Provo City Center

Scott and I had been wanting to take the kids to the Provo City Center Temple Open House for a while. Problem was finding a good time that we could get away to go. With the weekends booked and busy, we were struggling to get away. We finally decided to take a day off and go in the middle of the week. Tayden has early release from school on Wednesdays, so we figured that would be a perfect time to go. 

Tuesday afternoon, I was feeling particularly giddy and anxious to get on the road, so I suggested we head out after Scott got home from work and use our free night we had at Holiday Inn. Much to my surprise, Scott agreed and even offered to come home early. The minute I booked the hotel, I regretted it. All of a sudden, I had a million and one things to do and get ready before we left in a few short hours. Getting my family ready for one night is harder than you would think. Making sure everyone had swimming stuff, church clothes, regular clothes, socks, underwear, diapers,etc was quite the chore. But it all worked out and we were on our way.

Luckily, Scotts parents watched Tanner for us and took off that stress. 

The car ride down was great. Despite it being late, the kids did great staying awake. Even Kyle, who stayed awake without crying for about two hours and fell asleep minutes from the hotel. Getting the kids to bed was difficult. They were excited and all sleeping in the same bed, which was a small disaster. Then, Beckett and Cache woke up at 6:00 and got everyone else up with them. I was tired from being up with Kyle every few hours and quite cranky that the kids were already awake. But I told everyone, "We have two choices. We can either let last night and this morning ruin our day and have cranky attitudes. Or we can make the choice to be happy and get along and have a great day," We decided as a family to give it our best. And you know what, it turned out great.

The breakfast area was full, so we grabbed some food and took it back to the room and ate in bed while we watched cartoons. Then, we went swimming for a little bit before it was time to check out.

After swimming we got ready for the temple and hit the road to Provo. The kids all fell asleep for about an hour on the way down and Scott and I enjoyed a few quiet minutes to ourselves. Once we got to the temple, we went right in without much of a wait and started the tour. The two oldest boys were great, but Cache was a total disaster. Completely awful. I couldn't figure out what was going on with him, until it dawned on me we hadn't taken him potty in quite some time. I asked if he had to go, which he responded he did. Of course, this was half way through the tour with no bathroom in sight. He held it the remainder of the tour and I took him the minute we saw the restroom. I kid you not, the boy peed for 40 seconds. He had to go so bad. As soon as he used the bathroom, a new Cache arose and he was pleasant the whole rest of the day. I was frustrated with myself for not realizing it earlier. But at least we enjoyed the last few hours of the trip.

We asked a nice stranger to take a picture of us with the temple in the background. I specifially picked this spot so you could see the temple. I laughed when we got it back. Not only did she not get the temple, but she forgot half of Scotts head.

So we asked another lady on the other side. At least she got the whole family.

After the temple, we stopped and picked up some donuts and lunch and hit the road back home. Again, the boys were awesome. They are such good little road trippers. They each had one sticker sheet and two small toys from the dollar store and they were happy as clams. I am grateful that they can sit through a road trip without any electronics so we can enjoy each others company,

Can you believe this sweet face was such a pill?

It was such a great day and I enjoy spending time with my family immensely. They mean the world to me and I was grateful to show the boys that sometimes spending time together is more important than anything else. More important than work, school or any other responsibility. Obviously, those are super important and we can't just skip them all the time, but once and a while is okay. 

I hope the look back on this day with as much fondness as I do. 

Framers

Last weekend Scott had a little surprise up his sleeve. He framed the boys room downstairs!! I wasn't expecting that to happen for a few weeks, but he got it completely done last Saturday. 

Of course, two extra hands sure helped a lot. Thanks Matt! 

It looks great. I am so happy to get this project started. 

And also, since I'm already blogging, enjoy a few extras. 

Tayden had his 100th day of school and had to decorate this little shirt with 100 of his favorite things, he chose Legos and it turned out great. 

We got Tayden a Book of Mormon for his 7th birthday. The plan is to read it over the next year, marking important scriptires to him and have him write his testimony in the back when he's finished. Then we'll present it to him at his Baptism. It's been such a pleasure expericing this special book with him and teaching him why we believe the things we do. 

We found a frozen snake at our friends house today. I asked Beckett to move to the sun so I could get a better picture. His reply, "Mom! Are you crazy? As soon as the sun warms it up, he won't be frozen. And you know what that means? It won't be dead. And you know what that means? I'll be holding a alive snake. I'm just going to hold it in the shade, okay?" 

House Thoughts

We hit a milestone last week that we have been waiting on for quite some time. We officially sold our Las Vegas home! We've been praying about it not stop and in reality it only took three months to sell and we are feeling extrememly blessed. It's amazing to be rid of that burden, but so surreal at the same time. The finality of the sale hasn't kicked in yet. But the sense of relief has. And like I said, its a huge blessing. I love seeing the active hand of The Lord in our lives. 

As a celebration, Scott treated us to his favorite restaurant... Chuck-a-Rama! And snuck my phone for some pictures that are to cute not to share. 

Beckett was with me getting some food, so he missed out on the photo op. 

Now that we are rid of the Las Vegas home, we get to focus on our Idaho home. I have been stenciling our room for the past week and finally finished up the last corner up tonight. 

And Tayden couldn't stand not helping. He climbed up the first chance he got. 

Now, we are just waiting on our new KING mattress (finally!!) and platform frame to arrive. I'm so excited to have a nice grown up room. 

Scott also bought wood today to start the boys room downstairs. I am beyond excited!! Tayden and Beckett will move downstairs (in a couple months) then Kyle will move in with Cache and we'll bring the computer upstairs and have a computer/study room. I'm excited to make our house a little more functional for our family. And how blessed are we that we have a home that we can shift to make it fit our needs. 

I'm really excited about the upcoming changes. 

Things are working out and I couldn't be happier. 

Post in a Post

I've been meaning to blog about various things all week, but am just now getting the time to sit down and do it. So enjoy a smorgasbord of  our week.

Cache is transitioning out of naps. Some days are better than others. 

 He didn't quite make it through the afternoon errands this day.

Tayden is the best big brother.

And little brother Kyle absolutely adores him. 

 A reminder why I blog. 

As I am finishing up my 2012 blog book, I got out our old books to check out the covers and make sure I ordered the right one. The kids had a blast looking through the old books although Cache was bummed because he wasn't in any of the books yet, So he'll he pumped to get the next year in the mail. And it motivated me to keep blogging, so it was a win. 

 We make a homemade treat every Tuesday. The boys have come to love Treat Tuesday and look forward to it each week. This week I made s'more cookies and they were a hit. 

Especially with Cache...and his eye. 

 Wall stenciling. This is what is taking up any spare moment of my time. But it will be worth it.

Or so I keep telling myself.

 We were in desperate need of fresh air the other day. 

So, I bundled up my baby and got outside. Besides not being able to move, Kyle was one happy camper. 

 Valentine making party. 

I'm glad I have boys and can get away with plain envelopes and masking tape. Nothing to fancy over here.

It's been a good week!

Becketts Pants

There are a million and one cute things my kids say and stories they tell. I wish I could write everyone of them down and remember them all, but we all know thats not feasible. This one though, needs to be documented.

All of Becketts pants are hand me downs from Tayden. Beckett is hard on his pants, but Tayden was even harder. They have all been mended to the max and beyond repair. As B was getting ready for preschool this week, I told him to get dressed. Discouraged because of all his holey jeans, he gave up. I told him we would go shopping after school and get him some new pants, but to just wear a pair of Taydens for the time being. He agreed and I left the room as he proceeded to get dressed. Next thing I know there was a hoot and hollering coming from his room. He came running down the hall yelling, "Get them off! Get these pants off! I have girls peepee in this pants. Theses are too tight and I have a girl pee pee!!! Get them off!" Tayden, being tall and skinny prefers skinny jeans. Beckett, being bigger, does not. He put on Taydens pants and they were way to small in the waist and crotch and my Beckett boy did not care for them on bit. He felt like a girl. The minute the pants came off he said, "Phew. That's lots better. I don't want to look like a girl." I was cracking up.

Needless to say, we rushed after school and got him some less girly jeans.

Big Boy Stats

The big boys had their annual well checks today. They are healthy and growing. At seven years old, Tayden is 50 inches tall (80%) and 48.6 lbs (40%). Translation, tall and skinny.

At five year old Beckett is 45.5 inches tall (90%) and outweighs Tayden at 49.2 lbs (90%). Translation, a tank.

As always, the doctor was an adventure with Beckett. Pulling his long sleeve up to take his blood pressure wasn't working, so the nurse asked him to take his arm out of his shirt. He went crazy. No way did he want anyone to see him kind of naked. I finally convinced him to trade shirts with Tayden to get his blood pressure done. Luckily, Tayden does what he does and made it work. They promptly traded shirts again after it was done.

The shots were even worse. Beckett had to get his last set before Kindergarten and totally freaked out. I am normally pretty good at Beckett, but even I couldn't calm him down or get him to hold still. I finally had to hold him down. Like lay on him. He can throw his almost 50 lb self around pretty good and it was a like taming a wild lion. The only thing I could do was hold his arms and lay on him while the nurse grabbed his legs. His screaming was so loud the doctor came in and checked on us to see if there was anything he could do to help. By that point, we were done and the only thing left I could do was hug my terrified boy and do my best to comfort him. Glad to be done with vaccines until he is 11.

I had Cache in tow, so of course he chatted the doctors ear off. But my favorite comment was, "Hey Doctor. Jesus wants me for a sunbeam". We have the worlds best doctor and he replied, "You bet he does. I can guarantee it."

It was an eventful day, but we made it and they are healthy. So I'll call it a success.

Party Time

Today was the day. The day Tayden has been looking forward to all week. His friend party. And Beckett must have really wanted to started the day off with a bang. On his head. They were downstairs skating boarding and scootering. Beckett decided to take his helmet off and try to do the skateboard on his knees. It didn't go over so well and he biffed it pretty hard. 

He got scraped up good.

After that drama was over, we got to the fun part of the day. I relinquished as much control as I am capable of and let the boys help with Taydens cupcake tower. It turned out cute and Tayden was happy with the finished project. 

We sat around all day waiting until the magic hour of 2:00. Once it finally rolled around, kids started pouring in. Out of the wood works really. Turns out Tayden made a few of his own invitations and handed them out without my knowledge. We were expecting 5-6 kids. 10 showed up. Funny kid.

Sticking with the Star Wars theme, we had Jedi training for the kids. Here they are lined up waiting to tackle the balloon obstacle course. 

Once they were finished, we let them go crazy in the unfinished section of the basement. Sometimes I wonder it its more useful staying unfinished.

Scott was such a rock star today. He did the game, the light sabers for the kids and made goody bags to go home. He also made one awesome Darth Vader. 

The minute he walked in the kids started pounding him. It was hilarious. 

Tayden opening gifts with his side kicks. Warms my heart that in front of all his friends, he let Beckett and Cache be right there in the middle of it. He is such a good big brother. 

It was much harder than I anticipated getting a picture of the whole group.

All in all it was a successful day and the kids had fun.

I'm just glad this is an every other year event.