Trip To Utah

Here are some pics from our trip to Utah a month or so ago - thanks Stacey for sending these to me! I forgot my camera on the trip so I'm really grateful to have these!

We got to visit with almost everyone in my family (no Alicia unfortunately!) and it was a blast. We did plenty of wrestling:

Playing with Virgil and Uncle Brandon:

Picking dandelions for Grandma:

More wrestling:

And more picking flowers (Bryson helped Parker pick the "pretty pink ones" in the tree):

Plenty of piggy-backs from Grandpa:

And lots of swimming! The hot tubs at the condo were awesome - I think they had five different pools with five different temperatures. Perfect for my boys.

Grandma helped them climb on the rocks between the pools. I'm pretty sure this wasn't allowed, but they loved it!

Water fight! Landon and Parker somehow fanaggled money from Grandma AND Grandpa at the outlets, so they bought these water guns:

We played some cricket too! I love how amused Stacey and I look in this photo:

More dandelions:

We even visited the duck pond by BYU. I passed this pond oh so many times when I was there! A boy there found this turtle:

They loved the baby ducks!!

We tried to dare Brandon to steal a baby duck away from his mother...Mommy duck was not impressed:

The boys loved seeing Brandon and Tamsin! This picture cracks me up (Landon was so grumpy!):

We had so much fun and the boys did great on the drive (sans Scott...I was nervous!). Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for letting us crash with you guys!

Recent Quotes

Here are some funny quotes from the boys:

Overheard at breakfast:

P: Why did Obi Wan die?

L: No, Parker, he didn't die. Luke just thought he died, but really Obi Wan went up to heaven. Then he was resurrected so he could keep talking to Luke.

P: Oh. I like it when Obi Wan is resurrected.

(apparently we need to have another discussion about this one...)

P: I'm SO super sweaty.

M: Hey guys, can you go over in the living room so I can sweep the crumbs up off the floor?

P: Mom, don't sweep us up! Then you won't have any more kids!

M: (teasing) Hmmm, maybe I should sweep you up. Then I could do whatever I wanted all day long!

P: No Mommy!

L: (crying) Mom, Heavenly Father would NOT like that idea!

M: Guys, I was just teasing! (hugging both of them) There's no way I would ever sweep you up. I love you way too much. I would be so sad if you weren't here everyday!

L: Ok Mom. You would be so sad without kids right?

M: Yep, I would.

P: Mommy I love you!

(I guess I need to be more careful with my teasing...)

Baby Dinosaur

Yep, this proves that I have the cutest boys ever! I finally caught them playing this game on film - usually they see me coming and stop their chatter. They play this every day that we have some chill time at home - it's the "Baby Dinosaur" game. Landon plays the human who goes deep into the unknown and finds a baby dinosaur, played by Parker. Then he brings the baby dinosaur to his home and this is what happens (they make "nests" all over the house - this one happens to be on the kitchen chairs):

Just to make you smile...

Splash Park!

We are loving the splash parks these days! Parker and Everett have so much fun playing in the water together:

Eating lunch after playing until exhaustion:

This is our new favorite splash park. I love this kid:

Landon got cold and was playing in the sand. We stayed for 4 hours at this park the other day and they still weren't bored!

This makes me queezy...

(movie website)

I really can't believe this movie is coming out...I feel sick about it.  After watching the preview, it seems that they have about 50 percent of the facts right and 50 percent dead wrong - and then they spun it to look like Mormon's are hateful.  Lovely.  I felt like I needed to add my little voice to theirs to say that in NO WAY were we as members of the church threatened with membership if we didn't contribute to the campaign.  We were living there during this whole thing and we saw controversy in and out of the church, but that was not one of the issues.  The church DID speak out and our prophet DID send out information talking about how important it was that we get involved if we could, but everything was voluntary.  If anyone did threaten members, it was an individual doing something that was not sanctioned by the church.  

Along with information being sent out about getting involved, we had pamphlets and meetings about how all of us should be showing love and respect for members of the gay community.  Everything we heard from the church was about loving the individuals, but at the same time not allowing something to pass that would undermine our beliefs about the family.  There was nothing about hate, disrespect or shame, we were simply standing up for what we believe.  Again, anyone who DID hateful things was someone acting as an individual and not as a representative of our church.  I know hateful things probably did come from members of the church and it makes me really sad that people are going to think that that's what the church is all about.  

Anyway, anyone who knows me or other members will hopefully already know that we don't hate homosexuals.  I hope that people who watch this movie will recognize the difference between individuals and the church as a whole.

New Project

Tristen, here's a preview of what's headed your way.  I'm so excited to get this project going!  If any of you want to know what we're up to, click here.  Fun!

What did you do...

...for National Doughnut Day??

Girls Weekend!

For the first time in a LONG time, a few friends and I went on a girls weekend trip!

It is so much easier to drive with friends than with kids!

On our drive we saw some really random animals.  One farm had a camel and this farm had a zebra!?!?, bison and donkey just hanging out together.  The zebra escaped this photo, but here's the donkey and the buffalo.

We went out to dinner one night at a fabulous restaurant. 

It was so fun to get to know these ladies better, get some projects done and most of all RELAX!  Thanks for coming gals (and thanks to Len and Kit for letting us crash with them!).

Fun in the....fountain?

Since Scott is working every Saturday this month, the boys and I have had to improvise.  I think we have now found the perfect Saturday:

1. Go to garage sales and let the boys buy a toy with their own money (they earn 25 cents for doing reading lessons, so they were thrilled to see toys in their price range!)

2. Play with said toys in the fountain outside our house.

3. Get soaking wet and exhausted so that everyone takes a nap (including Mom!)

Yep.  The perfect day.

Birthday at Home

The word of the month in our house is "actual", as in "Mom, I want actual oatmeal for breakfast please" or "Mom, is it Landon's actual birthday today?".  It's pretty funny to hear that come out of a two-year-old's mouth!  So, on Landon's actual birthday, this is what we did:

He was able to open his family presents:

Star Wars cars - so cool!!  Grandma knows him well (these are kept in a very special place in our house so NOBODY but Landon can touch them.  He brings them out when Parker is napping.  Ha!)

Sugar cereal - such a treat!

And the stomp rocket.  He's wanted one of these for years (since we played with one in SF with our friend Charlie).  They love it!

Here's a video of their antics (and yes, he was allowed to wear pajamas all day.  Isn't that everyone's birthday dream!?):

That time of year again...

Landon's Party

Wow, has it really been that long since I last blogged!?  This month has flown by!  I was hoping to post about our really fun trip to Utah where we saw most of my family, but I haven't received those photos yet....ahem....Stacey!  I'm sure I'll get them eventually :).  Anyway, here's what we did for Landon's birthday party this year - I can't believe he's 4!!

You'd think that there would be no problem having an outdoor party in May, but you never can be to sure with Colorado weather.  The rain held off for most of the party and we were so grateful!  Here are some of the kids playing on the playground:

Oh Parker.

These are our cute friends that we are REALLY going to miss in a month (they are moving out of the country for a year).  Luckily, we've already booked our plane tickets to go visit!

Owen and Parker.  These boys have so much fun together!

Best picture of the night goes to Kaylee:

Landon really wanted a train cake this year - mostly because he saw train cakes in Scott's scrapbook from when he was a kid.  I don't think this one holds a candle to the ones Mama Kit made, but he was thrilled!  He got to put the candy on top and put in the candles:

Ready to blow out the candles:

Do you think he liked his cake??

I made beet cupcakes and Sophie Safe cupcakes for the adults.  If any of you know someone with food allergies, Sophie Safe was started by a friend of mine and it's such an amazing resource!  Here's the end of the train cake:

Even though he's four, he's still my sweet little boy!  Landon has been such a blessing to us in so many ways and I can't wait to see what he does with his next four years.