Grand Canyon Visit

Tax season ended... and we hit the road... 5pm on Tax Day. The boys were on spring break and so we headed to AZ for a visit. Of course traveling with these three boys was exhausting and a great time at the same time. Our first stop, after an overnight in Kanab, was the Grand Canyon.

It was huge and amazing, and we didn't even come close to loosing a child over the edge. So basically I felt like it was a successful stop. Wyatt was in heaven climbing rocks and trees, and walking on stone curbs along the paths.

 Finn was super happy as long as he got to walk and do whatever came to his mind. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible all the time, so he had some rough moments that included him screaming his head off in the hiking backpack and trying to rip out my hair at the same time. He drew a lot of attention to himself both with his cute smile and hiking excitement, as well as with his very loud yells of unhappiness.

 Caleb is the only one in our family who had been to the Grand Canyon before, and he was still sporting his super long hair.

 I love traveling the country with this crew, even though they can drive a person a little crazy now and then. They sure are cute, and usually both happy and funny.

 Little man at the Grand Canyon.

 So, I had been to the Grand Canyon once in my life, but I was too little to even remember, so I considered this my first time. It was gorgeous.

 These two are at the best age for exploring new places. They stayed safe and still got to climb around and have a great time.

 There was more than a slight obsession with these fat squirrels that seem to own the Grand Canyon.

 I love how much these boys love their dad. After they had been deprived of the his company for several months, Wyatt let me know that Dad was his favorite and that he did not want to be with him.

 Some day we hope to take all of the boys back to really experience the Grand Canyon, but for now we were happy to spend a few hour and enjoy the view.

Karate Lessons- Callor Dojo

A couple of month ago, Gavin and Henry got the idea in their heads that they wanted to learn karate. After looking up some martial arts gyms, I was thinking that was not an option at the moment. Then Henry remembered that one of our friend's teaches karate to his kids in his garage, so we asked them if we could join their Dojo. Luckily, they were as excited about it as my boys are, and they started taking lessons.

Both Gavin and Henry have really enjoyed it so far. Henry gets to do it with one of his best friends, so sometimes that makes him a little silly.

 Gavin does seem to take it a little more seriously that Henry.

Weirdo Wyatt

Wyatt is certainly the super crazy 3 year old these days. His favorite things to do lately are talk non-stop and play the Wii, or ask to play the Wii any chance he can get. The other day I overhead him talking to Henry in the basement.

W- Not many people know how to play the Wii as good as me.

H- Actually, a lot of people know how to play better than you.

W- No, I don't think so. You know who doesn't know how to play the Wii? Jesus.

H- Jesus might know how, it is hard to know if that is true.

W- I don't think Jesus knows how to play, but if he comes to Earth, I will teach him to play Wii with me.

H- um...

W- Yep, I would. Jesus should come to Earth so I can teach him to play weird.

H- You are so weird, Wyatt.

Gavin turns 9

Gavin turned 9! It is almost impossible to believe until you take a look at him, and suddenly he looks so grown up. Maybe it is the result of his haircut strike. 

He and his dad both look a bit shaggy these days, but they love it.

 For his birthday, Gavin also wanted to take a few friends to see a movie. We went to "Mr. Peabody and Sherman" in 3D. The kids all enjoyed it and enjoyed some tasty frozen yogurt after. 

Gavin brought some of his friends along, and really likes being able to talk about computer game gibberish and school and just act kind of old.

I also made all of the boys pose for a photo on Gavin's big day. They are all looking pretty handsome these days.

What happen in Vegas...

With Caleb busy slaving away for long hours every day at work, the boys and I took a long weekend to go bask in the warmth and sun of Las Vegas with the Turleys. It was a great time. Lots of relaxing and lots of parks and playing with cousins.

 Finn was so happy that he could yell "outside" and someone would let him out at any time. It was so fun for him. He also made me take him down a large twirly slide about 25 times at one park. He would just climb to the top and then stand there and wait for me to climb up to hold him on the way down.

 Wyatt loved getting to play with and walk his favorite Turley cousin, Chico.

 I even got to get in a couple of nice long and sunny runs while we were there. Even though one was super windy, it certainly beat the cold and dark I have been running in for month.

 The wind made these two look like crazy hair maniacs as they are still on their hair cutting strike.

 Me and Schatzy, basking in the sun. Right as we were posing for this picture, Finn was climbing up the playground behind us and fell down of the edge while we were fixing our wind blown hair. Since he was fine after a hug, we got a pretty good laugh at that "mother of the year" moment.

 Henry lost his first tooth while we were there. He was outside roasting marshmallows and eating smokes when it popped out.

 The older boys also learned to play some pickle ball. They enjoyed it quite a bit.

 Team Loose Cannons

 And just a couple of fun cousin shots. They had such a good time playing together and making a dirty mess in the backyard.

 I always love trying to get the whole group to pose. There is always at least one who just doesn't want to.

A quick visit to the Zoo

With a few Fridays in a row with no school, we found some time to get out and enjoy a slightly warmer bit of weather. We hit the zoo. It was great. We got to just sit and watch all the animals and enjoy the day before it turned cold again.

Henry's 7th Birthday

Henry had a great birthday! He requested french toast and bacon for breakfast, and then took some tasty cookies and cream candy bars to school to share with his class. He even got a break from homework that night, since there was a day off from school the next day.

 For his big celebration, he had the boys' most requested chocolate bundt cake with peanut butter glaze. He was of course a rock star on blowing out the candles. A few of his friends came over for some pizza and then we all headed out to the Lego Movie. We met up with some Cardon cousins and had a great time laughing our heads off late into the night.

Henry sure is a great kid at age 7. He is super funny and always very helpful. He is such a great blessing to our family and thinking back to the day he was born made he a bit nostalgic about how fast the time has gone.

Valentine's Day Fun

Valentine's this day was a bit of a frenzy for me, starting with a few days before when I found out that  both of the boys had been assigned to make their valentine boxes at home... and we had quite a few valentines to address and put together. They were very excited, and luckily didn't have any crazy ambitions about what the boxes had to look like. They turned out festive and fun.

 (Yes, he has his dad's eye closing issue... big smile, but eyes shut.)

When the actual day came around, I had plenty to accomplish, starting with running club early in the morning, and followed by a lot of grocery shopping that I had put off all week. I also thought I should try and squeeze in a run, so I loaded Wyatt and Finn in the double jogging stroller to run over to Target for the second store stop. It is about 1.5 miles each way and not too hilly, but wow! those two have gotten heavy. And then I added some groceries to the stroller and it was a serious workout. After all those stops I made it home around noon to get them lunch and Finn put down for a nap. I managed to shower and start baking cookies just as the older boys came home from school (early out day). They had a super great time, and a couple of friends came home with them, and they all went through their valentines.

Just as I started to get the pizza dough together to let it rise, I discovered that I had no yeast left in the house. So I loaded up all of the boys and headed to the store for the 3rd time to get yeast. Caleb finally made it home in time to start making pizzas and we soon discovered that we had no pizza sauce. It is safe to say that I was a bit stressed and worn out by this time in the day, as I headed to the store for the 4th time in a day. We finally got some heart shaped pizza and valentines on the table and enjoyed a great dinner.

 Our boys loved their lego key chains and treats for valentine's day.

Finn got a new puppy, and he was so excited. It was very cute to watch him keep hugging it and saying "hug, hug."

By the end of the night, I was a bit more relaxed after an exhausting day. I have realized that Valentine's Day seemed to take almost as much work as Halloween. It is definitely a fun and crazy time for school aged kids. I did at least get to pose for a photo with Caleb, and tho we aren't into giving Valentine's gift, we had to buy ourselves a new dryer that day because ours broke at the beginning of the week. Hoorah!