000-07:00

Porter has become much more confident on his feet. He still is subject to random spills now and again.

Last Sunday he was cruising outside and took a tumble, on his way down towards a face plant on the cement his head caught the edge of a sharp metal bracket. Lila casually said "Papa Porter has blood on his face" It looked more like he had taken a bath in blood it was everywhere. It was of to the emergency room for him and they ended up glueing his head back together. Luckily we had just purchased a season pass to the emergency room and therefore it felt like we were only mildley ripped off.

Loch started playing soccer a couple weeks ago, and loves getting real physical and falling down and getting his knees dirty. He keeps checking his knees throughout the game to see if they are dirty or not.

Mckinley the Photographer

2008-09-11T12:59:00.000-07:00

while the parents are away the kids will...have a photo shoot! Thanks for the cute pictures Kinley. We miss you!!!

First Day of School

2008-09-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

My baby is growing up!
Izzaboy makes an appearance
Now these are some cute boys!
Lila with classmate and buddy Sarah
Let the madness begin!

Clay's Wedding

2008-08-26T10:42:00.000-07:00

Ramptonville Fun

2008-08-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

Oregon Coast

2008-08-26T10:27:00.001-07:00

The Sounds of Summer

2008-07-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

Porter continues to be cute. Even though the odds are stacked against him he somehow has overcome them. He loves water, he likes walks in the evenings, he likes to cuddle up to a good ABC... book, and is just looking for that special someone.
A couple weeks ago we drove up to the Brighton cabin. The road was still covered with snow, so we hiked in. The kids loved it and it was so nice to get away from the city for a little while.
Some evenings when the tension is high in the house I load everyone up and we have a picnic at Red Butte Gardens. It is very nice, but it can be quite annoying at how beautiful their gardens are. I mean I want my back yard to look like that, then I can just walk out the back door and be annoyed and I won't have to drive all the way there.
Naava likes this picture.
Lila and Loch have just ended the first few sessions of swimming lessons, and it all culminated in this belly flop. On July 2nd we drove up to Oakely and went to the Rodeo with Clay, Aria, and my Mom. It just made Lila all the more vegetarian, but Loch loved it and didn't want to miss a second. Afterwards we drove up to the other cabin and spent the evening roasting marshmellows and talking. The next morning I made a big greasy breakfast, and after hiking to the springs we all took a dip in the freezing river to wash off the grease.
On the morning of the fourth we went to our local ward house, ate breakfast and had a parade around the block. We went to a BBQ at the Gaisfords and did a bunch of fireworks, then walked to Sugarhouse park and watched a bunch more. All in all we love Summer.

Hogle Zoo

2008-06-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

We decided to go check out the new carousal at the zoo on the "members only night" . After an hour in line I began wondering if I was in Disneyland. The kids enjoyed it and that is what matters, right? We had a great time. The kids were frustrated when one of the Turkeys jumped on top of the other and wouldn't get off. We were going to use this moment to discuss the "birds and the bees" but were so exhausted we just let them believe he was a bully. Which is probably true.

settling into summer

2008-06-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

Name That Baby

2008-05-25T06:15:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of babies from our family. Lets see if you can correctly identify who is who. The winner will get to take care of a baby for a while.

On the house front things are coming along nicely don't you think?
I have been working from about 8:00 am till 10:00 pm 7 days a week trying to get the house ready for us to move into by the 1st of June, which is when people will be moving into our apartment. Luckily Clay has been able to help me tons. He gets really excited after he paints a wall and yells boohya! Here is a picture of the kitchen.
Baby Answers:
The first baby is Porter, the second is some photo off the internet, the third is Loch, the fourth is Naava, and the fifth is Lila.

We're moving to Hollywood!

2008-05-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

Thats right, Naava and I have been reading lines to each other every night and I think we have some real talent. Therefore we are going to take the plunge into movies. We closed on a house on Tuesday and will start to work on it shortly, hopefully we will be in by the end of the month.

Its a real grandma house with pink curtains around the sink to hide the plumbing. It needs a lot of work, but the price was right, the yard is great, and its a great neighborhood, right on Hollywood Ave. I'll post some more pictures of the wonderful interior soon.

School Picture

2008-04-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest school picture. We have been busy with the usual things, school, babies, tenants dying. We love the springtime, Clay and I finished installing a new automatic sprinkler system for the 3 and 4 plex and now have a vacant apartment to remodel.

Going Mobile

2008-04-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

I told everyone that Porter can move forward now, no one seems to listen to me because no one said or did anything. Then later when they saw him do it it was like we one the lottery everyone was so excited. Here he is.

A Pirate's Life For Me

2008-04-11T16:16:00.001-07:00

Lochlan turned 4! He was hoping he wouldn't have to because he knows that with 4 years old comes swimming lessons and preschool. It came all the same with a pirate party to prove it. The kids had a blast during the treasure hunt and treasure chest pinata. It was a good time for all. We have a lot of loot laying around which has sadly been tossed to the side and forgot. It was fun while it lasted.

Syria

2008-04-02T06:28:00.001-07:00

I returned from Syria a few weeks ago, and every time I get ready to post about it I get discouraged because it was such a magical adventure and I feel I will not be able to accurately portray the wonderful time I had. I guess unless you were there you will never know. Here are some snippets of the trip. I was completely taken by surprise by every aspect of the country. Luckily my Brother Trent resides in Damascus and is fluent in Arabic, because there is no tourism industry few people speak English. He also knows all the cool local places to eat, bathe, and sightsee. Damascus was great we stayed in the Christian quarter of the old town and gawked at all the goods to buy.
I was pleasantly surprised by the food there. All the restaurants we went to were wonderful. Clay and I loved the Shwarmas which you can see being prepared below.
After 2 days we left Damascus and took a 3 hour bus ride out into the desert to Palmyra. As we got closer to Palmyra we passed several Bedouin encampments and then we drove around a hill and there was a huge fortress on a hill and Roman ruins stretching for as far as the eye could see. Notice not a single tourist to be seen . The line up

We stayed in a hotel that was built among the ruins, and since there are no fences or entrance fees we could explore everything all by ourselves whenever we wanted. These are possibly the best Roman ruins I have ever seen . Absolutely stunning.
It was sometime around this picture that Dad found a Roman coin. Afterwards all of our eyes were trained to the ground looking for artifacts.
We awoke at 6:00 am to explore more of the ruins and search for coins. It was amazing to be together as a family as the sun rose in this magical place. Several more coins and artifacts were found.

Here is a sampling of the appetizers, enough for a full meal.
After being blown away in Palmyra, we rented a car and after asking about 10 people for directions all of which told us something different, we arrived at Mar Mousa Monastary. It was dark by the time we got there and we had to hike about a half hour if the moonlight which was wonderful. Dad almost died because he is so out of shape. Shortly after we arrived it was prayer time and everyone gathers in the church. The monks lit candles and turned off the lights and started chanting for about 20 minutes which was followed by an hour of silence. It was awesome to be in that ancient church with beautiful frescoes in candle light and complete silence. I must admit I did doze off at one point. That night I slept on a door.
The next morning was spent hiking around the mountains lookin g at the many caves.
We then drove to Crac du Chevalier castle, which again was amazing. I have never been to a castle so big and in such good condition.
Then was Apamea the largest ruins in Syria. It was amazing. We walked along the whole colonnade which was several kilometers. One thing that made these places so great is that we were the only ones there. Had these ruins been in any other country there would have been bus loads of tourist. It really was special.
We spent 2 nights in Aleppo which has the largest market in the Middle East. I loved all the olive oil soap. We visited St. Simeon monastery, which is one of the many citys of the dead. Beautiful ruins and wildflowers all over.
Hama waterwheels, which in normal Rockwood fashion we climbed all over and spun around till we got yelled at.
It really was a magical trip, and it was so wonderful to be there with my family. Thank you Trent for everything I will never forget what a great time we all had. Visit Trent's Blog for a better version of events. http://rockwoodsindamascus.blogspot.com/

House of Genius

2008-03-01T06:17:00.001-08:00

Porter continues to be the happiest baby around, he will just look at you and smile and then get so excited about it that he can't control himself and looks away. Then he will look at you and the whole process starts again. The day after the tooth fairy came Porter cut his first tooth. He is can also sit up now by himself, he seems to want to do everything the other kids are doing. I think he is going to be another Mozart. The other day he just picked up a flute and played Il mio tesoro intanto from Don Giovani, it was amazing! and then he spit up all over it. Lila loves to take pictures, she is considering this as an occupation along with about 4 other careers. This is her photo of Loch. In a nutshell we plan on making a lot of money exploiting our children as prodigies.

Tooth Fairy

2008-02-22T05:22:00.001-08:00

The tooth fairy made her first visit to our house recently. As you can see Lila was not too happy that her tooth actually came out. She was crying because of the blood and kept saying she wanted her old tooth back and didn't want to grow a new one, she was pretty attached to that tooth and made us take multiple pictures of it. After things settled down she drew an elaborate picture for the fairy and since the fairy would take this with the tooth she wanted to take a picture so it could be remembered forever. Notice the bowl full of teeth on the left and the castle with stairs on the right.

The tooth fairy almost didn't come, but luckily he couldn't sleep at 4:30 a.m. and remembered to make the switch. Lila woke up early like it was Christmas and found a silver dollar under her pillow, just like her Dad used to get. She thinks it is the coolest thing.

Portland

2008-01-31T12:54:00.000-08:00

We just took a trip to Portland to see our wonderful family and to have a medical procedure performed on Tyler. We drove all the way to Multnohma Falls in the snow and Naava couldn't get out of the car because there was about 4 inches of slush on the ground and all she had were flip flops. The kids kept asking " can we go yet?". I guess we drove all the way there so I could see it again. We got to spend an evening with Naava's brother Aaron and his daughter Zoe. We had forgotten how fun Zoe is to be around. The kids love her and we ate some good food and went to the nickel arcade in the hip Belmont neighborhood.

One afternoon we went to OMSI the science museum and the kids had fun looking at things through a magnifying glass. We also saw the IMAX movie Monsters of the Ocean, which if you have not heard of you soon will. It was a very touching story, the voice overs were incredible and it will probably win some awards somewhere.
It was so nice to be able to relax and spend time with Naava's Dad, Chloe and Leslie. They make us feel so welcome every time we visit, and the kids love it so much they run around the house nonstop. Porter especially likes Chloe.

All Lila wanted to do was to let the dogs lick her face, she loved it so much. We thought about dog napping them but Lila is too sweet to do anything like that. One of the reasons for the trip was to get a complete extreme makeover for Tyler. Naava recently thought he was becoming less attractive as the years took their toll. It just so happens that her father is an amazing Dr. known throughout the land, and he agreed to help. The picture below is the Dr. and I post makeover. He really does amazing work, and now I might be able to make some money on the side playing basketball.

Actually this is Greg Oden the #1 draft pick in the NBA last year, Naava's dad performed Lasik on him immediately after he fixed my eyes. Now I no longer need to wear glasses, it is amazing. I still can't believe I can see. Did it hurt you ask? It felt like someone cut open my eye and burned the cornea with a laser, all while my eye was numb. So no it didn't.

Cross-dressers

2008-01-31T12:47:00.000-08:00

This is their favorite activity now. They really take after their parents.

Festivities

2008-01-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Keith came and stayed with us before Christmas which was great. Loch really wanted to snug him at night and so Grandpa read him a night time story, problem was Grandpa fell asleep mid story. The kids get so excited when he visits, Porter even refrained from spitting up on him this time.

This is Me, Naava and Lila at Gardner Village. Who said I was losing my hair?

We did our traditional Christmas Eve festivities at Great Grandma Ruthies house. We had a great group of family here this year. Isabelle and Lila were inseperable again, its amazing how little they see each other and how much they love each other.
Loch was in one of his moods all night. He is so shy he doesn't want any attention and throws a tantrum, then he realizes he does want to participate but is to stubborn to join in. Finally Nana convinced him he was needed to hold the cradle that baby Jesus was to be put in for the Nativity. What a fine job he did. Porter made his acting debut as Jesus and it was a critically acclaimed success, met with wonder an awe by all.
There must have been something in the water.

Even McDuff the cat made a special appearance.The Day after Christmas Marian and Lauren took us on a real horse drawn sleigh ride in Midway. We sang carols and talked and had a great time. Thank you guys!
This is the Gabor Massage Machine at work. It would not have been the same without them. Please move here soon.
Doesn't this look like the most exciting New Years Party ever? Grandma was a little too drugged up to know what was going on, but isn't that how you are supposed to be on New Years?

2007-12-17T17:19:00.000-08:00

This is Porter modeling a hat that his uncle Trent knitted. He is still undecided as to what he wants for Christmas. Lila has asked Santa (technically mom asked because the kids were to shy to talk to him) for a feather tree. This is a tree made out of feathers and it comes with Christmas lights already on it, as she says. Loch says he wants a car thing. That is as detailed as he gets.

My cousin Lindsey had us go up to Heber so she could take our Christmas photo and design a card. She is so crafty and is the envy of Naava because of all the wonderful things she makes. She also took some great shots of Porter of which one is below. Because she did this for us we babysat her 2 children Sage(4) and Hallie (1?) on Saturday night. Loch and Sage get along great and they had a ball playing around until we heard a hard thud and sudden crying from the kids room. Loch had fallen off the top rung of the bunk bed ladder and although very shaken up he passed my visual examination. No blood, no bones sticking out etc. The next day we noticed he was not using his left arm at all and it was very sore to the touch, so we took him to instacare and the xrays revealed a fracture. He should be getting a cast on Wednesday. We don't really know what happened in the kids room because Sage and Hallie were the only witnesses and so far they are not talking. I think this may have been a planned hit.

Isn't he precious?

Jolly Old Elf

2007-12-08T14:45:00.001-08:00

The kids were all to shy to talk to santa, so we told santa what they wanted. We think this is the real santa, I don't know why but we do.

November

2007-12-02T15:10:00.001-08:00

Porter is getting huge and seems to be the happiest boy. If you just look at him he gets the biggest smile and starts kicking his legs with uncontrollable glee. Its just a shame that he won't sleep at night unless he is tucked around Naava's arm within a whimpers length of her breast. Like father like son.
We have had such a wonderful Fall. It seemed to go on forever and so I finally fixed part of the water main to the 4 plex. I had put it of for so long, but it wasn't so bad with my two helpers. They would have me shovel out the dirt and try and find the worms so they could hold them and take care of them. Lila has since made at school a mini composter worm habitat that sits on our kitchen table and we periodically put kitchen scraps in for the worms. Naava loves having worms, dirt and kitchen scraps on our kitchen table.

I had been growing my beard out since the 4th of July and I thought it was starting to look real good in a mountain man kind of way, then the other day I did some work for a neighbor and when I left she called Naava and said that I looked like I was homeless. Later that day I went to help Naavas mom and she was telling me that she liked the beard, then when I got home Naava said she had also called and said it looked horrible. Oh well. When I anounced I was going to shave it that night Lila started balling saying how much she loved it and wanted to make a bed out of it because it was so soft. She was very upset and I had to tell her it was just a trim. She still talks about it 2 weeks later. Grandpa Keith and Zia came up for Thanksgiving and got to meet Porter for the first time. We planned it perfectly so right when Zia held him he spit up all over her. Sorry Zia. Naava made a wonderful dinner and the adults loved it. Lochlan ate Mac and cheese.
Winter finally arrived yesterday and while I spent several hours shoveling the snow from the properties the kids had a wonderful time playing in it. We grew so many pumpkins this year that we still had several around and we used them to build our snowman around. Lilas favorite thing was to put the carrot in place for the nose and lean over and take bites out of it. Today she went outside and took another bite and said it still tasted good but was really soft. I said no more bites from the snow mans nose.
Today we went to Lindsey Gardens and had a blast tubing down the hill. Our kids have no fear and loved it. Lila took a boot to the face I thought it was serious but she didn't seem to notice. I still think a lawsuit against the Gaisfords might be warranted. Thanks for inviting us!

The Real Halloween

2007-11-04T15:46:00.000-08:00

What do you mean, I can't eat candy?

After about 4 different events during the week leading up to the big night, these were the official costumes of the night. Loch had previously been a pumpkin, Winnie the pooh, Spiderman, and finally Buzz Light year without wings. Lila had dressed up as a Lady bug, a Hula girl and a Pegasus Unicorn. Porter was a chicken. Why do we have so many costumes? I don't know.

So I will taste the candy in the milk?

These kids were brutal. We have a man down!

This is the gang that wreaked havok on the Gaisfords street.

The Marathon Begins

2007-11-04T09:44:00.000-08:00

The ever anticipated parade!

2007-11-02T13:04:00.000-07:00

We all enjoyed Lila's school tromp around in their cute costumes. Lila was a hula girl, Lochlan was spiderman and Lila's BFF, Bella, was a butterfly fairy. I love this holiday!

HALLOWEEN DARLINGS!

2007-11-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

Changing Seasons

2007-10-22T06:49:00.001-07:00

Lila and Loch were a great help cleaning up leaves with me.

Lila can not decide what she wants to be when she grows up, despite us trying to tell her that she has a long time to to try and figure that out she is very concerned about it. One of the things near the top of her list is photographer so we have let her take over use of the camera whenever she likes. This is one I particularly like.

Porter keeps getting cuter and cuter everyday. He has become known around our house by the nickname of "Mr. Face"

Last night we went out to Nana's house to carve some pumpkins. We had 12 Pumpkins grow from the 3 seeds we planted last year. It was one of the highlights of the kids year when I finally let them cut them from the vine. This is a closeup of Lochs creation.

Of course very intrigued by the fire

Frightmares

2007-10-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

Adam invited us along for his work Lagoon day. Why do we keep up the madness? It is what we do best. At any rate, it was a good excuse to spend time with my brother and his adoring wife Cristina. I had fun answering questions for the paranoid expecting parents. It is funny when they see our family in all it's glory and they start to worry... what exactly are we in for? Good luck guys!!

Big Boy

2007-10-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

Baby Porter is already 6 weeks old! He is now smiling all the time. He loves to grunt and kick. We really can't get enough of him! What a sweety!

Surf's Up

2007-10-08T17:37:00.000-07:00

Lila is 6 years old!!

2007-10-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

This year Lila had her first friend party at, you guessed it, Red Butte Gardens!! It was a wonderful turn out. They got to plant Basil, decorate hats, have a scavenger hunt and a tea party! All of the children had a blast an mom didn't lift a finger. All I had to do was bring cake. They even handled the party favors. Perfect! I still cannot believe I have a six year old child?! Where does the time go?

2007-09-20T18:11:00.000-07:00

It has been a very busy time at the Rockwood house, I mean apartment. The kids started school shortly after we received the new alien delivery, and it seems like it is non stop changing diapers and soothing baby, while trying to maintain the nonstop demands from the non diaper wearing babies. Days seem to fly by and suddenly it has been 3 weeks since Porter was born. The kids are still in love with him and always want to hold and kiss him. We have had no jealousy issues at all yet.

Here are some pictures of Porter. Because he is the third child we have not been taking as many pictures of him. We will be watching him and he will make these really cute faces and we will say "we should be taking pictures of this" but neither of us move and soon he is crying and not so cute anymore.

Lila is attending The Open Classroom which is a charter school where the parents co-op 3 hrs a week. She loves it and it is in the old Lowell Elementary which is 2 blocks away. Loch was attending pre-school there and loved going to it, but only with a parent within arms reach. It was fun the first couple of times but then it felt like I had been sent back to repeat preschool. I left him with his teacher crying yesterday and walked Lila to her class, when I came back, to my amazement there was no crying or screaming and I thought how easy it had been. Then a few minutes later a lady walked up holding Loch. He had hit and kicked, and screamed his way out of the class and had run through the school looking for me. No more preschool for superman.

Today Lila's school went on an all day field trip to antelope island. I went in the bus with her and Naava drove out Loch and Porter. It was really neat. We saw antelope and some buffalo on the way to the beach. I didn't think I had ever been there, but as I looked back at the beach from the water I had a very weird flashback from childhood. Kind of like when you look in the toilet and think of Clay. The kids collected what they thought were called "brain" shrimp, and Lila and Loch were very proud of finding old animal bones.

After Loch destroyed a sand castle I took him to explore the wastelands and his favorite thing was finding a big pile of buffalo poo. Looking at it gave me a childhood flashback of Clay. Very strange.

Labor Exhaustion

2007-09-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

A familiar scenario... Mom kicked out of her own bed. Small price to pay for this sweet family, don't you think?

We had a Borg!

2007-08-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

We went to the hospital at 8:00 pm on Tuesday night with contractions every 2-3 minutes. By 2:44 am they told Naava to start pushing. After 2 pushes they told her to relax, and I could see them pushing the baby's head back inside. Apparently they wanted the baby out a little slower, but after one more push they could hold back the beast no longer, and three minutes after starting to push we had a new baby boy at 2:47 am 29th Aug. Immediatly he started sucking on anything he could, and about 10 seconds later he was latched on to the breast were he has been ever since. It was the easiest labor Naava has experienced. The hospital aparently cannot figure out his blood type. Because of this and some other minor things he will have to spend a couple nights at the hospital, otherwise Mom and son are doing fine.

The kids cannot get enough of him and just want to be constantly touching him

The new Family

The Specs-
Name: Porter Snow Rockwood
Weight: 7 lbs 9 oz.
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Favorite Place to Travel: Crib to Bed
Favorite Place to Dine: it is a tie between Left and Right Breast

Matron of Honor

2007-08-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

Recently Naava was the Matron of Honor at Melanie Hebdons Marriage to France Davis. She was very stressed out about the toast that she had to give. It turned out very wonderful, and she discovered a love for standup comedy that she didn't know she had.

Lila was one of the flower girls, and she did a very fine job throwing flower petals.

Loch and I felt very left out until the DJ started the music. I don't know where he learned it, but Loch just wanted to grind on the flower girls.
Unfortunatly we couldn't catch it on video, but this does show some of his moves.

Lila as an infant

2007-08-19T16:32:00.000-07:00

remembering the good old days, when she couldn't talk back
Go to this site

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9056832541261053152&hl=en

Power Outage

2007-08-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

Last night we were going through our usual bedtime routine when the power went out. Loch was in the ofiice and started screaming. He is really afraid of the dark now. He will not sleep through the night now and when he wakes up he will just scream and will not get off his bed and come to ours. Even if we make a bed for him at the foot of ours he will not walk over and get in he must be carried. After he calmed down and we had some candles lit, I gave each of the kids flashlights and they had a ball playing around. Lila said " I wish the power would go out every night". It was a fun distraction to a usual evening. Last week Naava had a birthday. Shame on all of you who didn't know. We went out to dinner and a movie, thanks to Ashley we finally have Kinley back.

Lila loves to set up her animals and toys in very intricate settings or poses and then takes pictures of them.

We have been out to Ruthies quite a bit lately. Loch is very scared of her blood filled eye and will not get very close to her. She is doing so much better than she was the day after her fall that broke her wrist. But she lost a lot of confidence with the injury. We love going out there, and it has been especially fun because Martha and Dan's family have been in town.

Naava is still pregnant.

Gallivanting Around

2007-08-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

We are lucky to have great friends, I mean great friends with kids. Thanks to Cassie, Gershon and Court, we get invited out to dinners and BBQ's where the kids have a ball entertaining themselves. After gorging at Rio Grande we all went to the fountains and played. This is Lila and Sarah, Courts daughter.

Lochlan and Stella, Gershons daughter love to play together.

Who invited you?

Our New Baby!

2007-08-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard we have welcomed a new arrival into our family! And it is with great sadness that we have have lost a member of our family. This week we took over Dads old 4-runner and let go of the Golf which has been in our family for 11 years. Oh yeah, also our Beta fish and frog died within 24 hrs of each other.

On a happier note, we are currently hosting 2 Pretty Lady Catterpillars, which are gorging themselves on food and will hopefully soon metamorphe into Butterflies. After going to a butterfly class at red butte gardens, the kids got to release about 20 butterflys and took home some catterpillars.

The other day I got to talk to Trent via video feed from Syria which was cool. I can't wait to visit. You guys living in the stone age should get a cam and sign up with Skype.

Mom and Mason met us the other night at red butte where they were doing science experiments. They actually figured out how to turn off Masons brain.

Naava is very ready to have the baby, Lila learned how to swim these past 2 weeks, Loch now is not afraid to poop in the toilet, and I went and saw Ryan Adams at Red Butte Garden. If you didnt hear we recently moved to Red Butte Garden

Summer Fun with the Danleys and Aunt Michele

2007-07-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

Lately it seems we have been very busy. It happens every summer. About 2 weeks ago we took the kids to Lagoon with Mom, Mason, Naava's brother Sam, and it would not have been a trip to Lagoon without Aunt Michelle coming just to see Music USA. The kids thought they had gone to heaven, Laguna Beach, Puff the Dragon, and all the other rides that have been there since before I was born. There was the usual over priced greasy food left you feeling like you had gone on music express a few too many times. We had so much fun that we are going to bounce back on Wednesday.

Last week everyone met up at the Danleys in Heber. By the time Mom got up there with her 4 Taiwanese kids that are living at her house it was getting dark, but we decided to float down the Canal anyway. The kids Loved it, but the water was so cold that by the end my legs that had been submerged the whole time were completely numb and so when I stood up to get out it was like learning to walk again. Then we went to the Park and the kids played while we ate some great food Michele and Lyndsey had made.

On Friday we went out to Bountiful where the kids watched the Pioneer Day parade with Lindsey and Michele , the kids liked it and we didn't so much. After we went up to Grandmas (who hurt her knee and can't walk at all) ate food and went up and sat right beneath where they light the fireworks. It sure was nice.

Last night we went out to Moms for a Sunday BBQ the Danleys and Aunt Michele came down and we had fun just talking and hanging out. Jason beat Clay and I at basket ball and Michele and Naava filled up about 100 water ballons for the kids to throw. They would throw them at each other and they would bounce off and pop on the ground. It was kind of irritating. Finally I got one to explode on Mason.

The kids are obsessed with fireworks. We use them as rewards for good behavior.

Happy Boinx Day

2007-07-12T17:05:00.000-07:00

On my birthday we all went to the cabin. In attendance were Dad, Zia, Lauren, and Clay who wasn't invited. After eating cake we walked around the lake again.

Clay brought his camera and these photos are courtesy of him.

Spent the last week tiling a bathroom tub surround and kitchen and bathroom floor. We all went with Naava to her doctors appointment. The Doctor informed us that there is a real baby in there. Naava was releived, she thought it was more than indegestion. We got to hear the heartbeat. The kids and I just walked down to memory grove, I remember as a boy playing around and swimming in the water. Now there is a sign that says "No Wading" The kids had a ball playng in the water anyway.
On my way home from work today I got a call on my cell phone from pioneer memorial theater asking if I wanted to buy season tickets again for next season. I recognized the voice, and asked whom I was speaking with, she said BJ (Britney Sadler). I asked if she knew who her cousin is. She was very confused and finally realized who she was talking to. Tomorrow Lagoon.

4th of July with Clay

2007-07-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

Dad and Zia came up from Las Vegas for the 4th. We went up to the cabin and spent the night. Clay was there even though he wasn't invited. I had to wake up at 4:45 am and drive to Continental and work for an hour. I drove back up, and Clay was still there. We all walked up to Silver Lake had Breakfast, and watched the Parade go around. Dad and Clay had more fun than the kids throwing candy back into the cars at the parade.

Naptime came. When we woke up Clay was still there.

Lauren came over and we all drove over to Park City to watch the fireworks from the ski slope. Loch, Clay and I walked over to the midway point down the alpine slide and watched people go down. We saw a fox and then a sled came down the slide with no one on it, so Clay jumped on it and got a free ride down. Finally he was gone.

Les Red Butte Jardin

2007-06-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

We recently became members of Red Butte Garden so we could buy concert tickets before they went on sale to the public. And untill two nights ago did not realize that the other great perk of membership is free access to the gardens all the time.

We were almost attacked by some giant Lizards, but they turned out to be harmless Eunichs. Although Lila spotted a 5 foot Gopher Snake and a bunny Rabbit.

Last night Naava and I went to see les Miserables, and we were not miserable.

swim lessons

2007-06-26T14:57:00.001-07:00

The kids started swim lessons yesterday which were going great until today. Actually, Lila did great and is putting her face in the water which was a real fear. Loch decided he was a little too scared today and cried until I let him come and sit with me. Then we both watched the rest of Lila's lesson and ate lunch in the park. Getting through the summer has been trying but we are having fun with all of the activities.

Today there was creation

2007-06-25T19:15:00.001-07:00

Naava at The Cabin

Lila is as we speak is planning her birthday party, and Loch is asking "Papa, can we do fireworks?"

Of course you want to ask me, why did we create this? We created it because you obviously have a desire to read this if you are reading it. As you can see, Naava is pregnant, Loch just got signed with the bluejays, and Lila picked up a new dog at a garage sale for one quarter, and she is very proud of that fact. And I recently shaved my head.