Disneyland

 Disneyland for us!! We spent two days at "The happiest place on earth" and I have to say it really was the perfect trip. Kolby has been a fan of the movie "Cars" pretty much forever. I'm not talking about just liking it I'm talking love LOVING it. The look on his face when he saw Cars land was priceless. The kid was in heaven. And being Disney it looked exactly like the movie and was cute as can be. We got to meet Mater and Lightning McQueen. Which to Kolby was like meeting rock stars.

 I had my camera with me but tried to be "in the moment" and not take a zillion pics. On Thurs we never waited longer then 20 minutes for any ride. We got to ride on pretty much everything we wanted to. This was the boys first trip to Disneyland or any amusement park for that matter. We weren't sure how they would do on the roller coasters so we started with the Matterhorn. 10 seconds in Luke had his arms in the air screaming "I'm having the time of my life" on to Space mountain we went. Luke will tell you those were his favorite rides. He is FEARLESS, he was seriously bummed because they were not tall enough to go on the big roller coaster (that goes upside down) in California Adventure. in  Kolby's were Radiator Springs racers and the Parade. (we didn't specify rides when we asked)

We got to meet lots of character, Mickey being their favorite. When we bought our tickets I mentioned it was the boys first time. They gave the boys buttons to wear that said "First Visit", so they received tons of extra attention from the cast members and employees. It goes without saying the boys loved it and soaked it right up.

 The boys just had to go on Autotopia (which I think is older then I am) We started out side by side racing but a car broke down in from of Dewey and Kolby so they had to stop. (Still counts as a win for us) Luke and I got back and waited for them to come so I was able to snap some pics as they pulled up.

 Look at this happy face.

 Dewey said Kolby would let go of the wheel and they would smack against the metal rails and Kolby would burst out laughing.......the entire ride. Both boys "drove" the cars but couldn't reach the gas pedals so Dew and I helped out. Luke spent the entire time asking me if I was pushing it all the way down, cus he was sure we could go faster.

We bought the picture from Radiator Springs Racers. Notice Luke and Dewey's arms in the air, Kolby has a HUGE smile and his face and I have my normal slightly crazy look. (a pretty accurate photo of our family)  Pay no attention to the two random strangers on the left.

My favorite ride "Splash Mountain" was closed but my close second favorite is "Pirates of the Caribbean" which we went on twice and was loved by all. 

Of course there will be more then one post from Disneyland, even refraining myself we have a tons of pics :) Jedi Training photos and a wonderful visit with a Kazakhstan friend to follow.

Vacation phone pics

 We just got back from vacation yesterday. I have not had a chance to upload my camera pics so I thought I would start with phone pics. 

Our first stop was the Alien Jerky store in Baker California, a must see destination. Well maybe not must see but more if you have a youngster that can't make it until Barstow to use the restroom then its the place to stop. The above pic is Luke being totally cool with aliens and Kolby being not sure they aren't going to jump out of that spaceship and grab him.

 This provided much discussion on A. How the aliens got there, B. Why they would choose Baker, and C. once they were 99% sure the aliens were not real (the ones in the car turned their heads and looked at you so it took a little longer then it normally would have) how the car was made.

We made it to our southern California destination with time to spare before bed so we wandered around and found the store Ridemaker. Basically you get to design and then put together your very own remote control vehicle. 

 The boys loved it which made it easier to spend way more money then any reasonable person would spend on a remote control car.

 I will leave you with two clues as to our next stop bright and early Thurs morning.

More to come as soon as I download (or is it upload) my camera pics)

Whats hot right now?

 You know how you can't go online without seeing "whats hot/trending right now"? 

So this is it for our family. 

Number one is the kindles the boys got for Christmas. If it was up to them they would be on them 24/7.

 It did not take us long to realize strict time limits had to be set. Luke woke up a couple morning at 5 to play his. They actually have a pretty cool setup for kids. They each have age appropriate books, apps and videos automatically loaded every month. Since they are 5 & 8 their books are different and each at their reading level. There is also a setting for us to set time limits for each activity. Like unlimited for reading and much shorter times for apps (games) and videos)

 This one cracked me up, Kolby holding a cat with one hand and playing with the other.

 In the car using Skip as a Kindle rest. Skip didn't mind since he was using Kolby's lap as a pillow.

 Next BIG HUGE news is that the 49ers are going to the SUPERBOWL!!! WOOT WOOT!! 

I have been a fan forever and believe you me it has not been easy the past oh 20 something years. But that's all over because they are going to the Superbowl this year. You better believe I have a Frank Gore jersey. (can you tell I get a little smack talkie about football)

 Next is Beyblade and Legos. 

Beyblades are battle machines (old fashioned tops spruced up). I can not tell you the times I have heard "3-2-1 Let em RIP" which is what they say before pulling the thingie on their top to get it going.

Legos are pretty much tied in popularity, there is much time spent building and playing with their creations. Star Wars being their current favorite.

 Beyblade tops spinning. Pretty amazing I was able to get the picture during the split second they looked away from "the battle"

 Zoey is also a hit with the boys, but definitely for them far below the other things listed :)

Recent Luke quotes,

There was an action movie on TV, I said "wow that would suck to have an F15 after you". Luke "um yea but it would really suck to have a Raptor after you...which is what that plane is" 

Luke was explaining that in Gym class they were teaching them how to dance to Gangnam style. Which I don't mind since I happen to know it is a good workout having recently read a story warning people of a certain age (MY AGE) to be careful doing it as we can drop dead. (true story look it up) So that got Dew and I to talking about dances we learned at his age, lets just say the BEE GEE's and ABBA were watched on Utube to the boys horror. Somehow this got Dew thinking we should show them how we can swing dance. After watching for a few minutes with a straight face Luke says " hum... maybe you guys were a lot younger the last time you tried to do that" 

I came in from feeding the animals and told the boys "something terrible happened, I lifted up the chickens feed dish and stuck my finger in chicken poo". I was clearly disgusted. Luke again straight faced "mom you have to admit that if it had happened to someone else it would be a really funny story.

Grandmas Race

 Last Saturday we drove down to St. George for the yearly half marathon. Dewey's family runs in it every year. This year Winnie (Grandma) ran in it. It is her second half marathon in the last couple of months. Which is exactly two half marathons more then I have done in my LIFE.
While the runners were doing their thing we went for a hike (ok more like a walk) with grandpa and the dogs.
The boys found rocks to climb.

I firmly believe that god make rocks for boys. They see one and need to climb it and are happy as can be doing it.

Zoey went for her first family hike (walk). We took the dogs with us since they have not walked on anything but snow in a month.

She did really well for her first time on a leash. Skip and Gus were good examples for her on how a dog is supposed to act on and off leash.

If rocks to climb wasn't enough how about rocks to throw in a river....icing on the cake people.

There is no age limit for boys :)

It was so nice to be in above freezing temps soaking up the sun.

My last post talked about living in the coldest place in the state, the reason we love it is because St. George is only 45 minutes away. They are generally 30 degrees warmer then us. So we are less then an hour away from warm (50 degrees is a heat wave to us at the moment) sun.

We got back to the race just in time to get a picture of Uncle Mark crossing the finish line.

A short time later Winnie crossed.

How amazing is she, after 13 miles she has a smile on her face.

She is already planning her next marathon in July. Dew and I are always invited to run. To which we say "oh yea definitely that seems like something we may do at some point" Nobody needs to point out that my mother in law and Dews Aunt and Uncle are running and we are not...... nope nobody needs to point that out.

After stopping for lunch Grandpa wanted to take the boys to this trampoline place.

Of course the boys were all for it.

I keep hearing about these places that are HUGE rooms filled with trampolines but this is the first one we had ever been to.

The boys LOVED IT.

In no time at all they were doing tricks and flipping around.

Dew and I jumped too and I can tell you it is a WORK OUT.

I love stuff like this the kids are having so much fun they don't even realize they are getting a ton of exercise.

Very fun day cheering on family, soaking up the rays and moving our bodies.

Snow & Cold

Being that its January 16 it should not come as a shock to me that its winter. Not to mention the fact that I have lived in Utah for the past 100 years or so, I should know the drill, winter means cold and snow. But people it has been WEEKS since the temps have been above freezing.....WEEKS.

Here's the thing with a farm, even when the temps drop to the double digit negative you still have to go outside. Even the cats who normally follow me around when I'm outside have been staying in.

 The chickens find whatever "warm" spot they can to hang out during the day, then hurry back to their heated chicken coop as soon as the sun goes down. When I go out to feed at night its like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock "The Birds". I think every bird in a mile radius hangs out trying to warm up and sneak the chickens feed. When I walk in there is a mass exodus. You will know if/when one hits me in the head because I will freak out. The only reason it hasn't happened so far is that I have been quick on the ducking of my person.

We took these pics a few weeks ago when we were still able to step outside without turning into a people-cicle.

Luke just couldn't let fresh untouched snow go without leaving his mark

Silly, happy kid.

 Both boys love the snow and have been asking when we can build another igloo.

Notice anything wrong with this picture??

That's right -22 degrees is very very wrong. Let me do the math for you, the temperature has to go UP 54 degrees to get to FREEZING. 

Every morning when the weather comes on the news I check to see if we are the coldest place in the state. 3 out of 4 times we are. To which I then jump around saying woop-eeeee we win. I'm sure that Dew never tires of this and appreciates me reminding him that we have made our home in the coldest place in the state of Utah.

The satellite guy is coming out today to fix our dish which apparently froze and snapped its "hold together on the roof" parts. (pretty sure that's its official name)  The water is slowly running in our faucets to try to avoid the big pipe freeze of 2007 which involved a backhoe digging up most of our yard and us not having water for a week. The heater runs constantly to keep the house at 68 also to avoid the pipes freezing.

Good times people good times.