Pinewood Derby 2015

This year's Pinewood Derby found us with 2 kids and 2 cars entered into the races. We have finally figured out a few tricks for these things and had a pretty good showing. It is always fun to see what the different boys do with their cars.

Gavin always aims for a fancy paint job, and he even looked up some tips online for this years car.

Henry's Mustache Car. Complete with neon paint job.

Gavin actually did pretty well for his 3rd and final derby. He managed to make it into the top 3 racers. He was pretty happy. A large improvement from the first car that barely moved. 

All of the pack and their awards and prizes. A great group and a great race.

Post Tax Day Fun

A few of us were so excited to have Caleb home for an entire day now that tax season is over. We decided to go on a little spring lunch and stroll through the beautiful flowers at Temple Square.

It was Wyatt's first time at Blue Lemon and he is now officially a food snob, and loved his fancy mac and cheese.

 Two Buddies who really love each other, most of the time.

 Such a beautiful place to be.

Being 10.

It has been such an amazing thing to have a 10 year old. Suddenly Gavin is excited to do things like learn to mow the lawn and even pull his little brother on the bike trailer. Totally awesome for his parents. Let's hope this trend continues.

Spring Break with Cousins Part 2

The middle of our spring break week was filled with a snowy day, so we headed indoor to watch "Paddington" the movie. The older kids loved it, the smallest boys didn't do as well, but we all made it out alive. Wyatt and Jaren just wanted the food.

 After the movie we headed to the indoor pool at the rec center for a swim. We went in with giant snowflakes falling on our heads and left because someone, who wasn't any of us, pooped in the pool right before it was about to close. Makes for an adventure for sure.

 We spent the last day of the break, and by far the nicest day in terms of weather out hiking. We tried a new location in Corner Canyon, and it was great for the kids and nice to check out some new scenery. Finn was the only one that wasn't so great at hiking on this round. I had to carry him for about 3/4 of the hike, which wasn't the best, but we all survive.

 There was a beautiful view of the Draper Temple and the valley from the trail... and Finn chose not to take part in this photo.

 Lots of nice bridges along the way.

 We even stood on one for our snacks since we were a bit worried about all the signs saying there was poison ivy off the trail.

 We enjoyed a great picnic lunch at a park with our take out from Cubby's after all of the strenuous hiking. It was a great day and a great week.

Cardon Cousin Spring Break Part 1

We lucked out this year in one way... Even though Caleb couldn't be around with us at all for spring break, which forces me to decide to stay in town, we did have the same spring break as the other Cardon cousins who were also father/husbandless for the week. We ended up having a great time together all week and some very successful adventures. Just enough to keep the kids, and their mothers happy.

Our first stop was the zoo. It was a cool day, still great to be outside roaming and checking out the joys of the zoo. 

 Plenty of stopping to pose for photos and checking out all our favorite animals, including the new baby orangutan. 

 It was chilly by the time we ended our day there, but we had promised them all ice cream and they were determined to have it.

 After the zoo, Stacy was the awesome host of my 3 oldest boys for a sleepover at her house. They were beyond excited and had a great time, and were even tired enough from all the zoo action that everyone got some sleep.

Our second day together we decided to take a hike, even though things were still a bit chilly, it wasn't raining. We headed to Bells Canyon and followed the trails to the lower reservoir. All of our hikers did really well, and the older kids were very helpful at leading the way and helping the younger. 

 After we made it the top, we decided to hike around the reservoir, which got us a little lost, but no one minded the exploring. It offered even more rocks to climb as well and some nice scenic trails.

 Finn went through his daily grumpy streak on the hike, but at least he wasn't pulling my hair while listing all of the things that he hated at that moment.

Easter Egg Hunting

We had a wonderful and relaxing Easter staying at home watching General Conference and cooking. We then loaded up and headed down to Nathan and Stacy's for an Easter egg hunt and a tasty dinner. The kids had a great time searching out all of the many many eggs that Stacy and I had filled for them. It was a beautiful and windy day. 

 And there was plenty of crazy fun on the trampoline for all these wild kids.

Preschooler Tidbits

The other day Wyatt asked Finn if he had lots of money to buy anything he wanted, what would he buy? Finn thought about it and said, "Ummmm... Poptarts."

Finn also loves to play with toys that he pretends are crashing or fighting, and recently he has started shouting out "Whoa Dam!" As he makes his toys crash. Gavin has tried to correct him several times by pointing out that he actually means "WoBam!" but he doesn't seem to be convinced.

 Wyatt has become quite the little singer lately. He can often be heard wandering around the house or in the shower singing at the top of his lungs. His favorite tune used to annoy his older brothers is "Jingle Bells", and his second favorite it probably "Flag of America," a song he learned at preschool. He definetely seems to be taking after his Vatti with his ability to burst into song at a moments notice.

Our first pets

After years and months and weeks of begging me to get a pet, I finally conceded and let the boys get their very first pet. After some basic research on small birds, we decided that a parakeet was the right choice for us. Then after I got to the pet store to buy all of the supplies and the bird itself, I saw how happy they were in a big group playing around, so I ended up getting two.

Wyatt and Finn helped me pick them out to get everything ready to surprise the older boys when they got out of school for spring break. They were quite excited for the surprise.

 We thought different colors would be nice and learned in the first weekend that we got a male and a female. The yellow, Woodstock, is the female and definetely has a more harsh personality. The blue, Jumpy, is the male and very jumpy by the most easily tamed.

 We have so far really enjoyed having them and working together to take care of them and try to train them to be hand held and interact with us in this house of wild animals. I especially appreciate their little songs.