Warner Family Adventures

Does your Bath tub......

2012-01-26T20:37:00.000-08:00

Look like this?

I took this after I told a certain son (Luke) that it was bath time and he told me "hold on I need to go find some toys to play with in the tub". Silly mom thinking the tub already had toys in it.

I have mentioned before that Lego's are HUGE right now at our house. One of them is always reading this book "Lego Ideas". I find it all over the house. Great book by the way I highly recommend it for Lego fans.

And how to know if a child really really likes Lego's.....

That's right that's Luke asleep with one of his Lego creations in his hand. The funny part about this is that he swore to both Dewey and I that he just wanted to sit it on his bed he would not touch it or play with it. Putting it away in the playroom was simply unthinkable. Since neither of us were born yesterday we knew the pull of the Lego would be mightier then the will of a 7 year old boy but figured what harm could it cause. We both laughed and I grabbed the camera when we checked on them and found Luke like this.

Electronics

2012-01-19T20:10:00.000-08:00

Ok so everyone knows I have a love hate relationship with electronics, I love having them I hate using them. I'm pretty sure there is some part of my brain that is missing, I can at best minimally use most of them. I just this week figured out I can listen to music on my phone. My lap top crashed (I guess that's the word it doesn't work anymore) this is the same laptop we bought after returning from Kazakhstan 5 years ago. (My laptop got fried the first week we were there from one of them many power surges that happened all day and night.) So I realize that 5 years is like 95 in laptop years but I'm pretty basic in my use (see above) so I'm thinking its still fine. I asked (told) my brother Steve to fix it for me. I think the exact words I used was "make it be able to turn on and let me play with my photos, do whatever it takes it make that happen". Good thing hes my brother and is well aware of my um...personality :)

So in thinking about electronics I noticed how much we use them.

Dewey on his laptop sneaking in work before bed.

Who can resist a cute kitten in the picture?

Leapsters are BIG at our house. The boys kind of go through phases with them. They are on a constant use phase right now.

If I don't hear noise I go looking.... This was a morning last weekend after breakfast.

I walked past their room a few times before I did a double take and finally noticed the legs. (funny how piles of blankets, stuffed animals and a play tent work as camouflage)

Oh there he is..... some things I just don't ask. Hes playing, and happy I don't need to know :)

Kolby LOVES taking pictures. He has dropped a few of my cameras so this past Christmas Santa decided it was time he got his very own...very sturdy...camera. He loves it. It was a video record feature that he just loves to turn on ALL the time. Like when you are telling them to clean their room or pick up the playroom. Sheesh who knew my voice sounded so shrill.

It goes without saying that my very favorite electronic toy is my camera, which I love love. Its slow going finding time to learn how to use it. And I have not even started on the photo editing software I got. (see above laptop issues) Even so I'm happy as can be with every picture I take.

No snow and slightly above freezing temps...

2012-01-16T20:29:00.000-08:00

What else is there to do but go for a bike ride??

Kolby is still a little unsteady so Dew decided to run along side him. (crazy I know, you didn't hear me offering)

There is a really nice bike/walking/running path in town, that we like to frequent. Of course the boys had to stop at the bridge. I swear bridges are like great big magnets to boys, irresistible.

Who says you can't have fun at a park in the winter?

I LOVE this picture. And my new camera that allowed me to take it.

Fun fun day getting some much needed fresh air.

On Saturday I got to take an Artisan cheese making class. And almost as good as me getting to take the class was the fact that my three boys stayed home, cleaning and doing laundry so I didn't have to.

The class was so fun, I had no idea it was that easy to make cheese. I can not even tell you how much cheese I ate, we got to sample everything we made. And people they were YUM!!! I will let you in on a little secret...... I LOVE cheese not like a little but L....O...V...E. I have not had meat or seafood of any kind in 20 years. (lets not worry about how old that makes me)I have had not one once of regret, no cravings, nothing. So you would think it would be an easy jump to go Vegan, and I would love to.....except......there is the cheese thing. So my plan is similar to the eggs I eat. The chickens we have I see happily playing out in the yard doing what chickens do all day eating good food. Thus happy healthy eggs for us. So if I can make my own cheeses, from oh lets say a cow happily playing and doing cow things in our yard. (we have 6 acres I promise there is plenty of room) Happy healthy cheese. Good plan right? So right now I'm in the research phase, we will see how it goes.

Happy Birthday Luke!!

2012-01-10T07:09:00.000-08:00

My baby boy is 7!!

Oops I let it slip again. As of his birthday Luke said I could no longer call him "my baby boy". He informed me that now that he is 7 he is not a baby boy. He was very firm on this point. I countered back that even when he is old enough to be a grandpa he will still be my baby boy. However he could not be swayed by mere sappy mom emotions....... so I'm trying hard not to do it. (at least to his face :)

We decorated his door and the entryway so when he woke up this is what he saw.

I mean really how much fun is it to smack around balloons??
Just look at this face that I love so much.

The boys decided that instead of having separate friend parties they wanted to combine their Birthday party into a Ski day. Luke went skiing for the first time on his 5th birthday since Kolby is turning 5 next month it only seems right to carry on the tradition. We plan on going in a few weeks and can't wait. We also hope that by that time there will be snow for us to ski on. Notice I said Ski, Luke is apparently old enough to know that snowboarding is the much "cooler" option now-a-days. However we are Old school (old being the key word there) Dewey is a REALLY good skier, I mean double black diamond, jumps and all. I can get down the mountain, I'm not saying its pretty but I can get to the bottom in one piece. So skiing is what we will be teaching them. Hopefully once they have those skills down they can teach themselves how to snowboard :)

Since Lukes birthday was on a school day, Kolby and I drove into town and picked up a couple dozen doughnuts (per Lukes request) for his class treats. It was so cute when we dropped them off to his class. All the kids jumping up and down and hugging Luke.

For our family party Luke wanted to go bowling with Grandma and Grandpa. So Fri night we all met at the local bowling alley for dinner and bowling.

We all had such a good time.

And I'm not saying that having the kid bumpers up didn't improve the adults scores. A few of us even broke 100 :) But Grandpa pulled it out the win in the end.

Then it was back to our house for cake and presents. Luke picked out a sprinkle cake mix that he wanted "stacked". I think it turned out pretty cute.

I love this picture.

Yes the boys are sitting on the counter again. I swear I don't know how it happens, the little monkeys scamper up there and before I notice we are well into our way of some activity

Kolby was so sweet getting as close as he could while still letting Luke have his moments.

Lukes class put together a Birthday book for him. All his classmates had written him a Birthday letter. SO STINKIN CUTE! I personally think Luke is a HILARIOUS kid, but apparently so do a lot of his friends. There were quite a few "luke you are so funny, you make me laugh" type comments. Such a cute idea for his teacher to do.

Luke amazes me everyday. He is one of the more stubborn people I have ever met (next to my sister) he is a little to good a being the boss, its a role he really likes. We spend a lot of time reminding him hes not. He is fiercely protective of Kolby. Once they are both home they are never apart they do everything together, play,laugh, fight. He loves to make us laugh, he made a little dance the other day that he loves to do because he said he "likes to see us laugh". His reading is really coming along and he is a wizz at math. And don't get me started on legos. I think every room in the house has one of his creations in various states of being done. He loves creating ships, and everything else you can think of.

The love I have for this boy is simply boundless.

Happy Birthday Luke,

We love you!!

Happy 2012!!!

2012-01-03T12:08:00.000-08:00

We had an amazing Christmas, and hope you did too!! We are so very blessed, we were surrounded by love, family, friends and good food.

The boys were a bit spoiled as usual :) And I got my dream camera from the very bestest husband in the world. WOOT-WOOT now its on to the learning how to use it part.

Luke and Kolby got matching "big boy" bikes from Grandma and grandpa. Even snow and cold did not stop them from trying them out.

Notice grandma and grandpas cutie-pootie new puppy peaking out from behind grandpas leg.

Kolby needed a little help from dad but as you can tell from the smile loved every minute.
Once we were home and they had their helmets on they practiced some more on our road. Yes Luke is wearing snow boots..... if there is snow on the ground we can't keep him out of them.

After a few practice runs Kolby had it down. Dad ran along side, you know just to be on the safe side :)

Yesterday we went on our first hike of the year. We headed down to Zions National Park where it was a balmy 70 degrees. The boys got new backpacks that allow them to carry their own water with a tube to drink it. So of course we had to try them out.

We ended up hiking 6 miles total with a stop for lunch in the middle. The boys did so well!! I think this is the first long hike we have gone on that they walked their very own selves the whole way.

So hopefully we are well on our way to keeping our resolutions to....

Get in shape &

Eat better

Lets make 2012 the best year ever!!

Oh have we been baking!!

2011-12-22T13:17:00.000-08:00

5 Pounds of hand-dipped Chocolate Cinnamon Bears

2 Pounds of hand-dipped Chocolate Pretzels

5 dozen sugar cookies

2 batches of Divinity

and..... 1 Gingerbread house...

(feel free to read the above while humming the 12 days of Christmas in your head)

And lets just not put a number on how much of the above I personally ate. Lets just say come Jan 1st I will need to start doing some serious get back in shape work.

My little baker helpers generally lose interest fairly fast in the whole cooking process. I was able to in list Kolbys help for the "fun" part to mix the sugar cookies, Before he was off to play/fight with Luke.

We put together 15 baskets to take to our business partners and 15 plates to take to our friends and neighbors.
I have to say I think they turned out pretty cute.

Here's the thing about being the only female in the house, when it comes to the Gingerbread house I'm not going to get "pretty pink , cottage style". What we have instead is a truck wrecked into the side of a very boys house. I'll give you a hint of which boys idea it was for the wrecked truck........ the over 40 one :)

Last night the three of the got down to the serious business of decorating.

Your right in that one child is sitting on the table. That's why in the first picture you can see the Clorox bleach cleaning spray.....we use a LOT of it.

TA......DA the finished product.....

And I have to say it is just perfect!! I LOVE it!!

Being able to watch the "building" process was my favorite part. My 3 favorites boys in the world working together can't help but bring a smile to my heart.

Elf on the Shelf

2011-12-16T10:02:00.000-08:00

So I started seeing posts about "Elf on a shelf" on a bunch of different blogs for months now. You all know I am a sucker for super cute clever ideas that I can copycat :) so this year we have our very own Elf.

He showed up a few days after Thanksgiving, in grand fashion, with his very own Elf breakfast.

He brought Hot chocolate with little snowball marshmallows. And white snowball doughnuts.

The boys were THRILLED (not the least bit because they got doughnuts and coco for breakfast)
The elf came with a book explaining his story. With a place for the boys to give him a name. After much discussion they picked the name "Jolly". In the the book it explains that Jolly is there to help Santa keep an eye on them. Every night he uses his Elf magic to go back to the North Pole to give Santa a report for the day. Then he comes right back to play at our house.

Every morning the boys wake up to run around and find the Elf. He is a busy little guy so you never know where he will be.

One morning he turned the boys into reindeer.

Another morning we woke to find some of their unders hanging all over the tree.

And that naughty elf even TP'ed our tree one night. (keep in mind the the boys are 4 and 6 so underwear and TP are HILARIOUS)

One morning he was using our ceiling fan as his own personal carnival ride.

Can you see him hiding in the "jungle" ?

He has also been found playing with his Star Wars character "friends". Sometimes he brings little treats sometimes like this morning a little art project for the boys to do.

It really has been so much fun having Jolly visit us we will all miss him when he goes back to Santa on Christmas eve for the last time......until next year that is :)

Fun with Auntie Liz and Uncle Gary

2011-12-12T18:25:00.000-08:00

We have known about our company Christmas party last Fri for months now. Because it was in Salt Lake and involved 7 hours in the car we did not plan on going. We got a call on Thurs saying that we had to go Dewey was going to be giving an award. So very last minute I called my wonderful sister and brother in law to A. ask if we could stay in their guest house and B. could they babysit the boys for the few hours we would be at the party. They thankfully said yes to both. Which was very very nice being that Sat was Gary's birthday.

As a surprise for the boys they took them to "This is the place, Candlelight Christmas". A historic piece of Salt Lakes history with lots of fun stuff to do.

The boys had so much fun. According to Kolby they got to ride on a real Choo-choo-rain (train)

Liz sent me the pictures they took.

Meet and greet with live reindeer.

You can't hang out with an aunt and uncle without getting lots of sugar in the form of giant suckers :)

Cute pic with Auntie Liz

Uncle Gary helping with an art project

Santa's reindeer

You just can't pass up a chance to talk to Santa this time of year.

Huge thanks to Liz and Gary!!! The boys had a blast!!

Our Christmas party was fun too, nice to get dressed up and have yummy food. (I made sure they had a veggie meal for me, HA!) I'm so proud of Dewey, he really does work incredibly hard to make our business a success, he very much deserved to be recognized for all he does.

Letters to Santa

2011-12-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

Its that time of year...time to write a letter to Santa. The boys of course took this for the very serious occasion it is. I mean the chance to write directly to Santa to ask for what you want, can not be taken lightly.

Both boys asked polite questions..
They went over their good behaviour to make sure Santa had it noted..

They both drew a picture on the back of Santa handing them a gift. I mean you never know if its going to be words or pictures that gets your point across. Better to cover all the bases.

And then time for the gift wish list.

I was actually a little impressed they have both had lists that could have fit on a scroll, the kind that drops to the ground and rolls across the floor. But we have had several conversations about "how many toys do kids really need". And that its best to make sure there is enough to go around for everyone. So when it came down to the actual writing they had both narrowed it down to three things.

Once you write the letter you have to make sure Santa gets it. So it was off to the Post Office, where they have a special box set up just for letters to Santa.

You can't beat special delivery right to the North Pole.

To be on the extra extra safe side they want to also go see "Santa's helper" at the mall. They know Santa is very busy this time of year so he has a lot of Santa helpers. But sitting on a helpers lap and giving him your wish list is almost as good as talking to Santa himself. Between that and the letter they are covered :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2011-11-29T07:07:00.000-08:00

A little late I know. But I hope you all had a wonderful day, filled with blessings and thankfulness.

We headed up north to spend it with my side of the family. Liz and Gary hooked us up with deluxe accommodations. Steve and Miki hosted Thanksgiving at their house and it was wonderful. Great food... (yum yum tofurkey for me and Miki) Such fun to get to spend time with family.

I talked Steve, Miki, Keanna and Liz into doing the whole midnight black Fri shopping thing with me. I think we had a blast, laughing, joking running and shopping. We didn't fall into bed until after 4am. (ok I may have been tired and grumpy at the end but that's WAY past my bedtime) Good times!!

So our newest member Snickers is doing great. Other then Dewey and I spending most of our time saying "Kolby put the cat down". He carries her everywhere, whatever he does she does.

I swear they were both looking at the new toy catalog that came in the mail.

We spent the weekend recuperating after our Thanksgiving getaway. But there are always things to do around the house and yard. I knew the boys were "supposed" to be helping Dew rake leaves and spread in the garden. When I looked outside I saw them taking turns jumping off the hay piles

throwing leaves in the air

And having their version of snowball fights using leaves.

Not sure how much actual work got done but it looked like fun to me.

We also took our pics for Christmas cards. Generally I make it a big stressed out occasion for me. This year I thought, it has to be an easier way. So we slapped on the Santa hats and walked out into our very own yard.

Here's a sneak peak at one we took

I'm fairly sure that the boys believe the whole purpose of our hay is for them to jump off.

And lucky for them dad makes the perfect catcher.

On Saturday we met Grandma and Grandpa at the theater and saw Authors Christmas, a very cute Christmas movie. Sunday we put our Christmas tree up. The boys favorite part is seeing all their decorations from years past. The ones they have made and the ones with their pictures. They love seeing how much their hands have grown from their hand print ornaments.

Let the holidays begin!!

23 is the answer.

2011-11-22T11:03:00.000-08:00

The question is ....How many animals do we have?

With the addition of our brand new kitten, 23 animals.

I'm sure you all are wondering (and ready to call some sort of animal control) so I'll break it down for you.

13 chickens

2 Horses

2 Dogs

2 Guinea Pigs

4 Cats

In our defence one of the cats is a barn cat that showed up about a month ago and lives ONLY in the barn. Kolby named him "Tractor" a few weeks ago. (the cat mostly lives under the tractor, we are nothing if not clever)

Our brand new rescued Kitten is named Snickers and just cute as can be.

The boys are just a tad excited to have a new kitten.

We were not planning on a new cat nor did we go in search of one. But when someone leaves a poor little kitten half starved and freezing outside my sister in laws doorstep what are you gonna do. With a little help from Grandma putting everyone together the boys have a new kitten.

And you know my motto "Whats one more?"

As of last night Snickers started acting like a real kitten playing and jumping. So with a few days some love and food shes going to be just fine.

On an unrelated topic I had to show a picture of our typical morning.......

This is Luke and Kolby AFTER waking up and making their way into the Family room

In case any of you were under the impression we are a "bright eyed, bushy tailed, rise and shine" type family.....we are not. Some of us (me,me,me,me) can fake it better then others. (every male member of the family) But as a whole we are a "much rather be snug in bed" then up and facing the day family.

Just a little nugget into our lives :) Plus the above pics just make me smile.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Fall Fun

2011-11-14T18:41:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago when we still had leaves on the trees and they were such beautiful colors the boys I decided to take some fall pics. OK it was mostly me that decided but they were nice enough to play along. Alright alright so I may have bribed them with their brand new light sabers that arrived that very day if they would only smile. But we got pictures!

We even took some of our home grown pumpkins. How big does Luke look in this picture (sob sob)
I love taking pictures, however it makes me SO frustrated when I don't take good ones. I'm sure this has a lot to do with my lack of knowledge, camera and no photo editing skills. These are all things I plan to change, they are on my "To do" list for the new year. Move over "work out/ get in shape" that has been there for the past 100 or so years. And unlike the latter one I plan to do the Photo one :)
Kolby with his happy face

We still had fun though...

Look at these real smiles, not the camera smiles they are so good at flashing me.

We went to one of my favorite places to take pics an old farm/barn.

I love this one.

And this one...

True story, the last time we went there the elderly farmer that owns the property pulled up to ask what we were doing. I politely asked him if it was alright for me to take a few pictures. (from the looks of the place it has been abandoned for years) He looked at me like I was crazy. "you want to take pictures here"? Me, yes please. "I don't know why you would but go ahead". He walked off shaking his head. Funny how people see beauty in different things. :)
We are past the fall stage and currently in the holding pattern for snow and full on winter.... So I thought I better get these posted. Hope everyone is well and gearing up for the holidays. Enjoy some hot apple cider on us.

Katy Football

2011-11-07T19:11:00.000-08:00

My brother Jordan is a football player. And not just any football player he is a starting outside linebacker for his high school team. His high school team just happens to be ranked 5th in the country right now, A pretty big deal. Hes a senior this year so my brother Steve and I decided we would fly out for his last game. (not really his last game since they are now going on to state playoffs but anyway) Dewey and I decided Luke and Kolby would not sit still long enough to watch the game and since that was the whole point of going they would stay home this trip. So it was a boys weekend at our house, filled with McDonald's, and movies with Grandma and Grandpa. Big thanks to my darling hubby for handling everything so I could go. We flew out last Fri night to make it in time for the early Sat game.

Steve and Patrick (who went to state playoffs himself 2 years ago). Were able to get passes to stand on the sidelines for the whole game.

Being that I'm from Utah I had heard about Texas high school football (I don't live under a rock) but really had no idea how big it is. So fun to be able to be part of it all for a game. Tailgaters and people standing in line for hours for a high school game...who knew.

Jordan is number 40. I tried to take pictures of him playing but with my bad eyes/not the best digital camera/ no zoom lens they did not turn out all that great. But you get the idea :)

I missed getting shots of Jordan's tackles and sacks, but he looked great. Such a fun game to watch with all the crowd enthusiasm.

Katy won 38-7!!

They took regional and broke the school record for least allowed scored points by the other teams for the season. (prob not the technical term but that's how I understood it) Way to go Jordan!!

Jordan, Steve and my mom after the game

Patrick, Jordan and Steve

When they go to state (which I'm sure they will) they get to play in the Dallas Cowboys stadium, how cool is that?
After the game they drove us to Kemah, which is on the gulf. Whoopee for me I got to see some ocean water only only very favorite thing. We brought a wheel chair for grandma since she had already gone to the football game. It was a bit to much walking for her.

Me, Patrick, Steve, Jordan with Grandma.

This pic makes me laugh, the wind was blowing just a tad....

We had a wonderful time! Kemah was doing a military appreciation weekend, They had a skydiver and Darryl Worley live in concert. We have a lovely dinner, shopped a little and explored the area. The weather was warm and perfect. The night was topped off by an amazing fireworks show. A good time had by all.

I was not all all happy to return home on Sunday to a snow storm and the freezing temps we have had ever since.

A fun quick weekend that I'm so glad we were able to do. Big thanks to all that helped make it happen. And huge congrats to Jordan on his winning season!!

Happy Halloween..a little late

2011-11-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

It seems like this time of year we have something going on every day. So I'm a little behind in posting Our Halloween pics. We started last week by carving pumpkins that we grew our very own selves in our garden. We started this with Luke and we continue every year. The kids get up on the counter and dig in.

Its the Great pumpkin Charlie Brown playing in the background.

Pulling out the seeds is always the fun part, who doesn't love slimy?? We let the boys try carving their own pumpkins, with a LOT of supervision. Happy to report no band aids needed and cute pumpkins now sitting on our porch.

So the big reveal...... the boys have spent the last two months looking at costumes and going back and forth between who they wanted to be. The process is half the fun :) After much discussion between the two of them, they choose.....

Obi-Wan Kenobi (or as Kolby calls himself kobe-kenobi)

And Anakin Skywalker

Our little Jedi Knights.

Luke's School had a Halloween carnival on Fri night. Lots of games and activities for the kids. As you walked in the building Luke's Principal was dressed all in black with a hood sitting in a chair. Kolby refused to walk past him. We carried him in and then stopped to get a picture at this frame they had set up. Dew had to stand behind it with Kolby. You can see where he is looking....he was not a fan of the principals costume.

On Saturday was our Heritage festival held every year. This flag was sent from one of our local boys serving in Afghanistan. It was carried by his cousin in the parade. I was so proud of Luke and Kolby. We were at the parade with some of their friends. When they saw the flag coming they stood up and told their friends to do the same. Luke said "that's our flag you put your hand on your heart when it goes by" It doesn't seem like that long ago when we Dewey and I were crying as we landed in Minneapolis because it meant Luke was now a U.S citizen.

A very touching moment in the parade.

My pictures did not turn at that well because we were facing into the sun, but this one was to cute to pass up.

Lots of big tractors, to hold a boys attention.

And the highlight, sheep running down main street

I'm told they bring the sheep down out of the mountains this time of year and that it goes along with the Heritage theme. Its a crowd pleaser for sure :)

The local Calvary church puts on a HUGE Halloween festival each year for the town. There are bible themed games with loads of candy given out. Cotton candy, apple cider and bounce houses, we go every year and love it. This year they had a firetruck and police car with police officer for the boys to talk to. He was so nice and let the kids sit in and check out his car as much as they wanted.

I did not even have to ask Luke to smile, he was just this happy to be sitting in the car.

Same goes for Kolby

We did go trick or treating to a few house in our neighborhood. Luke and Kolby are the only kids, thus only trick or treaters. So once again they made out like little bandits. Our wonderful neighbors spoil them silly. I'm pretty sure they do not have a very accurate idea of what trick or treating really is.

Another fun Halloween come and gone.

Big News!!

2011-10-27T11:08:00.000-07:00

Kolby can ride a bike without training wheels!!!

And not only just ride but he can ride on our driveway which is really just rocks on dirt
This is huge news!! We LOVE going on bike rides as a family but have not gone on one all summer. I have stubbornly refused to take the bike rack off the back of the car in hopes that one day soon we would be using it again. Woop-eeee, Way to go Kolby!!

However he may have learned just a pinch late for us to be able to do rides from our home. This is what we woke up to yesterday.....

GAHHHH, I swear we watched the news before going to bed and they said it would be nice mild weather through Halloween. I even made the comment of how nice it will be for the kids not to have to be bundled up head to toe, sort of defeating the whole costume purpose.

Last night it dropped to 18 degrees. Why am I never ready for winter to hit again? Oh well just means we drive south until we hit sun and go for our bike rides there :)

Corn Maze Fun

2011-10-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago the boys saw something on TV about corn mazes, they have been begging to go to one ever since. You would think since we live in the country one would be easy to find. Apparently we are a little to country, the closest one was in St. George 45 minutes away. On the bright side the temps are still in the 80's down there so it was a warm beautiful day last Sat.

The place we found was a real working farm which goes all out with a corn fall fun theme.

Dewey showing the boys how to rope a steer. (I think that's what the hay with horns is supposed to be, I also think steers are what you rope??)

Luke was pretty good at it, better then me for sure.

How did I end up the pig in this picture?

No farm is complete without super cute baby animals.

And a Llama or two

Going with the whole corn theme was a slide....into corn

We got a tractor ride to the corn maze. We let the boys pick the direction each time we came to a turn.

They loved it!! We never really got lost, just headed one general direction then turned around and headed the other way until we found the exit. But a big hit none the less.

How tall this Fall??

A playground is not complete without a big tire to play in. You can see Kolby but do you see the other face peaking out? Yep Dewey fit in too.

This next attraction needs no explanation....

They had this thing called a bounce pillow. Neither Dewey or I had ever seen one before. We all had a blast jumping and bouncing around on it.

We ended up staying a few hours and loving every minute. We are definitely adding this to our fall traditions. Fun fun day!!

End of soccer season one

2011-10-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

Our first season of soccer is over. And I have to say it was a all around big hit, both boys had a blast playing. Luke asked me yesterday if we can go this weekend to sign them up again. He was none to pleased to find out that's not how it works. He was still mad this morning knowing they have to wait until next summer to play again. When I asked Luke what is favorite part of soccer was he said "kicking the ball". Which is probably why is was awarded

"Best Dribbler"

Luke's end of season party was last Tues at the soccer park. We were lucky to have had a great coach and kids for him to play with. During the last game Luke was knocked over by a much bigger boy on the other team. He went flying up in the air landed on the ground and hit his head. Along with Dewey and I running on to the field all the other parents from our team stood up to make sure he was ok. Such a great group of people. Luke was a little upset and shaken up but after resting he got back out and played. (he is one tough kid) And yes Dewey and I talked and decided we can't run out to the field when our baby boy is hurt now that he is 6. But not sure I will be able to stick to that the next time it happens, sheesh how do you not?

Go Blue Thunder!

Because Kolby played in the 4 year old group is was structured a little differently. Pretty much a team of 40 something kids broken up into smaller teams. Much less interaction with coach and other parents then with Lukes. But Kolby LOVED it!!! And for his first year he played really well. When I asked what his favorite part was he said "scoring two goals". His end of season party was Thurs at Funtime inflatables and there were oh I don't know 100 kids running around eating pizza and playing. In other words kid heaven. Look at this smile when he was handed his trophy.

A pretty happy boy!
Go Orange Lions!!

I definitely see a lot of soccer in our future.

First cold of the season...check

2011-10-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

So maybe it was the freezing temps we have been having and the end of season soccer games or maybe it was the endless germs we all run into everyday. But we can safely say our first cold of the season is checked off the list. I have been coughing for over a week and lost my voice last Thurs. I finally broke down and went to the doctor yesterday to be told I have a "serious chest infection". I'm hoping the pills start working so I get my voice back and can sleep at night..

Sick or not we went to Dewey's cousins wedding over the weekend. I'm bummed I didn't take any pictures. You know I have to be far below my peak to not have my camera out. The wedding was beautiful and took place in a little town call Antimony about an hour and a half from us. We had never been there before and really enjoyed seeing a new area of Utah. We ate at a little cafe on the way back that swore they were from Butch Cassidys hide out. Needless to say the boys LOVED it.

Alas no pictures but fun time spent with family and good memories.

I thought I would share our recent pics from the boys annual doctor visit. (get it me sick boys doc pics, it all ties it :) What do you do to pass the time once your in the little waiting room??

Use the stool as a race car?

Or play hide and seek??

Whatever it takes to keep a 4 and 6 year entertained in a tiny room. Both boys are healthy, Kolby got a start on his pre kindergarten immunizations. He is such a little trooper, 3 shots and not a tear shed. Kolby came in at the 30% for his age and height. Luke has dropped off the chart again. But the important thing is that he is happy and healthy. And the lucky kid gets to eat all the calories he wants. Sigh..... it has been at least 100 years since I could do that :)

Both Kolby and Dew have a little cough but seem to be fine otherwise. Hopefully this cold is a me only this time around.

Who's ready for winter?

2011-10-07T12:55:00.000-07:00

Not us...oh wait maybe we are.

We have gone up to the mountains gathering fire wood all summer. A few years ago some kind of beetle infested the forests to the East of us. I'm sure there is a scientific or newsie version I could tell but instead I'll just say there are dead trees EVERYWHERE. So to help clear them out for the price of a $10 permit they are yours or ours for the taking.

Our trip last weekend was our fastest so far, we are getting the hang of this.

We start with Dewey using the chainsaw. For this part the boys and I make sure we are nowhere near the area. (other than this picture which I snuck up for)

The boys take their very important job of hitting dead trees with hammers seriously. (what you didn't know that had to be done? Believe you me hours of entertainment)

I don't claim to understand why this is so fun, maybe its one of those things not in a female brain. But who am I to stop such a good time.

Once Dew has the trees cut into "fit into the bed of the truck size" pieces me and the boys come back to help. The boys supervise as we carry and lift. With this system I have to say we are well stocked for the winter. Plus got enough to share with Dad and Winnie.

And why is this important and what does it have to do with being ready for winter you ask.

A few nights ago we had our first freezing temps and snow fall. (gasp I know its the first week of Oct) We also had a power outage that same night. So...... out comes the firewood and we had a cozy warm fire to sit by.

Of course we had to make an adventure out of it so we put up our small tent so we could have an indoor camp out. (with no power there obviously were no lights so picture this room dark, kinda cool how you can't tell with the wonder of the flash camera)

We all have headlamp flashlights for our cave exploring. They come in super handy in times like these. Luke still got to get in his reading time before bed.

So bring it winter we are ready!!! However if you want to hold off for a few weeks I won't complain at all.

So I wake up yesterday morning

2011-09-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

To this child fully dressed walking around the house. It was 6am my normal time to get up, not Luke's normal time. Usually I have to go in and wake both boys up around 7.

So I ask "how long have you been up"

"oh I don't know a few hours"

OK mildly concerning but I figure kids have a weird view of time maybe half hour max.

We proceed with the morning routine getting everyone ready and fed. As we are walking out the door I pick up his backpack and notice its heavy. From past experience I know the temptation to sneak toys to school is almost unbearable so heavy in a backpack is not good. As I'm unzipping and asking whats inside he says "oh I made my own lunch". For the record before he started school and we talked about staying at school all day and getting to eat lunch he decided he wanted to buy his lunch from the lunch room. (this being the easier option for me woopee) So I pull out his John Deer lunch box and open it. As I was expecting anything from dirty socks to Lego's I was shocked to see a ham and cheese sandwich, apple and little bag filled with frankinberry crunch. (don't judge I don't let them eat it for breakfast its more like a desert treat....mostly for me. Hard marshmallows and blue milk, come on people...yum) Shocking as it was to see a full lunch made was the fact that there was NO mess in the kitchen. Everything neatly put away, nothing to alert me that a lunch had even been made. Um ok ,well good job lets throw in a drink and your ready to go.

Still a little in shock from the morning, when we got home I noticed something strange in their playroom. We have a stash of "rainy day" things to do, this being one of them.

On their table was a measuring cup and stirring spoon, the little containers with liquid and rocks in them. So I call Luke in to tell me about his experiment. He shows me the instructions that came with the kit. There are little pictures with instructions for each step. He said "I just followed along with the pictures, see this first one says to pour coffee into a measuring cup, then mix in the crystals and pour over the rocks". Coffee? I look close and it says pour boiling water (pretty happy he didn't sound out the words and try that) and the picture shows a tea kettle. To him a coffee pot.

So to sum up, he likely was up for at least an hour, he might be a mad scientist, and he is far more self sufficient in the kitchen then we knew.

I am weighing the pros and cons of buying a chemistry set for him for Christmas....things might get blown up, but great to help his learning. Hum... what to do :)

Goodbye Summer

2011-09-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

Another summer has come and gone (when what how did that happen?) so.........

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF FALL!

Last weekend we drove to St. George to pick up a new dryer. That's right we are back to being a family with a washer and a dryer. Oh soft towels and pants how I missed you.

Since St George is still in the 90's temp wise we took the boys swim suits and surprised them with a trip to the water park.

Excited much?

I'll say again that whoever thought of this park... brilliant. Fun for kids of all ages and those not so young kids such as myself.

The boys did not pose for any of these pics I just followed them around snapping away. My favorite kind.

Pure joy and happiness in the moment

I thought these were the perfect pics to say goodbye to summer.

This weekend will be spent taking down.. sob the summer mantel and digging out the Halloween decorations. I know I know I probably should have had fall/back to school stuff in between the two but it just never seems to happen. Maybe next year ;)

Have a wonderful weekend all!

Full Soccer mode

2011-09-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

Both boys have now played a few games. Its safe to say they both LOVE soccer.

They even talked Grandpa and Grandma into playing a game with them.

The majority of the game was 2 on 2 and very action packed :)
How cute is this picture?

This is my favorite soccer pic I have taken so far. It was right in the middle of a game, Kolby is just happy as can be. And I love the looks on the other boys faces so much expression.
Kolby literally smiles the whole game.

Last weeks game the coach didn't show so Dew subbed in.

I'm not sure that I have seen many cuter things then 4 year old's playing soccer. Dew had his work set out for him.

But I guarantee he loved every minute and so did Kolby.

Kolby is really pretty good.

But more importantly he is having a blast and loving every minute.

And I'm getting the swing of packing along a blanket and drinks. Luke's last practice they had a game between parents and kids. I came prepared with proper shoes and attire ready to play. 10 minutes in it started POURING rain, not little misty drops but big fat heavy rain drops. The kids all looked at us thinking we would run for cover. We the parents just laughed and kept playing. Luke thought it was the funniest thing ever to see me dripping wet. I did forget one practice.... for shame I know. The soccer moms rushed me at the next game to ask if something had come up. "Um yes, life came up, I forgot". Pretty sure I will not make it into the soccer mom hall of fame this year.

But all in all I think we are into the swing of things :)

Odds and ends

2011-09-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have weeks where 101 things go wrong? The past few weeks have been like that for us, we are ready for the little black cloud to move away from our house. On the bright side since our dryer went out and I'm hanging out our clothes to dry it has brought back fond memories of our months in Kazakhstan doing laundry by hand. And our air conditioner did make it through the summer when we really needed it before it going out. Unfortunately there is no bright side to the large dental bills we are soon to have for three members of our family :(

But new day, new week, new hope of better things to come.

Something we do have to be happy about......... FOOTBALL SEASON woot-woot

We have a small university in town, Go T-Birds. We like to support them (even if they rarely win, grrrrr) they are our local team. They had a kick off the season/meet the team geared towards kids a few weeks ago. The boys were so excited, this is them showing off their football faces. (Luke forgot to look mean in the first one)

We got there as soon as they opened (read neurotic mom) so the boys got a lot of attention. By far the highlight for them was meeting Thor, the Thunderbirds mascot.

He even helped them on some of the games.

They had a table set up to meet some of the players and have them sign a poster. As we went around getting signatures on our two posters the boys said not one word. The players would say "hi" or "hey buddy are you gonna play football when you get older?" Both Luke and Kolby would just stare, their little eyes huge as saucers not uttering a sound. Which left me to smile say thanks and shuffle them around the table, to funny. They love their posters and insisted on hanging them in their playroom on the football wall. (99% Dews Dallas Cowboys stuff 1% my 49er's which only made it because its a picture of me and Steve Young)

It was also county fair time. Our county has a whopping population of 46,000 so picture small and quaint, we love it! And a first for me, being that we have a 4 and 6 year old we could not miss the demolition derby. I was not sure what to expect having never seen one and I'm not sure the small one we saw qualifies but the boys liked it and are still talking about it.
There are not many things that will hold the boys attention for two hours.

Apparently cars crashing into each other does it.

We had one last splash in the pool before putting it away (throwing in the garbage) for the summer

I just can't imagine why our pools only make it one season....

When life gets crazy and busy don't forget to take time to stop and catch some raindrops on your tongue

And enjoy the simple joy of running in the rain.

Life.....lets try to enjoy the ride. (even if some weeks it harder then others)

Yankee Fishing

2011-08-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

We have not managed to fish much this summer but we did go the weekend before last. We went to one of our favorite lakes Yankee Meadows. Its one of our favorites not because of the loads of fish we catch but because I think its BEAUTIFUL.

The boys are getting pretty good with the worms and the hooks (g...r...o...s....s)

I don't have a fishing license and since I would hate to break the law its up to Dewey to get the boys poles and his own ready, as I lounge on a blanket reading and taking pictures :)

LOVE this one

Its all about the memories

We brought the dogs with us this time, Skip didn't sit still the whole time and had a blast running along the trail and through the mud.

A slightly different story for my little princess bailey. Can you just tell from this picture how much fun she is having being out in nature in the dirt?

The boys are getting a tiny bit better about sitting with (or at least somewhat watching) their poles.

We can really only be near water for so long before we just have to jump in. And lets just say play king or Queen of the mountain or stump in the lake.

Once I did it of course it became the funnest thing ever

This next picture has Luke and the shark on his shirt with the exact same expression

Kolby stranded himself, so Luke to the rescue

I just love these pictures, They are so protective of each other.

They made it almost all the way back before kolby "fell" in the water. After that any hope of staying dry was lost.

Now I am not by any means a fishing expert but I have to think the above playing and this type of fun does not help the fishing cause....

Poor Dewey not a nibble or bite of his very nice carefully tended pole. However both Luke and Kolby caught a fish on their Transformers and Cars kids poles. (catch and release of course) You would think I would take pictures of that but I took a video of each instead. It just occurred to me the other day that I'm always so busy taking pictures we have almost no videos of the boys. Opps.......

We also had a first bee sting. Literally about two minutes after we had hiked around the lake carrying fishing stuff, chairs, and lunch to our spot. Luke got stung by a bee on his neck. Luckily Dewey just happened to bring the new snake/insect bit kit we got. It worked great to suck the venom (is that what bees leave?) out. We slapped a little mud on and talked the boys out of leaving and going home inside the house where there are no bees. (which was what they were begging) And enjoyed the rest of the day.

Add soccer mom to my resume.

2011-08-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

Because our days are just not jammed packed enough we are throwing soccer into the mix :)

Last weekend was the boys very first games. As fate would have it they were at the very same time in two different towns. Since we were not sure how Kolby would do (look back at the wrestling posts) we decided Dewey should go to his game to give him that extra "get out and play" that dads are so good at. Lukes game was in a small town to the north of us so grandpa came to help me cheer him on.

Luke and Kolby right before we left.

Unfortunately with everyone scrambling to get out the door one of us forgot their camera. (it wasn't ME) So we just have pics of Lukes game.
Luke did so well. I was really proud of him, he got right out there and ran after the ball and always made sure he was in the middle of things.

This was a pretty big deal since he is the smallest player on his team.

At his first practice he noticed right away. He ran back to me and said "mom I'm the smallest one here". I said "its ok it just means you will be fast and dart in and out around people, get out there". Now my mom heart wanted to cry and hold him tight. But I know that this is something he will always have to deal with, its part of who he is. My job as a parent is to raise a strong confident son who will not see size as an obstacle. We talk alot about how God made everyone perfect, just as they are supposed to be. We come in all different shapes and sizes and colors and everyone is perfect just as they are.
So its not important that hes not the tallest or fastest player its important that he is out there playing his little heart out.

When we all got back to the house I was happy to hear that Kolby did just great. At his age the games are a little more laid back and set up for the kids to just run and have fun. Next weekends games are not at the same time so we will all be able to go to both. I'll take lots of Kolby pics then :)
The proud players! (you might notice Kolby is in a different uniform then the first pic, I guess traded before he even had his first game, we like to think drafted :)

This pic cracks me up, Lukes team is the Blue Thunder and Kolbys is the Lions, this is him Roaring.

Let the fun begin!

Luke is a FIRST grader!!

2011-08-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Luke's first day of school. He is gasp....sob... in first grade. We went to his back to school night earlier in the week. His teacher is nice as can be. He was so excited the night before school, he had his clothes and backpack all ready.

Look at how big he is!!
Of course I had to take pictures on the first day of school, this is what happens when Kolby thinks there have been a few to many of just Luke.

And Luke laughing his head off at Kolby streaking through

They are so funny, I swear they spend half the time just making each other laugh. (of course the other half they are fighting)

Kolby had to have a picture of his "rolly polly" He found it while we were taking pics and ran in the house to grab a cup to keep him in. It was no easy task convincing him that his rolly polly would be happier living in the dirt then in a cup all day.

Luke and Dewey sporting a number one for first grade!!

Since we were taking pics we might as well grab one with me and my boys

And yes I did follow the bus and met Luke at the front door to walk him to his class.

And just a small taste of my craziness....... I picked up Kolby a little early so we could grab some doughnuts as a treat for Luke when he got home. Because of this we were a little early when we drove home. As we passed the street with Luke's school on it two bus's were heading our way. Since we were ahead of the bus's we hurried home parked the car and jumped out to wait. The bus stopped across the street and then left. Kolby and I looked around for Luke but nobody had gotten off the bus. I immediately panicked, where is my baby boy. We ran back in the house grabbed my phone and jumped in the car. I was thinking we had forgotten to tell Luke which bus to get on what if he is lost somewhere. (full on freaking out) I call Dew all crazy sounding and he says all calm (because he is used to my crazy) "Take a deep breath, Luke should not even be out of school yet it was probably the JR. High bus I'm sure he is fine". Never the less Kolby and I drive to Lukes school and park. No sooner had we got there we see Luke come skipping out the first grade doors (literally skipping). Now I breathe and calm my crazy. I see that the principal is waiting by the bus's with a clipboard and all the kids are in orderly lines. So Kolby and I drive back home and once again wait....

Luke makes it home safe and sound. A perk of living in the country is the bus picks him up and drops him off right at our driveway.

We jump and and down and celebrate his first day of school. Luke says he made new friends and saw some old friends from last years class. He loves his teacher already and thinks getting his own lunch in the lunch room is the coolest thing ever. Well not as cool as getting to play in the big playground twice. As soon as hes done talking Kolby says "we thought you were lost". I explain to Luke the mix up with the bus but that once I saw him and the principal we knew he was ok. Then I heard the words that I didn't think I would hear until he was a teenager. "m.......o....o....o.....m......m......m (said in a deadpan teenage voice I swear) you came to school, mom you can't do that everyday, I'm fine".

Sheesh can't a mom be a little crazy and worry about her kid :)

Aunt Becca and Uncle Dels pool

2011-08-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Aunt Becca and Uncle Del invited us to their St. George house. They were just getting back from their cross country drive with Grandma. The boys were excited to see and spend time with G.G. But being 4 and 6 year old boys the swimming pool was their highlight of the day. I can't really blame them is was WONDERFUL, hot temps cool water, LOVE IT.

Luke with a life jacket on is fearless

He went zipping down the slide, splashed into the water, popped up and then paddled around the pool all on his own.

Kolby liked having a life jacket with at least one other floatation device or.......

The shallow end :)

It was near impossible to get Luke to hold still long enough for a picture of both of them together, this is the best I could do.

I like to call this "The great rescue" Luke went first

Then Kolby

Notice the arms and legs out crab style? It was not a fast decent.

Which made it easier to stop himself altogether from going into the pool. As Kolby yells for help (I should say I was obviously not in the pool since I was taking pictures, I saw that Kolby was in no immediate danger and waited to see how he would work it out)

Luke yelled from across the pool "I'll Help you brother" He grabbed a floating lounge and paddled over to Kolby. Hum... I wonder how this is going to work.

Luke was giving him directions the whole time. "Just step on it Kolby" Kolby apparently didn't think this was the best idea

So Luke climbs up to try and lift Kolby down. (Keeping in mind they weight the exact same) I just loved to see their team work, how they tried to work out the problem on their own. A great opportunity to work on their problem solving skills.

Unfortunately nothing they tried worked and they both called for help. I sat the camera down to jump in but Uncle Dell was faster to the rescue.
Kolby was none the worse for wear after his dramatic experience te-he-heee

The boys had to be dragged out of the pool to leave.
Thanks Aunt Becca and Dell we had a great time!!

Full Swing Garden Mode

2011-08-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

This was our garden just a few months ago....

TA-DA (That's a Kolby original pose)
Great big huge jungle leaves??? Yep we have them.

So far we have an ABUNDANCE of lettuce and squash. Our guinea pigs are pretty spoiled with their gourmet menu.

Tomatoes nope not a one. You might remember last year we had so many I canned salsa and tomato sauce and still had plenty. This year NONE. Because I'm just a pinch on the crazy side I have been asking everybody I see if they have tomatoes in their garden. And apparently nobody else does either. I guess something freaky in the weather/wind/full moon this year the tomatoes didn't like. But the important thing is I'm not a tomato failure :)

I was doing so good at keeping up with the squash. I served it every night in some way for dinner. (pay no attention to Dewey claiming he refuses to eat anymore until next year) You name a recipe and I made it, well all the ones without meat. I was also cutting blanching and freezing a bag a night. And anybody that knocked on our door I didn't let leave without taking some. It was a good solid plan and worked for awhile. However mother nature works much faster then I do, I missed one maybe two days and I swear I lost the battle. The boys and I went out and picked 4 LARGE bags of various types of squash. In the midst of me having a stress attack about wasting so much food I remembered that we have a little Care and Share (food pantry) in town. I called and asked if they accept donations and me and the boys loaded the car. I have to say it was a really good feeling giving our veggies to those that need them. When we took them in they were the only fresh food I saw. It was also a great opportunity to teach the boys about charity and how blessed we are to have enough to be able to share.

Just this week our peas have ripened...yum-E If you came to our house you just might see Kolby and I sitting in the garden eating them right off the plant.

I really do love gardening and think its a fun project for the whole family. Getting all the fresh veggies is just a great big plus. Keep your fingers crossed for our pumpkins, they are Kolbys favorites he checks them everyday. I just don't think they are going to make it before we have our first frost. I swear shortest growing season ever.

Luke and Kolby pretending they are in a jungle

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Mammoth Caves

2011-08-08T11:36:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite places to explore is Mammoth Caves.

Its about 1/4 mile long with four chambers and a total of 2,200 feet of lava tubes. It was formed by cooling lava and flowing water less than 2,000 years ago. (science lesson for the day ) Its located about 30 minutes to the east of us in the mountains. Which also makes it the perfect place to go in the summer to cool off.

We took one of our good friends and his kids Ryland and Savanna (or as Kolby calls them Ryan and Sabanna)

The kids got to wear head lamps and explore a dark cave..... what more can a kid ask for. Luke our no fear child was in heaven.

Being a cave it was pitch black which made for some fun pics

For this picture everyone turned off their lights and just used the flash on the camera. Amazing that everyone is sort of looking in the right direction.

It was a great learning opportunity for the kids. Orange, white, and black rocks to look at. Plus all kinds of nooks and coves and large "rooms" to explore. We have had record amounts of water this past year. Parts of the caves looked like crystals in the wall but it was water drops all over the place. Unfortunately it also meant we did not make it all the way through the cave. Towards the end it turned into a mud bog. I made the executive decision to turn around and go back the way we had come. No way was I having seven people covered head to toe in mud after crawling out of a cave, climbing into my car. I know I'm no fun at all.

We missed doing the caves last year so the last time we went we had to carry the boys. This year they both walked their own selves through the whole thing.

Sunlight!!

Since we were in the mountains we stopped to have a picnic. The boys (including Dew) can't miss an opportunity to roast a hot dog.

Kolby's face looks happy and because he did not act sick in any way the whole time Dew and I were a little unprepared for when he did get sick and have a few accidents. I won't get into too many details but because this is our family journal this has to be shared and sure to be laughed about in years to come.

1. We will now always have a change or two of clothes in the car.

2 Sometimes its better to throw everything away shoes included.

3. Dewey can make clothes out of a recycle fabric shopping bag. (you know the kind you always keep in the car because your going to use them for grocery shopping but then never take them into the store with you)

Yep good times!

Happy to say whatever bug Kolby had he is over it now and never did say he didn't feel good or act like he was sick.
But other than that a fun little getaway.

Palisades/Happy Birthday Liz

2011-08-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

It was my baby sisters birthday on Monday. Even though she is 30 something now I remember teaching her how to walk by waving a Popsicle at her from across the room, she will always be my baby sister :)

She decided that she wanted to spend her birthday at Palisades park. So of course we jumped at the chance to meet everyone there. Liz, Gary, Hailey and Dan and Steve, Miki, Keana and Hailey drove south East 2 1/2 hours and we drove North East 2 1/2 hours. We all met in the middle. Palisades is a little lake that we went to every summer growing up. We all have such good memories of family fun there. None of us had been there in ages, but now that we went we can't wait to go back.

Its a small enough lake that they don't allow motor boats so its perfect for swimming.

Dewey in the water with all the Little's.
They have a floating platform you can swim out to then jump off of. You'll notice me sitting on the platform, not out splashing around. I have a thing about lakes, don't ask I know its an irrational fear. But I did swim myself out there.

What do you think, are the boys having fun?

Luke trying out his body board skills

Kind of hard to tell but Kolby is laughing his little head off. This was before he tried drowning aunt Miki by hanging around her neck like a little monkey...sorry about that miki :) Glad to say all are safe and sound.

After a delish picnic lunch we headed around the lake to fish. Not me personally, mostly the Little's. I walked past them and poor Dewey was running back and forth fixing/casting/untangling poles. As I'm not much help in that department I got to take pics and kept walking :)

The boys have been fishing for a few years so you would think they would better understand the sit still theory. I think my taking this picture was the longest Kolby stayed in one place.

As the afternoon came on a thunder storm rolled in. We packed up in the rain and then headed out our separate ways. A wonderful fun day spent with the best family ever!

Happy Birthday Liz, we love you!!

Its all about keeping cool

2011-07-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

I will say right off the bat that I'm not complaining. I know there has been terrible heat waves all over the country. For us it has been normal July 98ish degree days. However.....98degrees is still pretty hot. So for us it has been all about cooling off.

You all know I love sprinkler pics, its one of the only times I can catch the pure happy expressions of the boys. Normally something about seeing a camera pointed their direction brings out the fake smiles.

Once Dewey started this, all we heard was "again, again"

Such simple fun, such happy boys

A few days ago we had to drive to St. George (about 45 minutes to the south of us). Generally we love going there especially in the winter when it runs 30 degrees warmer then our mountain town. We are even fine going there in the summer if we are headed to a pool or say Costco with its air conditioning. This trip was for work...... outside.... in 112 degrees. Dewey had it the worst by far. Mostly I just tried to keep the boys from over heating. We were in a part of town we were not that familiar with, as we were driving the boys spotted water spraying. Of course we had to stop and investigate. We found the nicest little park set up, with water features.

Luke LOVED the random water sprayer. (Kolby was not a fan, too many kids I think)

Luke has no fear and ran right out in the middle with everyone else.

Keep in mind we had no idea we were coming here so off came the shirts and shorts it was for water play.

It was such a cool set up, waterfalls, little rivers and rocks to jump off of.

Their favorite part was a little "river" type area.

Whoever came up with this idea for kids is brilliant. It was packed, we were not the only ones that had the idea of cooling off in water.

We have a new favorite place to go in the summer. I have promised that next time we go we will be a tad more prepared with say swimsuits :)

Celebrating Pioneer Day

2011-07-27T07:40:00.000-07:00

July 24Th is a big holiday in Utah. Its the day we celebrate the pioneers making their way across the country to Utah and then most importantly deciding to stay here. Dewey and I both had family that helped settle Utah. Its interesting history and worth celebrating. On Monday there were parades across the state. Our little town being rather small did the best they could.

The highlight in the parades was the firetrucks with their sirens blaring

The noise and largeness of the vehicles was a little much for Kolby, Luke however right out there waving.
Kolby perked up a little as soon as the candy was thrown. You can't miss out on the kid scramble for one piece of taffy.

You know you live in a small town when one of the "floats" is a Dutch oven band on hay bails. What you have never heard of such a thing?? Country living my friends, country living :)

We have yet to go to a parade when we don't run into kids the boys know. Which makes it all the more fun for them to watch with their friends.

Just a cute pic of Kolby thrown in cus come on look at that smile....

We had a great time enjoying the parade for what it was. It didn't try to be all uppity with uniforms, matching anything, or fancy floats. Nope just good small town fun.

And almost the best part this was all on Monday so a three day weekend WOOHOO

Ok its been a week......

2011-07-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

I can talk about it....... yep its official I am 40!

Luckily for me I have the best hubby,siblings and friends in the world. They planned a surprise trip to Las Vegas for the weekend. I knew Dew and I were going, I thought to celebrate our Bir-Anni (birthday-anniversary same day). The fact that everyone else came down was a huge surprise. Its a 6 hour drive for Steve & Miki and Liz & Gary, so very nice of them to come down. It was kinda funny how it worked out..... there was apparently much planning and effort that went into the timing, which I messed up by wanting dinner in Cedar before Dew and I left. This made us literally drive past Liz and Gary on the freeway on the outskirts of Vegas...oops. Steve and Miki arrived about an hour after we did, another big surprise. The first night we all took a limo to Fremont street.

I swear Steve and Miki could not look bad in a picture if they tried :)

If you like to watch people Freemont street is the place to go...... we had a blast walking watching and laughing. They had live bands every so often which I swear were both playing 80's music for me and my oldness.
You can't go to Vegas without getting a picture taken with a creepy Elvis guy

Saturday we spent time at the pool, 100 degrees, cool water, yes please

Liz and Gary reserved seats for us at an AMAZING Cirque DU Soleil type show on Sat night. So we all got dressed up and went to dinner first. Delish Sushi place.

Cute pic of Liz and Gary, so happy we got to spend so much time with them.

How often are we all in one place dressed up? Not enough that we couldn't stop and take pics before the show.... Girls pic Miki, me and Liz

And how handsome are these boys? Gary, Steve and Dewey

Right before the show our friends Todd and Robin showed up as my last surprise. I honestly feel so blessed to have such amazing people in my life.

After the show we went to Margaritaville, one of our can't miss places in Vegas.

Happy 6 year Anniversary sweetie, LOVE YOU!!

We had a great time dancing, chatting and yup eating again :)

So glad Todd and Robin were there.

Boys pic with showgirls....check
Such a fun time, I sort of didn't even notice that I turned 40.
Vegas has such great memories for me. My grandma lived here when I was a child so we spent a LOT of time here. Its the last place I saw my dad alive. Liz and and celebrated her 21 birthday here. Dewey and I have been coming here since I was 19 and he was 21. (it seems like things were a lot cheaper then) Dewey and I were married here 6 years ago. So I can't imagine a better place to celebrate turning 40. Huge huge thanks to everyone for planning and putting it all together, Love you all!!

Family camping....

2011-07-12T14:05:00.000-07:00

Since our family hike through Zions narrows didn't work out. (completely flooded out) we decided maybe we could do a camping trip, in theory a lot less work. The weekend before we left for Texas we all met out at my grandmas property. A place we love with tons a great memories but that is also located near the middle of nowhere.

Except an old mining ghost town, always a favorite of ours to explore.

Its no secret I love old buildings so I took many, many pics of all angles

We think this was the mercantile, so strange its just standing there by itself, I can only imagine what was around it. I caught Steve and Miki walking by.

Dewey exploring/watching for snakes with the Little's

Its not a camping trip without hotdogs and watermelon and Luke rocking his goggles

I don't even know what face Kolby is making here but it cracked me up.

The boys love "big" Hailey (my niece) and try to hold her hand every chance they get

It was so nice for to spend the weekend with family. Great food, great times, great company! We did have a rattle snake issue...... Kolby nearly stepped on one. He would have except Dewey was right behind him and grabbed him in mid stride. Needless to say this shook up Kolby and Dewey. And me who was not even there.... but can appreciate how scary and gross it was. We may have a family aversion to snakes of all kinds types and slithers. (I know not a real word :)

On the way to the middle of nowhere there are these very cool rocks by the side of the road. If I was much smarter I would tell you the name and kind but you'll have to just go with cool. The kids love to play on them and low and behold there was a geocache hidden. Which proves there are caches everywhere. Here's Steve finding it.

Kolby can not help but climb, I swear give him any kind of surface, round rock flat rock straight up and down rock, he'll climb it.

How cute is this pic of Liz and Gary and their little Leo? Way to cute if you ask me since we had been camping all weekend. You won't be seeing any pics of me :)

Very fun camping trip, enjoyed by all!!

Texas Vacation

2011-07-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

We have been CRAZY busy lately, full swing summer fun.

The boys preschool closed for summer vacation last week for two weeks. This made things more then a little tricky to try and figure out with work. My grandma has been asking for us to come visit her in Texas for ages. Knowing this my amazing brother Steve and his girlfriend Miki arraigned for Steve, me and the boys to fly out there last week. I was going to have to miss work anyway so perfect chance to go.

This is how Kolby starts his vacation...... He fell asleep before the plane was off the ground. (on both flights) And can I just say personal DVD players best invention ever. Kept both boys happy as can be the whole flight. (for Kolby on the parts he was awake :)

We had an amazing fun filled trip.

Who doesn't love a carousal?

There is a park across the street from Grandmas, which the boys thought was the coolest thing ever. Living in the country we have to go into town to play at parks.

I do have to say I was not expecting the heat/humidity. We are high desert people IE DRY heat. Poor Luke ran around the whole time saying "why am I so sweaty" Steve dunked both boys heads in the cold water and they begged for more.

Me and my cute grandma in front of her beautiful little house. (I promise that's not a fanny pack its a purse that just squished over to the middle)

Steve and I both took a ton of pictures so we can put together a book for grandma, in this one we are enjoying the evening air. Me hot grandma cool as a cucumber :)

My brother Jordan Plays football for his high school. I had heard about Texas high school football but I don't think I understood until I saw first hand. We were able to go to a practice game he had, so fun to see. I might be a little prejudice but I think he is really good. Luke was more then impressed. Once we got home he has told everyone "My uncle is a football player, man you should see him play" too funny.

One of the days we went to the Children's Museum in Houston. We got there a little early so we took the chance for more photo ops. Liz is missing from this sibling pic, the first one we have had in a very long time.

This is a boys only photo :)

Luke and Kolby simply adored their uncles, it only took about five minutes and they didn't leave their sides. I love this pic of Kolby and Patrick so cute. Jordan and Patrick were so sweet with the boys one of the highlights of the trip for sure.

Once again the country thing comes into play not a lot of large children's museums around......so the boys went into full fun overload. I swear it took all 6 adults to look after the two of them.

The craft station was not as fun for them as it would have been for say me. But vise versa for the Lego building/racing station. I think Jordan and Patrick were having almost as much fun, except that as soon as they would start something the Little's were off to something else.

Who knew a little pretend store would be so fun for them. I assumed since they have gone grocery shopping with me at least 152 times they wouldn't care, oh not so. They had a blast finding the food they wanted and putting it in their very own baskets. Jordan was "cashier" and rang up their purchases.

Check out this climbing thing, I mean really how cool is this. Except for the fact that once Luke and Kolby started climbing I lost track of them and there were openings on three different floors. I'm a fairly neurotic mom so this did not go well. Jordan and Steve started climbing after the boys and Patrick ran up the stairs..... Your welcome everyone for the exercise :) In the picture you can sort of see the Little's scrambling up.

Such a fun day for the boys that they will not soon forget. They are already asking if they can go back next weekend. Um yea sure thing. I guess I better look into the Children's museum in salt lake city that's only 3 1/2 hours away.

There were two beautiful little lakes in my moms neighborhood, kids....ducks yup fun

Huge miracle that the boys didn't go in the water, it might have been the beware of snakes (icky and super icky) signs that I used to freak them out just a tad about even putting their toes in the water. Hey there was a sign that's a real threat.

I forgot some pics so I'm sure I'll be adding more in another post. Plus some from our family camping trip the weekend before we left for Texas.

Here's one last airport pic waiting for our plane.

A very fun trip that I'm so thankful to Steve and Miki for putting together!!

A little of this a little of that

2011-06-22T08:10:00.000-07:00

First of all a very happy fathers day (a tad late) to all those wonderful dads out there.

We had a very nice weekend. We decided that because we are going to be crazy busy for the next month or so we would just relax at home. On fathers day the boys and I got up and made breakfast for Dewey, with real meat :) Later on in the afternoon we met Dad and Winnie in town and went to see Kung Fu Panda 2. Very cute show with a great adoption message. (stinkin cartoons making me cry) Then out to dinner. I think both dads had a great time.

I took this picture on Fri, I think it speaks volumes about how amazing Dewey is as a dad. He is still in his business work clothes rolling around wrestling with the boys on the grass. He constantly amazes me, a simply wonderful dad.

Since yesterday was the first day of summer I thought I would add some pictures from a recent trip to the park. Let the summer fun begin!!

And one last thing to share. I love doing craft/art projects/re purposing things. I just don't get a lot of time to do them. Last year I bought this frame at the thrift store for $1. I had something in mind when I bought it but recently changed my mind. I am not a jewelry type girl. In fact I have the same jewelry box I have had since I was a teenager, its not full so why get a new one. But..... I do like necklaces and they were starting to get tangled shoved in my small jewelry box. So I took this frame with black cardboard and turned it into..

A hanging necklace holder

I love it!! I spray painted the frame and hooks, added another piece of cardboard, some quilt backing and soft cream fabric and there you have it.

An afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa's

2011-06-09T08:52:00.000-07:00

We spent Memorial day at Grandma and Grandpa's house. The boys very favorite place to be. We had a BBQ and birthday cake to celebrate Dewey and Winnie's birthdays. The boys don't consider it a birthday celebrated without cake, singing and some candle blowing out.

They just happened to have baby crows in one of their trees. They seem pretty big to me but they are still young and staying close to their nest. At one point I looked up and there were 3 crows on the fence and 3 "boys" standing there looking at them. By the time I could grab my camera it was 4 crows and 3 boys kneeling down but I still like the picture.

How cute are these guys??

Winnie is a gardener extraordinaire. She has a BEAUTIFUL flower garden and vegetable garden every year. She found some lady bugs at a local nursery to help her flower garden. She was so sweet to buy two containers so the boys each got to let one of them free.
Kolby especially was fascinated with a whole container of lady bugs.

Of course a few just "happened" to crawl onto his hand

Luke was a little unsure about what he was supposed to do. But really liked looking at the lady bugs.

I just love these nature learning experiences. Hands on learning and fun, I'll take them any day.

We spent last weekend planting our garden, its the first days we have had that have not dropped to freezing temps. So much work but I was so happy to have everything in......only to have 50 mile an hour winds hit on Monday. So far the only plants that are still alive are the ones Winnie gave me from her greenhouse. Fingers crossed for our little plants to rally back. I will be seriously bummed if we don't have fresh veggies a plenty this year. I was a little spoiled last year.

Luke Graduated Kindergarten!

2011-05-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

Wow and wow I know people say it all the time but honestly it seems like just yesterday Luke started kindergarten. Last Friday he graduated....gasp. They had a program last week to celebrate. It was called a barn dance. And can I just say so stinkin cute. Two kindergarten classes singing and dancing their little hearts out.

I tried to take close up pics since I don't feel comfortable publishing other children's pictures. Most of them didn't turn out but here are a few.

Luke being a buffalo
He was pretty serious for most of the program but I did manage to catch one laugh.

Grandma and Grandpa came to watch then we all went for ice cream afterwards to celebrate.

Luke getting off the bus for the last time as a Kindergartner

I had balloons and a little treat waiting for him. We tried to get a picture at the same place we did his first day of school. But He has a thing about the sun in his eyes for a picture. Hes fine running around but as soon as the camera comes up his eyes close. So under the tree in the shade we went.

We are so proud of this little guy. He has worked so hard at speech and school. On the last day of school I took some gifts to his class for his teachers. His teacher was so sweet. She gave me a hug and thanked me for having Luke in her class. She then said " Luke is an amazing child, you don't have to worry about him he is going to be just fine in school and life". It meant a lot to hear that. (of course as his mom I believe that, but its still nice to hear) For a child that weighed 17 pounds at 2 years old and didn't speak, hes come a long way in 4 years.
Bring on First grade!

We love you Luke Congratulations!!!!!

What the boys are doing

2011-05-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

The other night as I was making dinner the boys were entertaining themselves. Our kitchen is open to our family room, making it my favorite area of the house. (of course there is a million things I would change about the rooms but I still love the area) The first thing I noticed was the lack of noise, this is VERY rare in our house and generally cause for alarm. But when I looked up there were the boys quietly entertaining themselves. I grabbed my camera knowing this surely could not last long and was to sweet to miss.

Look what Kolby can do!!

He still has a year before he starts kindergarten, but we have started to work on letters and writing his name. See all those pink papers every one has "kolby" on it

I just love his serious face

I can't BELIEVE my baby boy can write his very own name. On top of that Luke is graduating from kindergarten this week, I have to be honest its all a little much for this mama.

While Kolby was at the table Luke was on the carpet playing chess. He picked out his own chess partner, I'm pretty sure Luke won this game.

Dewey recently taught Luke how to play chess, the child is addicted, he LOVES IT. He begs Dewey every night when he gets home from work to play with him. Apparently he has found a work around when dad is not available.

I'm in wonder that Luke has caught on so fast and loves the game. My own brain does not grasp chess. I like to think that I have strengths in different areas, chess is just not one of them. Luke has kindly offered to show me how to play. He likes to compare it to the fact that I can't whistle. "Your just not doing it right or trying hard enough" So helpful my son.

So...... I have a certain birthday fast approaching that I'm NOT looking forward to. I would like to say I'm handling it well but I'm freaking out more then a little. This is little conversation I had with Luke in the car the other day did not help.

Me. Luke I can't believe this is your last week of kindergarten, starting in the fall you'll go to school all day long and I won't see you for lunch anymore.

Luke. When I start first grade I'm going to be pretty busy. I'm going to have school and then work (not sure what work/job he thinks he will have at 6 years old) , I'll be really busy. And you know your getting older.

Me. (in my head) wait... what ....how did we get on ME getting older

Luke. When you were a young girl G.G (my grandma) was a young grandma and now she's a very old woman. That's whats going to happen to you.

Gasp...sob...what??? With much credit to myself I did not freak out but continued to safely drive down the road while talking about how yes everyone gets older. I do not know how Luke comes up with the stuff he says, but the kid always keeps me guessing :0

To soon???

2011-05-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

For running in sprinklers, yea probably. But a little thing like spring temperatures was not enough to stop the boys and their friends. Last Saturday they had two friends come over for a few hours to play. All was going as planned until Dewey started testing the sprinklers, doing the general spring maintenance getting ready for summer things that have to be done.

Apparently the sight of the water was simply to much for the kids to resist. And after a long winter who can blame them. It wasn't long before everyone was in a pair of swim shorts and having a blast.

I had almost as much fun taking pictures, I LOVE capturing the looks on their faces.
I did actually debate the wisdom of letting them play in the water when it was maybe 70 degrees tops. But seeing how much fun they were having I figured how much harm can it cause. (as its a week later I'm happy to say all kids are alive and accounted for)

I Love this look on Lukes face. Its one that can only be caught spur of the moment.

The boys loved having friends over. They took apples and carrots and fed the horses. Played with the Guinea pigs and watched G-Force during lunch. All in all a fun filled day for all.

As is the norm for Cedar weather it snowed all day Wed. The boys thought it was pretty cool to see snow and just a few days before have been running in sprinklers.

New additions......

2011-05-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

So here's the story..... Awhile ago the boys preschool got Guinea pigs, Little did I know that would be the start of a certain boys obsession. Its pretty much all Kolby talk about. Countless times I would pick him up from school and he would be holding/playing with the guinea pigs. It didn't take long for him to start asking for one of his very own. Honestly I thought for sure it was a passing phase and that if I didn't bring it up he would forget all about it. Next thing we know he has a name picked out "Squeaky Peaches" and wants to know when squeaky can home. This is an EVERYDAY conversation. After much talk about responsibility of taking care of animals, the work it takes to keep one happy and healthy, the time and money involved..... not much of a surprise we got two Guinea pigs....

But I ask you look at this child's smile.... pure joy, holding.... Squeaky peaches

First thing he does in the morning is run in and tell the piggies good morning, same thing at night and every time we leave the house.
I don't think Luke was/is over the moon happy like Kolby but everything I read said they are happier in twos so meet Tennison. (he started out as Ben 10 a cartoon Luke likes then somehow morphed into Tennison)

I have to admit, they sure are cute little guys.

Because I'm a tad bit crazy about such things I went overboard on the research of all things Guinea Pigs. The right size/type cage, food, toys, care. And I have to say I'm pretty impressed with the cage we put together. This used to be square toy (read mess) holders.

Now a perfectly acceptable Guinea pig house.

With the toys neatly stowed underneath in tubs and drawers. In theory this should be easier to keep clean, we'll see how that works out.

So yes two more animals to out little farm, keep the fun coming :)

Water Babies

2011-05-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

After our hike last weekend we went to Quail Lake for a picnic. A really pretty lake in the desert. I'm sure in the summer its a zillion degrees with no shade, but this time of year, just perfect.

To say the boys LOVED it was an understatement
Just look at this happy face

They were not happy when it was time to go and made us promise to come back soon

I do have to admit that I'm also partial to water.... of any kind. To me a hike is not a hike if I don't get to see some sort of water along the way. And don't even get me started on the ...sigh...Ocean

I LOVE Luke's zest for life. A Boat went by (in the middle of the lake) which was enough to cause small waves. Luke jumped in and faced the waves with his arms straight back, a huge grin on his face.

It was as if he was saying "bring it world"

He is loving every minute every wave that comes in.

Just pure happiness in the moment.

Its moments like this that melt my heart..........

Easter Weekend

2011-04-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. Steve (my brother) Miki and the girls came down. We got up early on Sat and went to our towns annual Easter Egg hunt. I would like to say I took pictures, but sorry no. For one thing it was c..o..l...d and two it was over in less then a minute. Luke LOVES the excitement of a gazillion kids running for eggs. Kolby not so much, as soon as the running started it proved to much for him he wanted no part of it. Not even the promise of candy filled eggs was enough to propel him forward. It was a good hunt for "tiny" hailey she won the grand prize for girls a full size pink locker.

Because it was cold, wet and windy in Cedar we decided to drive to St. George and go for a hike. Its the perfect time of year for one of our favorite "The red rocks". We failed to take into consideration that it was Easter weekend and others might have the same idea.... It was so crowded they made us park in an overflow parking lot. A lot of people might change plans at this point. Not us, what a two mile hike to get to the hike...bring it :)
This is me and "Tiny" (the boys nickname, they have two cousins named hailey this one is younger) Hailey hiking to the hike.

Smiling happy boys faces
They were old enough this year to walk in the water more then they have been able to in the past. They were pretty proud to show off their skills.

A big thanks to Miki for taking most of these pictures, I liked this one showing all of us.

Normally when we get to this point of the hike we climb up and around the rock using a rope. With the crowds of people it was just not going to happen this time. That's not to say fun can't be had. Keanna found some by jumping in the water. She's on the right hand side of the photo. BRAVE girl!

My little family on the way back. We decided to bring the back carrier just in case....
As it turned out it was a good thing we did. Both Luke and Kolby did really well specially considering it was twice as long as normal. But Kolby just could not make it the last little bit. Not a bad deal for him he got carried and got to take a nap.

I'll post next about our after hike picnic at the lake.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend!

"Mom, mom look at me"

2011-04-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

I hear this at least 52 times a day. I have learned that its not always good so I better stop whatever it is I'm doing and LOOK. This time it was Kolby climbing halfway to the top of a tree in our backyard.

He was actually pretty high up for the size of tree. I don't think it would support much more weight then the boys.
It was a no fear, simply enjoying climbing moment

It reminded me of how much I LOVED to climb trees when I was a kid. And how I had not thought about it in a long time. There was a tree at my grandmas house in Las Vegas that had the best branches for sitting in. I would stay up there for hours reading.

Just look at this happy boy, making simple memories

Once Luke noticed the fun to be had he was quick to join in.

I do have to admit that with two boys climbing up on skinny little branches we had both me and Dewey standing below to catch any falling kids. Just because I'm happy they are climbing doesn't mean I'm not crazy neurotic at the same time :)

But there were definitely more "wow look how high you are" then "gasp what are you doing get down this minute"

For some reason I just really like these pictures (a may have taken a LOT of them)

None of our tress are big enough for a tree house, but Dewey has plans in mind to build a fort. The boys have been asking for one, so hopefully it will be a summer project.

Love those rare warm spring days on our little farm :)

Grandma's Visit

2011-04-11T19:23:00.000-07:00

My Grandma flew up from Texas for her annual visit. She spent most of the time in Salt Lake with the "northern" family :) but was able to come down and stay almost a week with us too.

We had a fun visit doing a lot of ordinary things and a lot of nothing things. But the highlight of her visit had to be last Sat when we took her to Bryce Canyon.

The weather even cooperated and it was blue skies all day. I think I mentioned in the last post how its nearly impossible to get the boys to "pose" for a picture, case in point look at their faces...god grief How cute is my Grandma?

I was playing with my phone app on my camera, I didn't realize what a big difference it would make in the pictures .....washed out (but I still love it)

Actual red of the canyon.... and boys funny faces

Bryce Canyon is stunning and the best part you can drive almost right up to see this. Making it the perfect place for grandma. There are hikes which are h...a...r...d that we have done a few times luckily for us they are closed during the winter.

One of my favorite pics of me and grandma

B....e..a...u...t..i..f..u...l

Of course we had to find a place to pull off the road that was a safe distance from the canyon for boys (all three of them) to climb rocks.

Red rocks blue sky, gets me every time.

We really had a wonderful day we stopped at the historic Ruby's Inn for a very nice lunch.

So funny story, there is not much around Bryce Canyon especially this time of year when its still a little cold up here. But we noticed a HUGE building that said wildlife museum. I'm not sure why I thought museum would mean live animals but I did. To my credit there were cute little LIVE goats out front. We go in and there were oh I don't know 1000's of dead stuffed animals of every size shape and kind from around the world. UGH...... I do not like dead stuffed animals AT ALL. But it was my idea to stop and the boys thought it was pretty cool......but ick and sad. Since we were the only ones there, it had only opened the day before for the season. The owner let us go out back and feed his deer. They were alive and I didn't want to press my luck even asking what they were for. Oh and chickens too, which for our boys are no big deal.

Luke showed no fear and loved every minute

The deer seemed to like him too, or at least his corn

Kolby not as big a fan of the whole thing, he was pretty much next to me the whole time.

Great memories we made with grandma, a day I'll always remember.

Zions!!

2011-04-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

Zions National park has got to be one of my favorite places. We had such a good time there with Kirsten. We had a delicious lunch at Zions lodge, yummers. Then went on a short walk to see this magnificent site.....

Zions is breathtaking all year round, I don't think I could pick a favorite season. This time of year has waterfalls a plenty with all the spring runoff. I'm pretty sure people are more then tired of me asking to take pictures so I'm trying to be more covert. I'm kinda liking the look of them.

Grandpa and Luke

Grandma and Kolby

I'm telling you breathtaking!!

You might remember Dew and I did a sibling hike to the top of Timpanogos mountain last summer. (my toenail is just now starting to look normal) We have decided to make an annual sibling trip. This year we will be...... Hiking the Zions Narrows. I'm so excited this is an overnight hike so it will take more gear. (meaning more to carry and heavy, grrr) But Zions Narrows is listed as one of the top 10 hikes in the country to do in your lifetime, so COUNT ME IN.

Exploring Grafton

2011-04-05T19:09:00.000-07:00

We have had a BUSY past few weeks, I'm a little behind in posting our adventures.

While Kirsten was here we all (Dad and Winnie, Kirsten Dewey the boys and I) piled into our car and headed to Zions National Park. On the way we stopped at a little place named Grafton.

Anybody remember this classic?

Remember this part of the movie? It was filmed in Grafton. Gasp we walked where Robert Redford and Paul Newman walked...I'm hoping :) It really is a stunning little valley. And we all know one of my favorite things to photograph is old buildings I was in heaven.

I really like this Pic of Kirsten and the boys, they were never very far from her side.

And a rare pic of Winnie /Grandma without a grandson hanging on her.

I mean really how beautiful is this valley.

This was the only shot I could get of the boys holding still.

Stay tuned for pics of our Zions visit coming soon.

Kirsten's visit!!!!

2011-03-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

A lot of you know Dewey's sister Kirsten is in the Air Force. Well I'm happy to say that after spending 6 years in including an active tour in Iraq and a tour in Afghanistan she is out and home safe and sound!

She actually lives in Texas but was able to come up for a week long visit.

She is amazingly thoughtful and brought us all back something from Afghanistan.

Look at this cute pic of her and Dewey wearing his new hat :)

For dad a hat and beautiful wrap. Authentic men's winter wear. And my favorite....gorgeous outfits including hats for the boys. Its hard to tell from the photos but the hats are beautiful, They are covered in hand riveted sequins. Don't they all look so handsome?

And a cute family photo!

She brought me a stunning black beaded pashmina, which I LOVE!

It goes without saying that our very favorite gift is to have her home safe.

We are so proud of her for serving our country. (and for being a strong amazing woman) Especially since she put her life on the line everyday in two different countries during active wars. Its an incredible sacrifice for our country that we will be forever grateful to her for. We love you Kirsten!!!

In honor of Spring...

2011-03-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

For your weather enjoyment, yesterday in photos

This morning as we left the house.... snow

Still morning looking out our office window
Noon, looking out the same window blue skies are here

Afternoon ........snow

Home around 5ish blue skies and no snow.

You didn't think a day of snow/blue skies would be all for our spring enjoyment. The night before the wind blew ALL night long. According to the news the gusts were 50 mile plus hum I bet that could do some damage.

Like bend our neighbors flag pole.

Notice anything missing on our horse trailer?

Maybe the roof.... Which apparently was torn off the trailer and flew up and over the barn to land in the pasture. It might be hard to tell but this is a hard top that is to heavy for me to lift.

The neighbor across the street had his fence broken in several places and the house down from them had their shingles torn off.
Yep just another spring day in southern Utah.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

2011-03-17T18:54:00.000-07:00

Green Breakfast.... Check

Green Milk...... Check
Check

Green Shirts on to wear to school... Check

Green hats with rainbows and pots of gold from school... Check

Green Jello for dinner..... Check

Green notes left by a clever leprechaun leading the boys on a treasure hunt.... Check

"Pots-O-Gold" found at the end of the treasure hunt.... Check

St. Patricks crossword..... Check

St. Patrick's day maze...... Check

Yep a fun St.Patrick's day for all.

Hope you had the same :)

Lukes Wrestling Match

2011-03-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

Things I now know about wrestling...

Its HUGE in our small town, we are talking jam packed auditorium.

Luke wrestled 3 separate times, this took 5 hours its not a fast sport.

Its better if you pin the other guy rather then let him pin you.

We all got up early early on Sat morning to make it to the high school in time for weigh in. Even Dewey who was very very sick from the cold Luke and I gave him. Luke got weighed in and made it in the "kindergarten" weight class. He was the first to wrestle in his weight class so none of us knew what to expect. Even so he was such a little trooper. He walked right out in front of everyone and tried his best. His next match was with one of his friends from school. The pictures are not the best but you get the general idea.

By the end he was pretty tired but said he had had fun.

He came in fourth in his weight class. YEA!!!

I don't know that we will drive hours to go to any of the out of town Matches but I'm really glad we went to this one.

Dewey spent the rest of the weekend in bed, poor guy. But what a dad to support Luke in his first match.

And the sports have began.....

2011-03-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

Our theory is try everything and see what sticks.

Luke and Kolby spend 98% of their time at home wrestling with each other so when we got the flier for Wrestling I thought it would be a natural fit. Ok in my mind I thought yippee something both boys could do at the same time leaving me with an hour and a half to run errands, exercise whatever twice a week. (Did I mention we are new to this whole sports thing and I know next to nothing about wrestling)

The first night we get there the coach starts yelling in a loud couch voice for the boys to run. Luke and Kolby both started around the gymnasium. Kolby made it around once and ran straight back to me with a horrified look on his face. Apparently it was all a little to much for him. Luke on the other hand ATE IT UP. If the coach yelled "Who are we" he was right there jumping up and down yelling "falcons". So as it turns out we have Luke in wrestling with Kolby and I watching until Dew gets off work and trades us places.

"Never Quit" is their motto this year. And I have to say I was very impressed with the coach explaining it to the kids (with a lot of yelling). He used cleaning your room....never quit. My ears perked right up at that :)
The pictures are not that great but you get the general idea, that's Luke in the middle.

Luke seems to really like it. I don't know how much of the actual techniques hes getting down but hes having a good time.

This Sat is his first tournament....... I have no idea what to expect. Luke is pretty excited so we will see. Hopefully I will be able to take some pics and post later.

The start to what I'm sure is years to come of hours and hours spent on sports, let the fun began.

When it snows.........

2011-03-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

Why not build an igloo?

This past weekend we had a huge snowstorm come through. So there was no question that we would be out playing in it. There was some debate over what to build, but an igloo won out. We took out tupperware in various sizes for our "bricks"

Of course its important to taste the snow to make sure its the right kind.
Also pretending your at the beach (he gets that from me :) and the snow is sand is important too.

After much stacking and gathering of snow.....ta..da an igloo

Being that we are not igloo making experts it was a little small. But there was enough room for two boys to fit in nicely.

They were both pretty pleased with all of our hard work

It only took them a few minute before they decided they needed windows. So Dewey dutifully gave them each a "window" to look out of.

One of out wonderful neighbors stopped by as we were building. Last night he brought over an American flag for the boys to place on their igloo.

This morning while we were waiting for the bus Kolby Luke and I went out to place their flag. Luke was so cute, he carried it very proudly. We had had a talk about how important our flag is and how it is to be treated with respect. As soon as I put it on the top Luke said "I think we should say the pledge of allegiance". I have to admit I was not aware that Luke knew the pledge of allegiance. (Its been a long long time since I was in kindergarten) He put his hand on his heart and started reciting it perfectly.

Such a sweet site.
This morning made me think of Dewey and I landing in Minneapolis with Luke after two months in Kazakhstan. How we both cried to be landing on American soil knowing that the moment we did our son would become a citizen. Its a time I will never forget.

Siding with Kolby

2011-02-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

Birds are a little scary......

(see previous post)

On our little farm the rule (implemented by me) is that any and all animals that come to live here get to happily live out the rest of their natural lives here. Being a city, rose colored glasses girl I was not aware that a roosters "natural" life is not all that long in the country. So.... we are on our 6Th rooster since having chickens. Which by the way if anyone is wondering if its an economical choice over just buying eggs at the store its not. Unless you spend $30-$40 on eggs a month. But it is a good choice if you are a vegetarian who gets creeped out by store bought eggs :)

Anyway this rooster named Sparky (boys choice) is HUGE and a little bit aggressive.

I am currently sporting bruises and scratches from him jumping (not sure if that's the correct term, whatever it is they do) at me. This might also prove that chickens are not that smart, "hello I'm trying to feed you, be a little nice" So every night when I go out to feed I wear these knee high boots (they help with the ankle high mud too)
And hold a garbage can lid as a shield to protect myself. Last night it occurred to
A. How funny I must look
B. How I can now relate to Kolby being afraid of birds.

I thought I should share some very non scary pictures too. This is Twister who follows me with his head almost on my shoulder as soon as he sees me and knows I'm going to feed him.

And Whooly who is boss of the herd so its his job to be a little standoffish. Dewey might use different phrases not quite as polite :) but I like to see it my way.

Have a great weekend all!!

Sunshine and Ducks

2011-02-23T13:10:00.000-08:00

We tend to start going a little stir crazy after weeks of cold weather. (I know who doesn't) On Sunday we drove off in search of sunshine. Normally 45 minutes to the south of us we can find some warmth in St. George. No such luck this time it was raining. So further south and west maybe Arizona? We can always find someplace to hike around there.... nope it was SNOWING.

Neither Dewey or I can ever remember seeing snow through the Gorge. I took this picture on our way back through as proof.

Mesquite Nevada it is, sun and temps in the 50's I'll take it. There is a little pond we like to stop at to feed the various birds that live there.

I had a little fun playing with my camera :)

The golfers in the background were not lost on us. Sigh....... its been at least a year since we have gone. Its always on "the list" but the way time flies by it hasn't made it to the top.

These birds crack me up, they were not shy in the least about demanding food.

Luke had a blast feeding them, notice anyone missing from the photos?

Even with Dew getting down on the goose's (that's what that bird is right?) level to show they are nice, could not change a certain someones mind.

See the child wrapped around my legs?

Apparently Kolby is not a fan of the birds. Luke stood close to show him there was nothing of ...didn't help. I guess if there was an animal half my size standing mere feet away from me I might be a little worried too.

A fun Sunday winter adventure. Now I can face the week with all the cold wet weather it promises.

Birthday Update

2011-02-16T08:56:00.000-08:00

On Kolby's actual birthday we baked a lemon cake (his choice) to have after dinner before opening presents. I love this look on his face waiting for Dew to carry the cake over.

He is loving Iron Man right now.
He loved his books from G.G

On Sat we had his "Iron Man" birthday party with all his friends. I put together "Tony Starks" invention table. All the kids got to create their own invention.

We also had pin the power source on Iron Man. And "save" Iron Man by popping balloons to find the hidden Iron Man. But as it turned out the kids favorite was feeding treats to the horses. Luckily Dewey had the idea to buy a bag of apples so the kids could do this. It was so fun to watch the kids faces as they gave woolly and twister treats.

And wonder of wonder it was a nice day. (this almost NEVER happens in Feb) So the kids were able to play outside. Who knew our little swing set would be such a hit.

We had cake and pizza for lunch then everyone piles outside for Kolby to open presents.

Grandma and Grandpa came over and helped the whole time which pretty much saved the day. Between Dewey and I there was just not enough hands to handle everything alone.

I think the party was a success and the important part, Kolby LOVED it.

Happy Birthday

Kolby!!

Happy Birthday Kolby!!

2011-02-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

Our "baby" boy turned four today.

Gasp...how did that happen?

This little boy amazes me everyday.

He and Luke are the very best friends. They understand each other on a level that only brothers can. One of them will make a noise, they will look at each other and bust out laughing for five minutes straight.

This is a pic from the Superbowl. Yes they are in their Cowboys jerseys :)

Kolby loves to snuggle and gives the very best hugs, the kind that just melt your heart.

This is him and Dew watching the Superbowl.
I love his serious faces when he is concentrating on something.

He has 100 different smiles each one cuter then the next.

I am thankful every minute of every day that this little boy is our son.

Happy Birthday Kolby we LOVE YOU!!

We have a tradition at our house of the birthday person getting to pick whatever they want for dinner. (the rest of the time since I'm the one cooking its my choice :) Yesterday on the way to the store I asked Kolby what his very favorite thing for dinner is. After thinking about it for a minute he said "french fry's and smoothies". That's your favorite thing that I make? "yep, french fry's and smoothies". I know that I am not the very best cook, if I had more time I envision myself cooking deli sous gourmet meals. But I swear I didn't know that french fry's (the frozen kind you throw on a pan and put in the oven) and fruit smoothies were the best thing I make :) I did talk him into mac and cheese too so that's whats for dinner tonight.

Kolby has been asking for an Iron Man Birthday for months. So this Sat we are having a party with some of his friends from preschool. I'll update with pics afterwards.

The song playing "Real Gone" by Sheryl Crow is Kolbys all time favorite song. Its from his very favorite movie "Cars". I have the soundtrack on my ipod and he begs me to play it every time we get in the car.

The UTAH JAZZ

2011-02-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

Last Fri Dewey and I had to go to Salt Lake for work. Miki was kind enough to offer to take the day off of work so she and Steve could watch the boys for us. And to top it off she got 4 Jazz tickets so Steve, Dewey and the boys could go to the Jazz game that night.

When we told the boys they were going to a game they said "yea we get to see the Jazz Bear".

They have seen him in commercials, apparently he made more of an impression on them then the players did.
So the boys got to see their very first Jazz game with Uncle Steve and Dad. The Jazz played the Minnesota Timber wolves. The Jazz won!

They had great seats. And gave them these blowup sticks to make noise with. Um not the best idea for a 3 and 6 year old.

Dewey said they boys had much more fun using them as swords....,smacking everyone in the surrounding seats.

The boys second favorite part of the night was the food, pizza, hot dogs, popcorn and ice cream. Hum can you tell it was a guys night out?

I made Dew and Steve promise to take lots of pics of my boys first game. This one makes me laugh, you can tell Luke is a little done with the photo taking.

While the boys had their night the girls were not just going to sit at home. Miki took me to a Vegan bakery. YUMMY!!!! We don't have such things in Cedar. Then Miki, Keana, Hailey and I went out to eat and to a movie. A very fun night!!

Steve and Miki huge thanks we had a blast!!

Random stuff....life bits

2011-01-24T19:25:00.000-08:00

Luke and Kolby both received a leapster from Santa Claus. At first glance they were not at all impressed. I don't think they were even touched at all on Christmas day. However once they were discovered its hard to pry them from the boys hands. This is how I found them one morning.

I love how their shoulders are touching while they play. More often it is more like this picture.

Its funny they always sit next to each other to play their own games. And no they don't live in their pajamas it just seems like mornings are when they play the most. I was a little leery about the games to begin with. I DO NOT like video games. But these seem to be great learning tools. They don't even notice they are doing math or spelling if its Star Wars :)

So something amazing happened last week.....see these boys

They wanted us to measure them. So we got out the measuring tape and had them stand against the wall. Luke went first he is 3 '4. Next was Kolby who measured 3 '4, yep the exact same. Hum.....better weigh them. Luke weighs 33.6 ounces Kolby..........33.6 ounces.
That's right our boys are EXACTLY the same size to the very last inch & ounce.

Over the weekend we went to St.George to cheer on family that was running in the St.George half marathon. It was so neat to see so many Aunts uncles and cousins running. Dewey and I decided that we are making it a goal to run next year. Yes its true that I have never even run around the block. I would say that I am a very active person but NOT a runner. But we have a year to prepare so I assume (hope/fingers crossed I don't drop dead) I will be able to do it. And at this time next year I will be g...a...s...p 40 (I'm getting used to saying it and writing it so I don't have a full freak out on my birthday) so it will be kinda cool to say I ran my first (and most likely last) a half marathon at 40.
So anybody that wants to join us is welcome to. Liz and Gary (my sister and brother inlaw) said they are in. The more the merrier!!
So step one I suppose I need some sort of running shoes...they make such things right? :)

Sun's out time to explore

2011-01-17T18:51:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was two of those rare beautiful sunny days in January. For us that means exploring and adventures. On Saturday we went looking for geocaches. While looking we found this cool big tree. See the red on the top? That would be Dewey, your never to old to climb trees right? The red on the bottom is Kolby trying to climb up after him.

A little snow on the ground was not enough to stop us from fun. To be honest snow and mud only add to the fun for the boys.

On Sunday we went for a bike ride on the city paved trail. Kolby didn't make it far on his bike, luckily Dew thought this might be the case and came prepared with the bike trailer.

Luke did really well for his first ride outside of our property. He did inform us that the energy in his legs was all used up so we would have to turn around.

We are getting closer (and looking forward) to all four of us riding.

There was a skate park right next to where we parked. Of course the boys had to check it out. Since it was Sunday with snow on the ground we had the place to ourselves. All THREE of the boys loved it. Luke got pretty good at riding up and over the smaller ramp.

Kolby LOVED going down the ramp. Yes this is the same child that minutes before could not ride his bike on a straight flat trail.

Its hard to see but there is a huge smile on his face

So proud of himself training wheels and all :)

More exploring led us to a small frozen pond.

With a bridge to hang off of, thrown snow from and lay on to look under.

There are some pictures that just melt my heart this is one of them.

Have a great week!!!

Happy Birthday Luke!!!

2011-01-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

I know I say this every year....... but I can't believe my baby boy is another year older.....6.

His birthday was Thurs, he was so excited to take treats to kindergarten. Thurs night we had one of his favorite meals, tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Of course we had to have a cake too.

He even made a wish and kept it a secret.
His birthday party with all his friends was today. Luke LOVES the slide inflatables whenever we go to festivals. So I was thrilled when Fun time inflatables opened up in town. Basically a bunch of huge inflatables inside a warehouse. Even better they have a birthday room all set up.

The kids had a blast. It was tough getting pictures nobody stayed till for long. Dewey was right in there running and playing with the kids. They had a big inflatable boxing ring with HUGE gloves. The kids favorite part was tackling Dew.

Luke invited all his friends from daycare that he has know for years.

Some of the slides were pretty large, it was a crack up watching the kids fly down them. This pic is a little hard to see of Kolby but its still funny.

It didn't take them long to start diving, going down backwards or upside down.

Luke choose Star Wars for his Birthday theme. Not a big surprise since that's what he asked Santa for too.

His cake turned out really cute (store bought, I can only do so much ;) We found glow swords at the dollar store that we used as light sabers, they were a big hit.

Pizza for lunch, what kid doesn't like that?

More candles and Happy birthday songs.

And presents to unwrap. It was so sweet to see how excited each child was to give Luke their present.

Luke said it was a really good birthday. That's all we can hope for :)

Happy birthday Luke we love you!!!

The Holidays!

2011-01-03T18:19:00.000-08:00

Or as we will forever remember the past two weeks.....the season of the flu.

On the 23rd Kolby had a fever. We were not to worried and assumed it was a little cold. We did have a wonderful Christmas eve, even with both boys feeling under the weather. We watched a movie, read about the true meaning of Christmas, decorated cookies for Santa and left food outside for Santa's reindeer. On Christmas morning we were up (all 4 of us) at 4am. 95% because none of us slept, both Luke and Kolby had fevers and were up all night. 5% excitement about Santa. So our pictures are very limited (funny what exhaustion does to my brain, normally pictures are the first thing I think of) Christmas morning was very subdued, but everyone was thrilled with the gifts.

We had lots of time to play with Santa toys before Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Mary came over for presents and breakfast.
One of Luke's favorites from Auntie Liz and Uncle Gary.

Most of the day was spent like this. We did go over to Grandma and Grandpa's for a yummy Christmas dinner.

On Sunday we drove to Salt Lake to spend time with Steve and Miki. We also got to have dinner with the Allreds and exchange our family gifts, very fun. On Monday Steve and Dewey went skiing at Park City. (on killer perfect snow I might add) Kolby still was not feeling good his fever was still over 100. Clearly it was not just a little cold like we had thought/hoped. So off to the doctors we went. They tested Kolby for influenza we had to wait a day to find out the results. On Tues Miki had made an appointment for her, I and keanna to go to a spa for some girl time. I'm pretty sure those few hours of pure relaxation saved me. It was AMAZING!! We drove home that same day and found out Kolbys test results were positive. Luckily for me I had had my flu immunizations.......however Dew, Luke and Kolby had not. The rest of the week was spent with everyone (except me) sick to various degrees.

By New Years eve everyone was feeling slightly better so we had a friend and his kids over to celebrate. The kids had a blast, I got them journals to decorate for the 2011. They watched a movie with popcorn and hot chocolate. And who doesn't love party hats?

It is our hope that we got all our time being sick done. Now we have the whole year to enjoy being healthy and happy.

We wish all a very happy new year!!!!!

Christmas past

2010-12-22T10:25:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite Christmas's of all time was Christmas 2007. It was our first Christmas with Luke. We brought him home on March 25 2007. At Christmas time we was two, he would turn three in a few weeks. He was still so small but at the same time learning everything so fast.

I love this picture when he first saw that Santa had visited.

He was so inquisitive and serious about everything. (that part has not really changed)

A simply wonderful Christmas day.

The day after Christmas Dewey and I flew to Guatemala to meet Kolby for the first time. He was 10 months old. Such an amazing happy boy.

This is one of my favorite photos. Dewey took it about five minutes after we got up to our room for the first time with Kolby.

He was so close to walking on his own. We feel so blessed to be able to catch his first steps. (by the time we were able to bring him home in April he was walking all over the place)

I truly wondrous Christmas that I will forever hold close to my heart.

Happy to you!!

2010-12-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

Make sure and pause the blog tunes on the right hand side before you play. Sorry about the lighting and quality Dewey took it with his Blackberry. But I thought to cute not to share. The boys and I sing Christmas carols while we are driving, this is Kolby's favorite to sing. His very own version of a classic :)

Santa visit

2010-12-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

We made our annual Christmas trip to St George last weekend. Because we live in a small town our shopping opportunities are VERY limited. So we head to St. George a slightly larger town with actual stores. (Target, Costco and the like) Our favorite part is going to the mall. For me because they have a Barnes and Noble, for the boys because SANTA is there.

They were so excited and practiced what they were going to tell Santa on the drive down. After five minutes of sitting on his lap Dewey had to rescue Santa :) I'm pretty sure they both figured while they had the chance they were going to ask for everything in the world they might want.

We had a great day and I think I can confidently say we are almost done with shopping. I mean no need to hurry we have a whole 10 days left right.

Trying to get Christmas pics.....

2010-12-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

Just a small example of the craziness that is my life :) A full week before Thanksgiving, before the cold weather and snow we had some rare free time. Perfect time to try and get some Christmas pics done. So I grabbed two nice shirts and jeans without holes in the knees and off we went. I "found" this really cool old barn that is a great place to take pics. As it happens other people have found it too. The car right in front of us pulled in first. (what are the chances of that happening?) So we drove around while I watched the sun sink lower in the sky. We finally had our turn but it meant lots of shadows. But and really the most important part the boys were in great moods and smiled through all the shots.

They did so good I got a lot of really great pics. I was so happy with myself thinking I was way ahead of schedule and it was so much less stressful then last year. Once we got home I started to upload the shots and look at them closer. Hum....... I thought something looks familiar about these pics...... I went into my files and pulled up last years Christmas card pics. The boys are wearing the exact same shirts in both sets! Same shirt on same kid. They both wear the same size and wear each others shirts so I had a 50/50 chance of that happening. Its not like they don't have a closet fun of clothes I just happened to grab these two.....again.

So back out to try again, this time there was snow and it was cold and the boys were in no mood for pics. Thought I would share some of the better ones I got.

So here it is a week after Thanksgiving and no Christmas card pics. We will try again this weekend....... wish us luck :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-30T13:47:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a little late, that seems to happen around the holidays. So much going on and only so many hours in the day.

We had a wonderful holiday. G.G (great Grandma to the boys, my grandma) flew up from Texas. She spent almost a week with us helping to get ready for Thanksgiving. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner this year at our house. All my Salt Lake City family came down to make for a festive day. The boys had a blast spending time with everyone. Big thank you to everyone for braving the weather and driving down and for bringing some yummy food!!

Unfortunately our camera did not make it through the day. (we are trying to keep up with the Wilcox's :) In the midst of everything Kolby brought it to me to say it didn't work. Funny how that happens when you drop in on a tile floor. (exact same thing happened to the last camera) On the bright side you have heard me complain about it before it wasn't that nice of a camera. And because I had recently found a photo app for my phone I did not have a complete meltdown.

We have had STORMY COLD weather lately, it was -14 this morning. To the delight of the boys lots of snow. I took these pics on Sunday.

Kolby showing off his skiing goggles.
I did say to the boys delight that includes Dewey and skip .

I myself was inside the house warm and cozy by the fire. I would open the door a crack and hurry to snap some pics.

They did make it look like fun though.

You can't play in the snow without a snow ball fight.

Dewey and I laughed, "snow blower we don't need any snow blower" country folk do it this way.

Thanks again to everyone who shared our Thanksgiving day with us. What a special time of year to remember that we are blessed beyond measure.

Luke

2010-11-18T09:11:00.000-08:00

We are lucky that Luke LOVES school. He loves everything about it, riding the bus, his teacher, his friends, learning new things. Every weekend all we here about is "is it Monday yet?"

He is starting to write and loves to learn new words. He likes to see a word and then copy it.

But by far is favorite thing to write is his very own name. Very sweet to see........until you see it written in pen on say the KITCHEN TABLE.

Also written in pen on his headboard.
He does like to write Kolbys name and show it to him.

I had not quite realized just how much he "practiced" writing his name. We now know which books are his.

This is the cardboard picture that came with his Halloween costume.

As I was cleaning the house and kept running into Lukes name I thought this is something I want to document. A wonderful time in his life when everything is new and learning is magical and fun. I pray that he holds on to his love of learning for as long as possible.

And luckily we need new furniture anyway there is not much that he can ruin. Or that can' be cleaned with a little bleach :)