Cruisin'

I love this man of mine! We spent this evening at my grandparent's house playing cards with the family. It was totally fun. BUT, driving home in our truck blaring some awesome tunes was possibly the best part of the evening for me. It reminded me of when we were dating...driving without kids and totally rocking out to our favorite music. We listened to Collective Soul (our favorite band), country artists (a lot of Gary Allan--LOVE), some Chicago (totally cheesy but fun to sing your heart out to), and hello, a little Beyonce (it was mostly me rocking out to her...). Gosh, it was so fun. Love driving in our truck, holding hands and singing our favorite songs. I could do that over and over again. I love that we love the same music, love spending time with each other, and love to be silly. Doesn't get better than that.

A little fishing buddy

I remember before Grayson was born and even when he was still just a baby, Garrett would talk about how he wished Grayson would grow up liking the things that he liked to do...hunting, fishing, etc. WELL, I'm pretty sure Garrett has nothing to worry about! Not only does Grayson talk about shooting things all the time, but the kid LOVES to fish! It's amazing to me how much time he can spend fishing with Garrett and not be bored of it. Last summer when Grayson was two and a half, we took a fishing trip as a family where we ended up being at the lake for about 4 hours fishing, and Grayson totally loved it. Wasn't bored at all.

Just this last Friday, Grayson got to go on another morning long fishing trip with his dad, uncle and grandpa. My father-in-law started talking to him about this fishing trip in the middle of the week, and Grayson was SO excited to go!

When Friday morning came, he was ready to go! Grayson woke us up around 8. He wanted help getting dressed, so Garrett helped him while I made some strawberry muffins to send with them on the road. Garrett helped Grayson get his fishing pole and tackle box all ready to go. He could hardly wait for Grandpa and Bryan to show up so that they could leave.

Before they left for the morning, I had to snap a picture of him--all ready to go.

I think for now...Garrett has nothing to worry about. I hope this is something that they can do together for years to come. Right now, Garrett has got himself the cutest little fishing buddy.

Prayers

About a week ago, I sat down with Grayson for dinner and helped him say the prayer to bless the food. In every prayer, we always go through a list that we are thankful for. Usually I will prompt Grayson by saying, "What are you thankful for?", and he will then provide a list. After he says each thing, though, he expects me to repeat after him.

On this particular night I, like usual, asked him what he was thankful for. I don't remember the first thing he was thankful for, but the second thing that came out of his mouth was...."My penis." I started giggling and tried to brush past it without repeating it after him by saying something like, "Uh-huh, and what else?" Apparently this response wouldn't do because he paused, looked at me and repeated, "My penis!" I couldn't get myself to repeat his words in a prayer...plus, I was giggling too much to keep praying anyway. I don't remember what I said to make him move on but he eventually did. CRACKED me up! 

I guess it's a good thing to be thankful for???

Saturday Activities

Yesterday was Saturday--a very productive Saturday. I worked on Friday night, so I planned to sleep until about noon or one. We actually woke up to a phone call from my brother in law informing us that he was a few minutes away--bringing us a dog kennel/dog run and a chicken coop. Garrett got up and went outside to help unload all of the stuff, and I continued to sleep. I finally got up around noon because the house was just kind of loud. The kids were laughing/crying and it just wasn't helping me sleep. 

I got up and went downstairs to eat some breakfast. Garrett and Grayson left to go get some gas for the lawn mower, then went to IFA to get some lawn fertilizer. When they came home, I left with the dog to go running. I went on the most beautiful run. I ran the Salem Canal Road all the way into Payson. It is such a pretty, quiet road. I really enjoyed it. When I got into Payson, I ran around the hospital, and then turned toward home and ran the highway home. It turned out to be a 6.5 mile run, and I felt fabulous the whole way. I love those running days--the ones where you just feel good. The weather was perfect also. It was overcast, and there was some sprinkling rain here and there--perfect. 

When we got home, I gave Hank a bone and he happily chewed his bone on the front lawn for several hours while Garrett, Grayson and I worked in the yard. While I was out running, Garrett mowed and fertilized the lawn. I helped him mow another portion of the lawn once I was home, and Garrett began to trim some trees in the backyard. He trimmed quite a bit, and I must say that they look really good. 

While we were doing this and that in the yard, Grayson took it upon himself to unload the trailer that is parked by our garage all by himself. I guess he figured that he needed to do some work also.

Garrett worked so hard in the yard on Saturday and I appreciate it so much. He spent a solid 6 hours working in the yard. At the end of the day, both of us sat back and enjoyed the yard. It looked beautiful. I really love our house...

In the midst of the yard work, my dad came down to bring us some DELICIOUS olive oil and balsamic vinegar that he got from this place in Salt Lake. Oh my gosh. So good.

I had to go to the store to pick up a few things for dinner, so my dad came along to help with the kids. I got stuff to make some home made hamburgers--some meat, buns, chips and salad stuff. My dad left to go home from the store, and I went home to get dinner started. While Garrett grilled the hamburger patties, I made a green salad with veggies and strawberries. I topped it with a dressing made from the oil and vinegar my dad brought down. It was divine. The hamburgers were divine too. There is something about eating a home grilled hamburger after a day of yard work. Tastes so yummy--especially with all of the deliciousness that Garrett puts into the meat. Yum.

After dinner we gave the kids a bath and put them to bed. They were totally hashed. Once they were asleep, we helped ourselves to a diet coke and settled down for a movie. Aaah, such a good day.

Play Dough

It's been a LONG time since I have made home made play dough--probably since I was a little kid making it for myself. I decided that I would make some with the kids the other day... It was rainy out, so we couldn't get outside to play and get some energy out. Instead, we ran to the store and picked up a couple of ingredients that I didn't have (some cream of tartar and more salt) and came home to make play dough. Grayson helped me stir the play dough on the stove, and Bella squawked most of the time because she wanted to be doing everything Grayson was.

 

Bella was MOSTLY happy here because she was closer to the action...

We made a caterpillar, and then Grayson put a tail on it. I guess caterpillars have tails...

My little boy...

Likes to do this outside. All. Of. The. Time. In the flowerbeds, on the grass, in the backyard where I can't see him and by the the garage. It cracks me up.

 

Easter Weekend

The Saturday before Easter my family came down to my house to have an Easter egg hunt--thanks to my mom for donating all of the candy :). The kids had a blast playing and collecting candy/eggs, and the rest of the family just enjoyed spending time together. We cooked chicken on the grill and had a green salad, potato salad, chips and other yummy things--including some adorable Easter cupcakes that I made (I'm a little bit proud of them!).

Bella was a little bit confused about what she was supposed to do...

Bella with a handful of licorice. That's the only treat she wanted.

All of the cousins underneath the cherry tree.

Eating her licorice.

Showing me his basket of candy.

I never noticed how much these two look alike, but I can totally see the resemblance here! Grayson with his cousin Benji.

My Easter cupcakes.

Saturday night after the kids went to bed, Garrett and I rented the last Twilight movie and bought ice cold diet cokes. The movie was terrible, but we enjoyed laughing at all of the bad acting/bad effects. It turned out being kind of fun just making fun of it! 

The kids' Easter baskets. Bella got a baby doll, a princess cell phone and some treats. Grayson got some cowboy boots, a car and some treats.

He LOVES his cowboy boots!

All ready to go to church on Easter sunday. I think I have the cutest kids in the world. I know I'm a little biased, but c'mon....seriously!

My handsome little guy. The only way I could manage to get a good picture of him was while he was tied down in his car seat!

 Happy Easter!

Loving family time, warm weather, spring buds and new clothes!

Saturday was a long, fun and productive day. Garrett and Grayson slept until about 10:30. Bella and I, on the other hand, were up at 8:00. The girl loves food. When she wakes up she will play happily until you ask her if she is hungry. If you ask her if she is hungry and don't pick her up immediately to take her downstairs to eat, she throws a major fit. I made the mistake of asking her right away if she was hungry. It only took about 5 seconds before she threw herself back on the bed, back arched and screaming. She knows what she is doing I guess--I got right up to stop her crying. We went downstairs and made pancakes for the two of us. Soon Grayson got up and joined us downstairs, and then we all went upstairs to wake up Garrett.

We went outside and did some yard work. Garrett one of the trees out of our front yard. Neither of us have ever liked that particular tree. We both felt it was in an awkward place in the yard. While Garrett worked on the tree, I just sat on the porch and watched the kids enjoy the sun. They were loving the hose--mostly the water. They had their little bowls that they were filling up with water. Getting soaked. They were playing with Hank and loving it. Bella was into Hanks water--again, soaking herself. And, they were playing in the dirt. At the end of the day they were SO filthy. It made me smile. I thought, "A dirty kid is a happy one." Dirt on a child means time spent outside in warm weather. Doesn't get better than that. 

I was also walking around the yard doing this and that. I walked around back to look at the BEAUTIFUL apricot tree that is in bloom in our backyard. I can't get enough of it. The tree was literally humming--there were hundreds of bees buzzing around the blossoms. I also admired the tulips coming up in my flower beds. Ahhh, so excited for spring!

After we finished our business in the yard, Bryan and Shae came over and we BBQ'd some bratwurst. Yum. We sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine while it lasted.

Once they left, we hopped in the car to go clothes shopping for the kids. Grayson desperately needed a new pair of church pants. The ones he has been wearing are total floods. They come above his ankles. They are 3T's, but way too short. We went to The Children's Place (LOVE that store!!!) and got some seriously cute stuff for both Grayson and Bella. We ended up getting Grayson church pants that were 4T's. They fit perfectly. I'm convinced that the kid is going to be huge. Tall, I mean. We also stopped by Old Navy to get some summer flip flops. 

When we got home, the kids went right into the bathtub (SERIOUSLY dirty), ate some dinner and went straight to bed. I think we were all pooped really. Garrett and I watched the new Footloose--I loved it--and finally went to bed. It was a long day, but so fun. Really, the whole weekend was awesome. I love my little family.

Date Night

Friday night was date night. I worked Thursday night and the girls and I talked about doing a group date with our husbands. When I got up, I talked to Garrett about it and we decided that we would get a babysitter and go. So glad we did.

Garrett's dad came over to watch the kids and brought them kids meals from Wendy's. They were excited. We left and met the rest of the group at the movie theater in American Fork. We had all decided that we wanted to go see The Hunger Games which came out that same weekend. The seating at that theater is all assigned seating, so we had bought six seats that were all together so we could sit with each other. When we walked into the theater to find our seats, there were only 4 open seats. My friends husband asked the people who were sitting in our seats whether they were in the right seats. They insisted that they had tickets for those seats. I didn't want to make a big deal of it, so I told everyone to just go sit down there and Garrett and I would find different seats. The theater was pretty much packed at this point. We found two seats next to each other and sat down. About 2 minutes later, a couple walked in and told us that they were in their seats. SO, we got up and found another two seats that were next to each other. About 2 minutes later another couple walked in and claimed their seats. I was starting to feel a little silly walking all around the theater--I'm sure other people thought that we were just stealing other people's seats. It was awesome. We finally walked back up to our original seats to talk to the people that were sitting in them. As it turns out, their seats were originally split up--one on the end of the row and one in the middle of the row. I guess they didn't think they needed to tell us that--they just claimed the seats instead. It turns out that all we needed to do was ask everyone to move down a seat (to the empty seat that was actually one of theirs) so that we could all sit together. I couldn't believe that they watched us walk around the whole theater looking for a seat and failed to mention that they really were in our seats. Kinda rude. They were irritated that we asked them to move down a seat. I was lucky enough to sit by them and hear them grumble.

Besides all of that, the movie was great. I think I liked it even more than the book.

After the movie, we went to Red Mango and just hung out and talked for about 2 hours. It was SO fun! It was nice having our husbands with us. Usually when the girls from work get together it's just for a girls night. I love girls night too, but it was nice to have a date night. That way I was able to spend the night with Garrett while still being able to feel like I got a girls night in. So fun.

We ended up getting home close to midnight, so it was a pretty late night. Grayson was still awake--apparently he kept telling grandpa that he wanted to wait for us to get home. He was so trashed. He gave me a nice big hug when I walked into the door, and we went straight upstairs to bed.

I love me a good date night.

Me and my girls being silly and posing next to a movie poster of a movie we didn't even see. Love these two ladies.

The other day I went to Wal-Mart with the kids to pick up a few things. I told Grayson that he could pick out a toy for himself (some cheap $2 toy). He was choosing between a car and a Lightening McQueen cell phone. He ended up picking the cell phone.

Today, he brought up the car that he left behind at the store. He was trying to bargain with me to go back to the store and get it. I kept telling him no until he got the point. 

Later, my father-in-law came over so I could leave to work without having to drop the kids off to Garrett in Provo. As I was rushing trying to get my things together, I overheard Grayson saying to Chad, 

"Mom said no!...Mommy doesn't like me."

Nice. I'm pretty sure he was talking about the car. He sure takes things to the extreme sometimes :). Good thing I love him like crazy.

Park Day

It was such a beautiful day today! I am really loving this weather! I love days where you could be comfortable wearing a light jacket outside, but could be comfortable just in short sleeves. 

Because it was so nice out, I decided to take the kids to the pond to feed the ducks and play on the playground. I took Hank too which ended up being a bad decision. He makes me so ornery. He was pulling me and the stroller the whole way despite me jerking back on his leash, telling him "no", and yelling at him on a few occasions. I swear, I should not be a dog owner. Some days I like him and other days I really despise him. Today, I despised him. 

The kids loved the outing though. Grayson fed the ducks--Bella even attempted to throw a few pieces of bread in the water also. Her bread pieces mostly fell at my feet, but she did try. They ran around, fed ducks and played on the playground. All the while, Hank moaned and whined that he wasn't right next to us the whole time (I had him tethered up to a metal post with his leash while I played with the kids and yelled at him a few times when he was attempting to chew through his leash--we've already gone through two leashes...). Oh the joys... Anyway, I think we could all get used to a little more weather like this!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I wasn't going to do anything for St. Patrick's Day--then I was at work the night before and my friend brought the stuff she was doing for her kids, and I decided to do it as well. It was so fun. A little leprechaun came to our house and left footprints from our bedrooms to our kitchen table where a little treat and some lucky charms were waiting for them. Grayson loved it. When he got up and saw the footprints for the first time, he just looked at them and said, "Hmmm". Then he got more excited as I was telling him what they were all about. Garrett actually got up an hour earlier than us and made us some green pancakes. The kids loved it--and so did I.

 

Later that day we went to dinner at Los Hermanos with my dad and sisters family. We had so much fun, and Grayson loved seeing his cousins. I actually didn't know if we would be able to go because Bella was feeling a little bit sick that day--she just had a fever and wasn't that happy. She seemed to be feeling a little bit better, so we went and had a great time. 

After we came home from dinner and put the kids to bed, Garrett and I watched "The Help". If you haven't seen that movie, watch it. I totally loved it. It is about racism in regards to black people--based probably in the 1940's-1950's. Such a powerful movie. I was totally bawling in the end. I was feeling so grateful for all of the freedoms that we enjoy today. The movie also reminded me how grateful I am for my role as a mother. The black women in the movie left their own children to be raised by someone else while they raised another persons white baby. I was feeling so grateful that I am able to be home with my kids for the most part and be able to experience their lives with them. I went and picked Bella up out of her bed and just snuggled/loved her for about 30 minutes before I put her back in her bed and went to sleep.

Overall, a really great day. I loved spending time with my family.