Texas Vacation

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

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

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!

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

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???

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.