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.

December 2011

So the day after a quiet family Christmas at home, we packed up and headed to California for a visit.  We saw Erik's family during the summer at Brian Head, and we saw most of them in October for Emmett's blessing, but we hadn't actually been to California since February!  Even though the trip was long overdue, I was still dreading the drive.  Owen is not the greatest in the car (at least he wasn't 10 months ago) and I had no idea what to expect out of Em.  Erik, however, is phenomenal, and drives through the night.  So we left our home at 4:00 in the afternoon and got to Fullerton almost exactly 10 hours later.  I was so impressed with how well the drive went.  There was whining, crying, maybe even a bit of screaming, and a vomit incident.  But how could there not be in 10 hours?!  Overall, everyone did so so great.

Owen got really sick one evening, out of nowhere really.  It hit him fast and hard.  Right in time for cousin Tyler's baptism.  I was just finishing up feeding the baby while Erik loaded the boys into the car to head to the church.  We could tell that O wasn't at his best, and as I was about to walk out the door, Erik was walking back in with Owen in his arms, both of them covered in barf.  Erik and Sam still barely made it on time to the baptism while Emmett and I stayed back to tend to O.  He got a high fever and barfed three more times before crashing for the night.  He woke up in the morning still burning hot and not happy.  Owen fell asleep on the sofa at 9 (crazy!!!) so we moved him to bed where he slept for almost 3 hours.  He woke up much better, and was almost entirely better by the afternoon . . . just in time for Medieval Times!!!!!

So Santa brought us tickets to go to Medieval Times while we were in California.  I was so so excited for it.  I thought the boys would love it, too.  And they were pretty excited, too . . . at first . . . then the actual show started, booming loud, dark and spooky.  Owen covered his ears and hid his face, Samuel covered his ears and whimpered he didn't like it and wanted to leave.  Erik and I were exchanging glances and I seriously was about to cry because it was all my idea and no one was happy and I felt like such an idiot.  Then the fog cleared, the lights came on, we got our chicken, the horses came out, and all was good.  The boys LOOOOOOVED it!!  We cheered and waved our banner for the Yellow Knight.  Our seats were awesome, first row and up higher in the corner of the ring, so the horses noses were right at our table height.  When the Yellow Knight came to throw flowers, the boys were pointing to me, Sam was shouting, "Give one to my mom!!" and I might have been waving for one, too.  The knight looked me right in the eye, smiled, and shook his head no!!!!!!  Ouch!  But still the night was so awesome, without a single picture to prove it.  But lots of memories.  The boys are still playing knights, dueling, riding their horses, and chanting, "Yellow Knight, Yellow Knight!"

While we were there we also spent lots of time with family and cousins.  You'd think the boys might have overloaded, but they really couldn't get enough.  Especially Samuel.  Nevermind that they played hard all day every day and stayed up till almost 10 every night, they were still banging down the doors by 6:30 am.  We got to spend lots of time outside, exploring the never ending adventures in Grandpa B's jungle, going on hikes, and visiting parks.

Seriously, isn't he the cutest?!

Ok, well these two are pretty cute, too, I guess.

So once again it was a really great trip to California.  Usually, I'm ready to head home by the end.  But this time I felt like I wanted to stay longer.  I was not ready to leave, and I even tried to talk Erik into the idea of us staying for another day.  The boys were sad to go, too, but that just means we will be that much more excited to go back again! 

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.

Did you ever hear about our attempt to go camping last summer?  It failed.  Big time.  But when we were invited to try again this year with the T Family, we said yes.  It was a success!

On our way to Hunstville, we visited the Dinosaur Park in Ogden.  Samuel was in heaven.  He ran from dinosaur to dinosaur with Tyson and Tucker and had a blast.  We could’ve stayed so much longer if we weren’t anxious to set up camp, but we will for sure visit that awesome place again!  Then we drove up the canyon to our camp site in Anderson Cove at Pine View Reservoir.  It was beautiful!  That evening while Erik stayed at camp with 3 sleeping kids, the rest of us launched the boat and took it for a little ride.  Tegan and Samuel got to stay up late with the grown ups roasting marshmallows before we all finally turned in for the night.

The next morning came bright and early, after a loud wind storm that totally had me convinced the boys would wake up screaming and the tents would fold in on us.  We played at camp, had breakfast, and all boarded the boat.  Sam loved it even more than the night before now that the rest of his cousins were there, too, and he already had his life jacket picked out.  Owen hated it.  So he and I got dropped off back at shore and headed up for a nap while the others did some more boating.  After lunch, it was take two on the boat.  With a solid 2 1/2 hour nap behind him, and a sucker in his hand, Owen tolerated the boat.  Samuel went for a tube ride with Erik.  He said he had a good time, but we couldn’t get him to go again for the rest of the trip.  By the evening, everyone was ready for dinner and smores, and a little bit earlier bedtime than the night before.

By now, the playing hard, no naps, and late bedtimes were setting in on our boys.  Samuel handled it like a champ, and slept in until almost 9.  Owen was having a much harder time and was definitely coming unglued.  We decided to go for another boat trip after breakfast.  Samuel shivered and grumped the whole time, and Owen fell asleep.  The kids were very happy to play at the beach after that.  We stuck around for some more time at the camp site and dutch over dinner and dessert.  After that, we packed up and said goodbye to the others who were brave enough to stay a couple more days. 

Owen was so excited to know that he was going home.  Samuel was just tired.  But man alive was it an awesome trip!  We had so much fun, and were so grateful to Tori for all her preparation that made it a piece of cake for us.  We really just had to show up and enjoy ourselves.  If this is how camping is going to be, we are up for it again!!

We had one more adventure left during our Christmas vacation in Fullerton.  We left early Saturday morning for a day at the zoo!  It was cool, a bit cloudy, and not too many people were there at all.  Compared to our past experiences at Hogle Zoo, this zoo was HUGE!  I asked Sam if he remembered going to the zoo with Emma and Marianne after Thanksgiving, and then I told him that the zoo we were going to this time would be much bigger.  This was thrilling news to Samuel, “Yeah, I want to go to the bigger zoo and see DINOSAURS!”  Well, there weren’t any dinosaurs, but we still had a great time and every single one of us was completely and entirely pooped by the time we left. 

Samuel adoooores his cousins!

Sam’s favorite zoo finds: “Santa’s reindeer,” “A big silverback gorilla!” and “Russel’s snipe!”

Some pictures I stole from Rob.

Craig Park is right down the street from Grandma and Grandpa B’s house.  It is huge!  This was our second time there, and Erik says we only explored a small part of it.  We saw ducks in the pond, walked some horse trails, climbed a few hills and a tree, crossed a bridge, followed a couple paths, and played at two different play grounds.

Owen had his first official swing.  Uh, Mom, what are you doing?

Oh I see!  Well, I think I might like this . . .

Yep! Yep, I definitely like this!

Then Owen fell asleep.  And Sam got dirty.  Two sure signs of a day well spent.

One of our days before Christmas in California we took a trip to the aquarium.  The Mutters came along, too.  We followed them tandem and Samuel spent the entire drive asking, “When are we going to see my cousins?”  We had a great time seeing all the different animals.  We saw all sorts of fish, a few divers, sea lions, frogs, jelly fish, a sea turtle, spider crabs, and rays, to name a few.  But Samuel wasn’t appeased until we saw the BIG SCARY SHARKS WITH ALL THESE SHARP TEETH!    Owen was a great sport just along for the ride.  He took his first ride sitting in the stroller, and loved his view.  After a while, I carried him around and he fell asleep for the rest of the time.  We spent the whole day there and left Long Beach with happy (and tired) faces.

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 . . . “