Fun at the Park

It feels like Spring is really here! Hooray! Fall used to be my favorite season of the year, but I am learning to love Spring at least as much. We went to the park last night and the boys still wore their coats since the highs for the days were mid-sixties and it was cooling down when we were out, but it was pleasant in terms of temperature and lots of fun.

It was a different park than we have ever played at before so the boys had fun exploring the various features.

It's been a long time since I have been to a park with a merry-go-round in it. What a blast!!! I was so glad we had Andrew there to do the manly pushing for the kids.

After the park, we headed over to the library for a magic show themed around St Patricks Day. It was a fun night. I'm glad I have a sister who knows about these things and fills me in!

Lava Hot Springs

We had a great day at Lava Hot Springs. The road trip was flawless including a little side-adventure off to explore Crystal Hot Springs and a bathroom stop for Ammon at a gas station. We ate an entire bunch of grapes and lots of strawberries on the way!

Ammon and Andrew were the first ones into the water, and the bigger pool was just too hot for Ammon's liking. (Even on the cooler end.) We spend most of our time in one of the smaller side pools that seemed to have the coolest water. It felt heavenly and we enjoyed the contrasting 100+ degree water to the 30-40 degree weather we were having. It was a beautiful day.

We got there just as Peter had fallen asleep so he started out snuggled in my arms. He didn't want to take his shirt off right away - it took some time to work up to that. After an hour or so in the pool we took our trip out to Soda Springs to see the geyser. Ammon and I went back into the hot springs while Andrew and Peter took a nap in the car. Then we all drove to Pocatello to enjoy dinner at Jack in the Box (since they aren't local and we became accustomed to them in Yuma) and then had the opportunity to visit my cousin at her recently purchased home! We had a great visit with them and then headed back for one last dip in the pools.

By the time we got back from Pocatello, it was dark and the temperature had dropped. I made the guys skid to a stop in front of the sign just long enough to snap this one picture and then run run run to the hot water! It was a cold run but so worth it when we sank into the steamy hot pool. Ammon and I spent a lot of the night in the big pool that has hotter temps than the one we were in during the day.

It was so pleasant to be outdoors and feel the cool air as we basked in the steamy warmth of the hot springs. By this time we were a little bit bummed that it was the night of the time change because we didn't want to stay gone too long, but we were having a good enough time that we weren't in any hurry to leave.

We finally wrapped things up and changed into dry clothes for the drive home. The boys fell asleep quickly once we were in the car and Andrew and I enjoyed the peaceful drive together. Even with the time change in consideration, we were home by 11:00 at night so we still got a decent nights sleep after a wonderful day as a family.

Ammon keeps asking when we get to go again. It was definitely a successful trip.

Soda Springs, Idaho

This past weekend we had a fun road trip. One of the stops was Soda Springs ID where we went to see a geyser. It was lots of fun. The first stop was to the little visitor center where we kept warm while waiting for the time when the geyser would be going off.

The geyser is the only "captive" geyser in the world and is set to go off every hour on the hour. When it was just a few minutes to the hour, we headed out of the visitor center and up the snow covered trail to the overlook.

Andrew read a little bit about the history of the geyser and told us that it would shoot over 70 feet tall. He also learned that it originally caused problems with the timing of Old Faithful and they actually tried to seal it back up as they had drilled into it by mistake. They covered it with a 3500 lbs rock, but the next day they heard a loud sound and the rock had been dislodged.

We heard it before we saw it. The geyser started off small, but got bigger and bigger. Soon we were feeling the spray from it. It ended up spraying for a full six minutes. Ammon thought it was awesome! It was a fun little side trip on our day in Idaho.

Crystal Springs

The plan was to drive to Lava Hot Springs. It was about 2 1/2 hours away which was perfect. Yuma (where we lived last Summer) was exactly 2 1/2 hours away from EVERYTHING so we became very familiar with this length of a drive. 80 miles into the drive, however, we saw the signs for Crystal Hot Springs. We decided to go exploring!

We pulled off the freeway and followed the signs until. It was really easy to find and barely more than an hour from home. There is a year round camping spot and then the pools. There is even a water slide which looked like lots of fun!

We debated about what to do. We weren't really ready to be done with our drive - we like road trips. And Crystal Springs didn't open for almost another hour and they were still filling the pool with that steamy hot springs water. We decided to continue on with our original plan and continue on our way to Lava. But we also vowed to plan a trip to Crystal Springs soon.

Playing with Cousins

The hardest thing for me, when I moved to Arizona, was taking my kids away from their cousins. My sister and I have been really spoiled to have our kids together and they are all such good friends, and now that we have moved back, having the kids play together again is the best thing about it.

We love to spend time at Katy's house. There are so many fun things for the kids to do. They keep each other occupied, and Katy and I get to hang out and do whatever we want.

Spring is Coming

Although we are back to having snow, March started out with some really beautiful and warm days. Peter took full advantage of those days and had a blast riding his bike.

He also spent an afternoon mastering the slide. He spent a couple of hours on the slide in the back yard, but he didn't like to go down it unless I was standing there ready to catch him. I typically didn't actually catch him, but for some reason I needed to be there.

Eventually we went to a park where he spent another couple of hours sliding. The slide at the park was longer at the bottom, though, so he came to a stop still on the slide. I guess that made him feel safer because ever since then he has been fine on slides all by himself. And he LOVES them!

Family Lunch Date

After the fair we decided to go out for an impromptu family lunch. It was Andrew's last Saturday working and we were celebrating have Saturday's together! We opted for Panda Express since it was a little nicer than fast food, and it is a family favorite. The boys both really love it.

I find myself more and more in love with my cute little family of four all the time. We had a great time together.

Ammon thought it would be fun to eat his rice through the straw. An interesting concept that was successful although very slow!

Kids Safety Fair

On the last day of February Katy called me up and mentioned that she would be taking her kids to the Kids Safety Fair at the South Towne Expo Center. It was free and Andy was working so I decided to go too. It was Katy and me with Ammon, Peter, Carolyn, Kylie and Isaiah. I got there a few minutes before Katy and spend that time looking for a place to park at the Expo Center. I finally gave up and ended up parking at Jordan Commons. That turned out to be WAY better. I called Katy and she was able to park right next to me. I don't think the walk was much worse than if we had parked in the parking lot there, and it were way less vehicles to dodge getting into the building.
The Fair was set up with tons of booths with demos, games, handouts etc. The kids did all sorts of things including sitting in a firetruck, walking through an ambulance, turning the lights on in a police car, "crashing" in a seat belt demonstration etc.

Ammon and Carolyn enjoyed meeting McGruff although the younger three were all a little nervous about the giant dog. Ammon and Carolyn also got to hang out with a Storm Trooper for a minute (there were several of them there) although niether of them are huge Star Wars fans so I don't think they really get who he was - just a cool looking guy with a gun...

By the end of the day they were decorated with all sorts of badges, had a bag full of goodies and left the fair complete with tied balloons. Andrew also met us there after work and got there just in time to help us round the kids back up and get them to the car. It was lots of fun!

Field Trip

A couple of weeks ago Andrew picked Ammon up from school. That, in and of itself, is has been pretty common for a Thursday afternoon. But what was different was Andrew coming home and announcing that he was going to take time off work the following Tuesday to attend Ammon's field trip. Ammon had asked Daddy if he would come, and Daddy just couldn't bring himself to say no.
So off they went to Braza Grill. They sampled all sorts of different foods and drinks and absoluetly had a blast! Of course Andrew has a tendency to get excited about everything new and interesting so he came home committed to take me out for dinner there. He swears it is better than Rodigio Grill and can't wait to go back!

I am glad that Ammon not only had a fun experience with his school class, but also had a great day with his Daddy. I love seeing my boys doing things with their dad!

Carolyn's Turtle

Even though it is my niec who received a new pet, I feel part ownership of the experience because it was a pet she inherited from a ward member of mine. I had been at a Relief Society activity when the neighbor asked me if I wanted the turtle. I immediately said no and didn't give it much thought until a few days later when I was at Katy's house. It randomly occurred to me that they might be interested.

And interested they were. It was just over 24 hours after I mentioned it to Katy that they were bringing home their new pet. Carolyn was giddy with excitement and it was fun to watch. Andrew and I debated keeping it for Ammon but felt like Carolyn was better suited for pet ownership. We felt bad knowing that we had passed up this opportunity for our own child, but even though Ammon would have thought it was somewhat cool, Carolyn felt like it was literally a dream come true. I think we made the best choice.

Of course, on the way home from meeting Carolyn's turtle, Ammon asked, "Can I have a pet turtle?" We told him that we can talk about having a pet as soon as he take the responsibility to keep his room clean. So far that hasn't happened...

German Pancakes

Now that we have 1:00 church, Andrew has been happily making breakfast for us every Sunday morning. We have gotten into a fun routine of having him make bacon and hashbrowns while the boys and I make German Pancakes. Ammon has it down pat. The second I tell him it's time to make German Pancakes, he is into the fridge getting out the milk and eggs. He even knows how many eggs we use! What a yummy Sunday tradition this is turning into.

This was the day after Valentine's Day so we still had cookies left over to decorate. Anyone who decorates cookies with us in the future - beware of the yellow sprinkles!

Strawberry Season

The week before Valentine's Day I bought strawberries. They were tiny little things that didn't look that great, but I was ready to be eating strawberries again so I bought them. I remember thinking how strange it was that the strawberries were such low quality because every year Andrew makes chocolate strawberries for me and usually they are so much better.

A week later was a whole different story. Apparently we aren't the only ones who do chocolate covered strawberries for Valentine's Day. They were front and center as you walked into the store. And they were MASSIVE!!!

I planned my holiday to cook a lot of different foods for the day - it's just what I like to do. But when it came time to do the strawberries, I was sent away and the men in my life took over. Andrew took this cute picture of the boys signing strawberry. They were such good helpers.

Apparently Ammon chose this strawberry for himself while they dipped them. All of the strawberries were big, but this one was seriously the size of his fist! He enjoyed eating it, that's for sure!

Valentine's Day Cookies

This year for Valentine's Day I got this crazy notion that I wanted to celebrate as a family. Perhaps that is partly because Andrew was gone last year and so this is the first time we have had all four of us together for the holiday. Whatever the reason, it was what I thought I wanted.
One of our activities during the day was to make sugar cookies. My sister-in-law provides this activity for a lot of our family get-togethers and so I used her recipes and we had a great time. The boys loved decorating their cookies. We couldn't find the red food coloring so we used green. Apparently M&M's were marketing green as the new color of love or something, so Andrew convinced me that it worked (I was really devestated to not have pink/red on Valentine's Day!)

After Ammon took great amounts of time and care in decorating one of his cookies, he gave it to me as a Valentine gift. What a lucky Mommy I am!

Overall it was a fun day, but by the end of it I realized that there is plenty of time to hang out with the kids, and still look forward to the sweet relief of Date Night! That's what we'll do next year for sure!

Snowman in the Making

On Valentine's Day we had a fun little snow storm and instead of heading off to the store as I had planned, I shoveled the sidewalks while Ammon and some neighborhood kids had fun building a snowman. Back in November he received a really cute "snowman kit" and was excited to use it! They actually started the process at the neighbors house and then carried the snowball (a good size for the head) down to our yard.

Once here, they took that ball and rolled it all around the yard until it got to be the size of the body! It was pretty big and they used up most of the snow in the yard making it.

I don't know what the thought process was - if they just felt they were out of snow, or if they wanted to take it back to the yard they started in, but the traveling snowman took another journey down the street and was completed on someone else's watch. I was glad for the time they spent in my yard, though, and the fun I was able to observe them having.

So adorable!

On a day when I feel a little discouraged about various things, this smile sure does brighten the moment. A little more than a year ago I spent my days telling my kids, "You're driving me crazy!" I am happy to say that these days I find myself constantly saying,

"My boys are so adorable!"

My biggest regret with my sweet boys is that they are growing up so fast and raising children already seems like such a fleeting phase in my life.