It had been a long long time since we visited Colorado.  We get to see my parents pretty regularly on all their trips to Salt Lake, but it was still time for us to get back their way.  Easter weekend was a great opportunity for that.  Samuel and Owen loved every minute of playing outside and exploring.  They were huge fans of the new trampoline.  We also enjoyed a couple days of playing with the cousins: dying eggs, aebleskevar, egg hunting, etc.  I've said it a million times, but we are so blessed to have family who loves us, and we love just as much.  We always enjoy our time together!

Owen stuck in the doggie door.  He loooooved the dogs.  W told him that Benny had the blue collar and Phoebe had the red one, so O would say to each dog, "That's the blue dog or the red dog?  Oh, it's the red/blue dog, that's Benny/Feefee."

This group of pictures cracks me up.  I've looked at them so many times now, and I still can't stop myself from laughing out loud.

Um.  It's been a whole month.  Since we were in Brian Head.  How the heck did that happen??  Here's the quick rundown . . .

So Erik's awesome parents, the beloved Grandma and Grandpa B, rented out a huge cabin in Brian Head, Utah from July 2-9 for all of their kids and grandkids.  We were really really looking forward to a fun family week in the beautiful, cool mountains.  I was selfish enough to ask Erik if he would take the boys ahead for the first two days and then let me catch up.  I desperately needed some quiet time to myself at home.  So Saturday morning I kissed my three guys goodbye and sent them on their way.  Erik checked in when they arrived safely, only to call me a few hours later and report, "Well, you sure missed all the drama!"  Ugh.  Not the best thing to tell an already anxious Mama.  Turned out as Erik and the boys were the first to arrive, he started unloading the van while the boys played in the garage.  A few minutes into it, he confiscated the bottle of oxiclean that Owen has spraying Samuel with.  A few minutes after that, Owen had the bottle again, with oxiclean dripping down his chin and soaking his shirt.  In this point of the story, I remember yelping and tearing up and asking in a panic, "Is he ok, did you call poison control, how's he doing now, why didn't you call me right when this happened????" and about a hundred other things.  Erik of course responded calmly and told me he had cleaned Owen up, read the back of the bottle, got Owen a drink, and promptly gave him a preisthood blessing.  And that is why I married this man.  Owen was just fine, and showed no signs of anything ever. 

After that, Erik got to load the boys back up in the van and drive 2 more hours south to St George to rescue Jared and his girlfriend who had been run off the road by a semi.  The boys got to sit in the car at 100+ degrees on the side of the road while the grown-ups moved the entire contents of one tightly packed Prius into our van.  Of course, crazy mom that I am, I again panicked about the fact that I had only prepared Erik and the boys for a barely 3 hour drive from Springville to Brianhead.  But once again, they all handled it like a champ.  That night when I talked to Erik again, everyone had survived, made it to the cabin, and was doing well.  Phew.

So the rest of the week was far less eventful.  Thank goodness.  We did hiking, exploring, adventuring, playing, and all sorts of other great things.  It seriously was such an awesome week, and we sure did enjoy ourselves!!  We love our family tons, and I am seriously so thankful for the relationships we have with them.  I love that my boys can grow up like this, knowing their family, loving their family, and knowing their family loves them, too.  We are pretty spectacularly blessed, if you ask me.

Monday July 4: Look out points at Cedar Breaks, small hike that took us through leftover snow, dinner with Erik's aunts, uncles, and cousins, fireworks in Brian Head. 

Story of the day: On the hike, most of the group got far ahead, so Erik and I thought we were funny making moose calls to them.  Then they'd holler back.  Erik might have gotten a bit carried away demonstrating his sasquatch call.  It did not sit well with Owen, who was riding on Erik's shoulders.  O panicked big time and even after he finally calmed down, he still didn't stop telling us, "I scared a' da moooose!"

Tuesday July 5: I was feeling yuuuuuck.  O and I hung out at the cabin while Erik went out with Sam and the rest of the family.

Wednesday July 6: Bryce Canyon.  A few look out points, a couple little hikes, lots of dirt, family picnic, a stop in "downtown" Bryce Canyon for ice cream, and tons of 4 year old drama.

Thursday July 7: Quiet time at the cabin, fishing "practice" at Panquitch Lake, then the "real deal" later that afternoon just Erik and Sam, date night in Cedar City at the Shakespeare Festival.

Story of the day: On the way home from fishing, Sam said from the backseat, "Hey, Dad, there's a worm on my foot."  Erik, smart man that he is, pulled over quickly and was right in assuming it was no worm.  Sam pulled it off himself, and then got a biology lesson on leaches during their ride home.  He had a fine time telling everyone the story when he got back to the cabin.

Friday July 8: Cedar Breaks National Park, Sam became a Junior Ranger, family picnic, hike to Cascade Falls that started in the cold rain and hail and ended in the hot sunshine.

Story of the day: Along the hike, Samuel found a great sandy spot under an overhang, with lots of rocks and such.  He quickly became a paleontologist and enlisted the help of his brother and cousins to help him discover fossils and dinosaur bones.

Saturday July 9: Clean up the mess, load up the cars, go HOME!  Phew.  Vacation is exhausting!!  But such a wonderful adventure.  Thanks Rob and Linda for setting up and providing such a great week and lots of memories!

February 4-February 9, 2011

Samuel finally got his wish.  We went to California.  We drove down to Vegas Friday night and got to go to cousin Sariah’s baptism Saturday morning.  After a lovely morning and afternoon with family, we threw Grandma B into the van with us and drove the rest of the way to California.

It was such a NICE WARM BEAUTIFUL little vacation.  It’s never long enough.  But we enjoyed our time there with cousins, park trips, backyard adventures, and a few field trips.  We once again came home wondering, Why the heck don’t we just live there?  Maybe one day.

The boys were up before 7 every morning.  I loved that we could spend it in the backyard picking and eating oranges in our pajamas.  And we could always count on Grandma B joining us while everyone else slept.

Monarch butterflies in the backyard.  Sam excitedly crouched down and began spouting out facts.  “This is the monarch butterfly.  He likes milkweed.  Right now he is migrating to Mexico.”  He sat there and watched it quietly for several minutes.  And later, “Oh, this butterfly has hatched from his chrysalis.  Don’t touch him yet, he needs to dry his wings all by himself.”

All of Sam’s studying made O curious.

Rolling Hills Elementary School park with the Mutters, which apparently turned into a photo shoot for Owen.  No pics of Samuel.  Oops.  He was way too busy playing Kratt Brothers with Tyler.  “You know about the Kratts, too?!”

Beautiful little boy of mine.

And look at this gorgeous little gal.

Rubik’s cube genious.  Before and After.

O pointing to the helicopter and making his helicopter noise.

O got mad at me for something, so into Daddy’s arms he went.  Cuties.

Playing soccer with Daddy.

This picture makes my heart warm.  Two awesome daddys.

Bastanchury Park a little further down the road the next day.

I so so love that these two are such good buddies.

Owen LOVES the swing, which is so funny, because until late last fall, he wouldn’t stay in one longer than 2 pushes.

Erik and O did this about 12 times.  (And again, it’s turned into an exclusive photo shoot of just Owen.  Sam was very busy running around with a 7 year old girl who was very very fond of him.)

This makes me heart warm, too.  I hope my boys realize how blessed they are to be so loved.

Fer cuteness!  Brothers and Brothers.

Our big adventure this trip was a whale watching expedition.  Everyone was concerned about the preggo lady getting sick.  I did mostly ok.  Samuel did not.  He spent most of the 3 hours with his head in the bucket.  We kept yelling, “SAM SAM, LOOK LOOK!” when there was something cool.  He had a hard time spotting the common dolphins swimming by the other boat, and he was totally over the pelicans and the seals by this point.  But when we were right in the middle of a huge pod of bottle nose dolphins, it was a bit frustrating for Sam to not see them.  There were several RIGHT by the boat.  “SAM!!  Do you see them?!?!”  And he’d mutter, “Yeah yeah yeah” from the bucket.  Argh!  But he finally picked his head up long enough to catch sight of one right in front of us.  “Whoa, coooool!!  I just saw a real dolphin!!  Did you see that huge dolphin right there?!”  Yay!  We got our money’s worth for Sam’s ticket.   Then both boys fell asleep for the rest of the ride back to harbor.

Cutest munches ever.  (Who say Cheeeese but never actually look at the camera.)

Pelicans in the harbor, seals (or sea lions? We saw both.) waving goodbye as we left the harbor, lots of birds mean dolphins, hard to see but there are common dolphins in the pictures of the boats, and then a bottlenose fin.

Between manning the boys, the bucket, and the camera, we got very limited pics.  This is the best one of a the bottlenoses swimming right by our boat.

After the tour, we were ready for some walking and some food.  We walked around beautiful Balboa, and I seriously could’ve just spent all day there.  After a much needed lunch at BJs, we took the boys to play on the beach for a little bit before it was time to head back.  Grandma gave each boy a toy for the ride home; a whale we named Barfy for Sam, and a seal for Owen that he named Shark.  Perfectly perfect day!

Leaving Wednesday morning with sunburned and blistered cheeks.  Yeah, I felt great about that one.  But still a smile on his face.  California will do that to you.

September 9-12, 2010

Erik has several big projects at work he needed time to work on.  I needed a break.  The boys needed an adventure.  And it was Stake Conference so none of us had Sunday responsiblities.  Cue a trip to Colorado.  I had gotten sick just the day before leaving, but that didn’t stop me from packing up the munchkins and making the 6 hour drive to my parents’ house.  As always, we absolutely loved our visit to the beautiful mountains.

We got to Ridgway Thursday evening.  We only spotted two deer on the Mesa, so Samuel was disappointed.  (He has learned to have higher expectations )  The boys were ready to get out, say hello to the dogs, and get playing in Mormor’s toys closet.  When W got home, it was good to get some delicious hot broccoli cheese soup before sending the boys to bed early and knocking myself out with Nyquil.

Friday was a play day . . . for ME!  I left the boys with my parents and went to visit Tori in Montrose for shopping, lunch, and a glass layering jewelry making class.  The report when I got back was that the boys got wet and muddy and played their hearts out.  Perfect!

Saturday was a family day.  W and Mormor treated us to pizza at Panny’s.  Then we met up with the T Whitbys at the park.  After that, we went back up to the house.  It’s a windy road up the mountain, and with nothing but pizza, rootbeer, and Frosty in his tummy, Sam got sick.  Good thing he had grabbed a doggie poop bag on our way out of the park.  Ha.  Back up at the house, we barbecued and played some more before banana splits for dessert.

Sunday the boys and I went to church with my parents, stopped by the Ts for mac and cheese and a quick visit before heading back home.  The drive home was soooo much better than the way out.  And our favorite part of the trip might have been coming home to our dear Daddy.  Four days of fun, but it’s always so good to be home.

My Dad called today wondering when he was going to get to see pictures from last weekend.  Clearly I’ve set some pretty high expections with this little ol’ blog o’ mine. 

We were ready for a visit to Colorado.  So we planned a trip over Memorial Day weekend, left Thursday evening and made it in record time, ready for some fun adventures. 

Friday, Tori and the kids came up to Ridgway to play.  The weather was so beautiful.  The cousins rode bikes, played with chalk and bubbles, explored catterpillar cocoons, and found antlers.  Owen was doing aok eating rocks, but I think after a little while he got jealous that’s all he could do.

Late in the afternoon we put O down for a nap and left the 2 boys with Mormor.  Erik and I took off for Telluride and the opening of Mountainfilm in Telluride.  My dad hooked us up big time with a Sunshine Pass to get us into almost anything all weekend long.  We met up with some other family who was in town, and after dinner, crammed into an original (and so tiny) theater for our first movie.  We saw Nico’s Challenge about a 13 year old boy born with one leg who climbed Kilomanjaro to raise money for wheelchairs for people in Africa.  After the movie, Nico was there with his dad to speak and answer questions.  So amazing and so inspiring.  Then we saw First Ascent about some crazy climbers who were going to attempt an insane climb up some wild mountain as part of a mini-series for National Geographic.  After waiting at base camp for 3 weeks they decided it wasn’t worth the risk.  They went up to get their gear, and were killed by an avalanche.  Their friends and coworkers went to recover their bodies and found the footage.  Incredible.  After that we got to see a special presentaion from Ed Viesturs, the first man to climb the 14 highest peaks without oxygen.  I could write so much more about what we saw and did that night alone!  It was so cool!!

Saturday, we went back up to Telluride but with Mormor and the boys this time.  We rode the gondola, hit up the ice cream social, did some site seeing, enjoyed the crowds, explored the park and trails, had a treat or two, and then sent the boys back to Ridgway with Mormor so the rest of us could stick around for another movie, followed by Adrenaline Rush, a special showing of short movies about different (and new!) extreme sports.  Crazy fun.  I fell asleep on the way home.

Sunday we went for a morning walk, greeted at the front door by a deer.  In the afternoon Mormor put together a picnic, Grandpa W packed up the dogs, and we met the Ts at Ridgway Park for bike riding, climbing, spinning, sliding, and a walk to the river for rock throwing.  Sam was not happy when it was time to go, as illustrated in the progression of the “I Don’t Want to Leave” fit.

Monday we drove down to Montrose to play with the Ts again.  Sam is wild about his cousins.  We spent a hot day outside in the pool, playing on the swingset, making snowcones, throwing water balloons, and squirt gun fighting.  Erik left for home, and a couple more hours later, the boys and I drove back up to Ridgway.  Owen was asleep in 4 minutes, Samuel in 10.  When we got back at 5:30, Sam cried and cried and cried when I tried to take him out of the car.  I dragged him inside, and he walked right upstairs and got into bed.  He slept until I woke him up at 7.  By then, Owen was in bed, so Sam and I had a super fun night roasting marshmallows and hanging out with Mormor and W.

Classic Owen look . . . “I don’t really know what’s going on, so I will silently clutch Mom’s shirt while I decide whether I like it or not.”

Trying to get Samuel to wave at us through the window in the pool.  This is the closest he got.

Tuesday we played in Montrose again for a few hours before finally heading home.  The boys conked out hard for the first half of the drive, and were very anxious to get out of the car the second half.  We were all happy to be home again, but holy moley did we have SUCH an awesome weekend!!

We were due for a trip to California, so with Conference weekend coming up Erik and I had zero Sunday responsiblities, and the fact that it was Easter, we decided no better time!  We left Friday late afternoon and stayed through Wednesday.  This time we didn’t have any big adventures planned, but we still enjoyed the break from every day life, the visits with friends and family, and the beautiful warm sunshine.

The drive.  Samuel travels amazingly well.  Owen not so much.  But he was a trooper.  It helps that Erik is a trooper, too, and willingly drives until 3 am so the boys can sleep a good chunk of the time.

Easter morning.  The Easter bunny found us in California.  We figured Santa told him how to get there.  The boys had a basket to share with a few fun things inside.

The Easter egg hunt.  Grandma B set up a great hunt for us and the Mutters.  Afterwards, it was so cute to watch the kids trade goodies.  Sam got a ton of little toys, so he was more than happy to pass off his multiple frogs and yo-yos for jellybeans and M&Ms.

The Loot.

The Window.  It was Owen’s favorite place to hang out.

The backyard.  Also called Grandpa’s Jungle.  Sam loved going out there to play.  Owen loved it when Grandpa would scoop him up and take him out for a tour.  Erik loved playing with his camera out there.  One afternoon when we were out there, Samuel told me, “I need to get my camera and take pictures of the butterflies like Daddy.”

The playing.  It’s so fun for the boys (and US!) just to have a change of pace.  Plus, Grandma has some of the best toys.  Owen found a whole basket full of dolls when Daddy wasn’t looking that totally kept him entertained in the corner.

The cousins.  Sam’s favorite part of every trip, hands down!  He talks the whole way there and the whole way back about them, and every time they aren’t around at Grandma and Grandpa’s house Sam is asking where they are and when he gets to play with them.  I was lousy about taking pictures when we were with them, but I did grab a couple when we stopped in Vegas on our way home to visit some OTHER cousins!  (Owen and Michael are about 5 weeks apart . . . and O is the older one, that little pipsqueak!)

Erik has a schload more pictures (including Sam holding a lizard he found!) so check ‘em out . . . http://erik.briggsfam.com/2010/04/09/easter-in-the-promised-land/

I finally got up the guts to take the boys on a trip to visit our family in Colorado.  I decided I was, in fact, clinincally insane to make the drive all by ourselves.  But we survived, and the trip was so worth the taxing drive.  It was phenomenal to do so many fun things, go on several explorations and adventures, and have a change of pace.  Here are the highlights . . .

Tuesday

• listened to Sam spend the first half hour of the drive talking non-stop about Mormor, cousins, W and the doggies, on and on
• met Mormor in Grand Junction for a snack at Sam’s Club and a little fabric shopping
• made it to Ridgway and let Sam stay up way too late playing in the toy closet

Wednesday

• sat around in jammies and let Mormor take excellent care of us
• explored outside the house, made pine cone and snow soup, got muddy, and played with the doggies

• went down to Montrose for some cousin fun

• Sam went with Tori to meet the kids from after school, and got to get on the school bus
• more new toys, exciting backyard playset, dress up, and motorcycle races around the rug

• Sam rode home in W’s jeep, swinging his feet with delight, spotting deer and a honey wagon along the way

Thursday

• spent most of the gorgeous day in town
• lunch on the deck at Panny’s Pizza

• park, playground, antique shopping, old fire station, river, rocks, mud, and ice cream while O napped and ate his socks

• Sam put out carrots for the deer with Mormor and went for a ride on the ATV with W while Owen watched

• cozy time by the fire

• I put Sam to bed at 7 and by 7:04 he was snoring

Friday

• watched the deer through the window eating the pumpkins and carrots

• belgian waffles for breakfast, Sam’s favorite “Big giant waccles!”

• I got busy on some sewing projects, and Sam sneaked out the doggie doors.  Got himself covered in mud by the time we found him.

• Benny ate Sam’s sock.  It was awfully traumatic for poor Samuel.
• bathtime in the sink and snuggles with Mormor while I kept sewing

• Sam went on a flashlight walk with W and the doggies, beaming with excitement

Saturday

• time to go home!
• a 5 hour drive took us 7, with a small moment between Grand Junction and Green River where both boys were happy at the same time
• smother Daddy with hugs and kisses and tales of our adventures in Colorado.  We had a great time, but we will not do the trip without him again!!

We took a quick trip to my family in CO for conference weekend.  We left Friday after work, and came back Monday evening.  I say it every time we go somewhere, but it was so fun to get away from every day life and spend some time with family.  We didn’t really do anything ”special” but we still had such a wonderful time.  I hardly took any pictures because I was so enjoying watching and taking it all in . . . that, and I’m super lazy. 

We got in late Friday night after a rough start.  We almost turned around in Price Canyon about 30 minutes from home.  Luckily, that was the worst of it, and we made it to Ridgway in safely and in decent time.  It was a phenomenal experience with the newest member of our family.  He treated us well!  Road trips will never be the same again.  When we got to my parents’ house at about 12:30 am, Samuel hadn’t even been asleep for two hours.  He was a crank, didn’t want to say hi to Mormor, and was freaked out by the dogs.  That changed a quick 6 hours later.

At 7 Saturday morning, I heard a door shut and Samuel’s chipper voice, ”Hi Mommy!”  That’s right, he has no problem getting out of the pack-n-play.  Next on his list, after getting Mom out of bed, was “Ok, go play!” and he was off for the toy closet.  He had so much fun with all the new toys, the doggies, Grandpa, and everything else all morning.  After naptime, we headed down to Montrose to play with the 5-Ts.  More new toys and exciting things to play with, including 3 fun cousins, a couple cats, and more dogs.  We all packed up and had a super successful dinner at Chili’s.  Sam had hardly eaten a thing all day, but between chips and salsa, kids pizza, french fries, mashed potatoes, corn, and chicken crispers, he finally got a tummy full.

On Sunday, the Ts came up to Ridgway for a Conference/Easter celebration.  (Yep, this is the only day I took pictures.)  We had a huge and delicious brunch and baskets of new toys from Mormor for each grandkid to start off the morning session.  Then came lunch and naps, followed by afternoon session (mostly in the background, oops), Easter buckets, an egg hunt, and walk outside.  Sam lucked out big time from with Colorado Easter bunny, getting a few fun outside toys and Helmet Heroes to play with Tucker.  During all of this, Samuel actually did a pretty good job sharing toys and getting along with his cousins.  He has always been a fan of Tegan, but this visit he became particularly enamored with Tyson.  Samuel kept talking about Tyson, copying everything he did, and thought it was so fun that they both got to take a nap in the same room.

Monday morning, I took off with mi madre and Tori on a little outing in Grand Junction to do some fabric shopping for our upcoming ladies weekend in Denver.  Erik and Sam met me there, and the 3 of us finished off the drive back to Springville.  Next time we visit, that sentence will read, ” . . . the 4 of us . . . “

Before I forget what even happened . . . here is a run down of the best California trip ever.

It rained lots, but that didn’t stop us from getting outside.  Rain in 60 degrees is certainly manageable.  Samuel, surprise, loved the puddles.  Especially when we gave up on trying to keep him out of them.

On the way to one of the parks.

Showing Dad some of his gymnastics skills.

Another playground and more puddles.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The big part of our trip was Disneyland!!  I’ve only been one other time, so we learned a lot of how to do it better next time.  Minus a couple hitches, Sam had a ball.  For not having a nap, he was so amazing and such a good sport.  My biggest consolation for not doing as much as I had first envisioned was that we will for sure be back another time! 

Samuel is a total observer.  You’re going to see the same look on his face in a lot of these pictures.  Don’t le the serious expression fool you!  He was fully in awe, and trying to take it all in.  On the tram; part of the 90 minute process just to get IN the park!!

Waiting in their first line.

I should’ve known better.  Sam doesn’t like being forced into new situations without a good prep period.

Autopia went over much better.  Definitely Sam’s favorite of the day.  He was thrilled beyond thrilled to be in the driver’s seat!  This time Sam got sad when it was over, “More cars!  Cars back, go drive!!”

The view from my car.

Our first character meeting of the day . . . Look it’s the big green ogre, Shrek!

Oh, nevermind.  It’s just big green preggo, Al.

While waiting for the Nemo submarine ride, Sam couldn’t take his eyes off the cotton candy.  He had no idea what it really was, but he knew he wanted it.  So Erik went over the line to get some for us.  “No candy Sammers, Mommy try.”

Looking for Nemo.  This was before it went pitch black, the giant angler fish opened it’s scary mouth right in front of us, we were swallowed by a whale, and Sam screamed the whole rest of the ride.

Mickey’s Toon Town.  Another favorite and must-do for toddlers.  Sam was so excited to be able to just run around and play without having to wait in line.  He was also pretty excited to meet Mickey Mouse . . . until we were standing right next to him.  Start the hysterics.  As soon as we stepped away, Sam was over it, and made sure to wave goodbye.  “Bye see ya, Mickey!”

Dinner time!  We were pretty proud to walk away from Disneyland having spent only $100; and that included buying dinner in the park.  Samuel was being soooooo silly.  What a goober.

Riding Casey Jr’s Train.  Our only family picture from the whole entire trip.  Sad sad sad.

So a little background.  Sam has a pretty significant fascination with Buzz and Toy Story 2.  In fact, we can go ahead and call it an obsession.  We got Sam a little Buzz toy as a treat on the 10 hours drive down.  During those 10 hours, Samuel also learned to say, To infinity and beyond; which sounds more like “To ah-bin-dah-dee and be-YAR!” but still.  Here is a video of Sam watching the movie and being “Lightyear Buzz.”

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

So of course at Disneyland, we saved the best for last . . . the Buzz Lightyear blaster ride.  (I can’t remember what it’s actually called.)  You should have seen this child’s face when we turned the corner and there was a life-sized Buzz.  Sam was so excited helping Erik blast things, and just about jumped out of his seat when we got to the part where Buzz is standing there fighting Zurg.  The ride stops, and Buzz asks for your help in destroying the Evil Emperor Zurg.  “Kapow kapow kapow!!  Go Buzz, catch Zurg!!” 

Time to head back!  It was almost 9, and all three of us were done.  Sam was so so good all day.  You would never know he woke up at 7 and went the entire day without a nap . . . well, until Sam was buckled up in his car seat and on his way home.

Did you notice?  Even sound asleep, Buzz was still grasped tightly in Sam’s little hand.  Ah, what an excellent day.  The happiest place on earth!  For sure!!

Yesterday was a busy and exciting day.  After the ultrasound, Sam and I took off for a surprise visit to my family in CO.  So we’re here, in the snow covered mountains, having fun and trying to stay warm . . . just Mama Al and her TWO little BOYS!  Well . . . one and a half, I guess.