Trip to Papas

Last weekend we took a trip to Grandma and Grandpa's in Arizona. There was a lot going on. My niece Casey got baptised, Nate's cousin got home from a mission, and Nate had a conference in SLC so the kids and I hung out with family.






My cute niece Casey :o)



This was after the mission report at Nate's Aunt and Uncle's house. The kids had a blast. Well, Matthew ran Brayden over(he is a terrible driver) but then we found a safe spot for Brayden and then he had fun!

Matthew has discovered games on my computer. And he is getting pretty good! I was trying to help him and he swatted my hand away and said, "Mom, stop it is loading!"

This is my nephew Hunter. He was too cute walking around with his ICB Rootbeer in his camo hat, our little redneck!

Of course we can keep our kids away from the water. It is cold too. Matthew threw his toy in and wanted me to get it but I told him he threw it in so he had to get it himself. So he jumped in. I guess you can't kid around like that with a 3 year old!

We also went to the park, went on bike rides, threw rocks in the canal, picked grapefruit, played the Wii, went out to lunch with friends and played with all of grandma's cool toys. Brayden really took a liking to my dad and followed him around the house saying, "Papa, wherareyou?" It was really cute. Grandma and Grandpa's house is so much fun :o)

Happy Birthday Nate!

Nate's birthday was on the 12th and we had a nice quiet party for him!


Our traditional ice cream cake homemade by DQ :o) (I am not sure if Nate actually blew out any of the candles, it sure is nice to have some helpers)






And some more help! I guess the older you get the more help that you need!

The best part was Matthew asking Nate how old he was going to be. Matthew kept asking if Nate was going to be 4, since Matthew will be 4 on his next birthday apparently everyone is turning 4 this year! Nate tried to explain how old 33 was the number is a little too big for Matthew to understand. So we settled for telling him that Dad is going to be two 3's this year. Now Matthew wants to be 3 on his next birthday because his dad is two 3's :o)

Phantom of the Opera

One day last week as I was trying to get my kids out the door to run to the store, Nate called and well I wasn't exactly polite to him (give me a break my kids were running down the street and knocking on the neighbors doors). So I asked him if he needed anything in particular and he said, "Well, I need to ask you something." So I told him he was going to have to wait. After I had my kids duck taped down, ok just in their carseats, I called him back and apoligized. He then asked me out on a hot date to go and see Phantom of the Opera! We went last Saturday night. Phantom was the first musical I ever saw and I love it. After it was over Nate asked me how I liked it and I told him that it was good but Raoul sang a few wrong words. He kept asking me if I was sure and I kept trying to explain to him that when I was 14 I had the sound track memorized :o) I love the music but I loved the company more. My husband is great, even if I am a little short with him on the phone! :o)

Valley of Fire State Park

So my parents were in town last weekend so we decided to do something fun and we drove out to Valley of Fire it is only about 1 hour from our house. We all had a great time.

There are all kinds of really cool rock formations. The boys had a blast climbing all over these. And there were lots of petroglyphs(sp?) on the rocks. They were right next to the trail too so we got to see them up close pretty well!

Plenty of dirt for little boys to play in.

Lots and lots of "caves"!

And the boys love Grandma and Grandpa!

Especially Grandpa as he had them WAY off the trail, apparently that is where all of the cool stuff is at!

But my favorite part was Brayden on the trail. He was Mister friendly saying hi to everyone even giving people high fives along the way. It was pretty funny! He also didn't like being left out, any time he would see Matthew and Grandpa up on a rock (or anywhere) he would scream, "Me me me" Apparently he thinks he is a big kid now!

PS Nate isn't in any of the pictures because he wasn't there! He was on a scout camp out and bummed that he got left out, oh well next time :)

New Years in Idaho

We had a nice trip to Idaho. Here are some highlights:

We went to the Museum of Idaho. The kids had a great time the in kid section and it was the only time that I took the kids out of the house! (They were having too much fun playing with cousins and toys!)

Brayden made good friends with Grandpa, getting rides in the box and sharing ice cream.

Brayden and his cousin Tanner played with Attack Uno. It was really funny to watch. They just kept pushing the button and when the cards came flying out they would laugh and laugh like it was the funniest thing they had ever seen.

Cousins!

And of course playing with the Wii!

On our drive home we stopped in Provo to see BYU play Wake Forest. BYU lost but we had a good time. We went to find our seats and sitting right behind us was a family from our ward in Billings. It was fun for me to sit and visit!

Happy Anniversary!

So we celebrated 6 years of marriage on the 27th of December! Time sure does fly! To celebrate we took the boys to Sea World! We had year passes that expired on the 31st so we thought we would use them one last time. We left on the 26 and came home on the 27. It was a fast trip but lots of fun fun fun!

Sea World just opened up a new kids area called Sesame Street's Bay of Play with all kinds of rides perfect for our boys. They had a blast on the kiddy rides and the giant jungle gym area.

People often ask me when Matthew is starting kindergarten because he is so tall (he is wearing some 5T shirts). Sometimes it is hard to remember that is only 3 when he is as tall as our 6 year old neighbor. But it worked to his advantage at Sea World. He was tall enough to go on all of the roller coasters! I was a little nervous that he would get scared but he had a blast and didn't want to get off!

First he went with Nate and then he went with me (there were hardly any lines, it was great!). There is a part when you go into the dark and I was a little nervous...for Matthew that is :o) And he told me, "Mom first we go up,up, up and then down, down, down. It so fun!"

I think that he is ready for Disneyland!

It was a very fast trip but we had a great time!

On Saturday before we jumped in the car for our 8+ hour trip home (there was a wreck on the freeway and we sat in traffic for 2 hours it was awful oh and Matthew threw up so we had to stop and clean that up, it was a fun drive) we had to stop at the beach because we are suckers for the beach, OK when I say we I mean me! :)

We got home just in time to wash some clothes and re-pack to leave on Sunday for our trip to Idaho (I think we are done with driving for a while!!)

One more Christmas Story

The Monday night before Christmas we were having family night. I always give my primary lesson which works out great! So we were talking about the birth of the Savior. At the end of the lesson we were talking about gifts that we could give Jesus since we are celebrating His birthday. Matthew hadn't really taken a nap that day so he was really cranky and didn't appreciate me asking him questions. So I was trying to help him. I was suggesting that we could be nice to others and Jesus might think that would be a good gift. Then I was trying to get more specific and I suggested that maybe we should be nice to Brayden and share our toys. So I said, "Matthew, do you think that is a good idea?" And before Matthew could answer Brayden (who up until this point had been running in circles around the room) came around the couch and shouted, "YEAH!!!"