Wild Wild West

We headed out for a fun day in Virginia City (the cowboy town), and had a great time! We finally got one of the cheesy "Old West" pictures done, and it was so cute to dress up our little cowboys and give them guns...

We went on a train ride first, and the boys were in HEAVEN!

I was amazed by this view: the white capped mountains in the distance are the ones that are right outside our front window of our house! In Virginia City we were nearly an hour away, so I was shocked that we could still see them- and that they were still the most spectacular mountains in the scenery!

The Suicide Table is approriately named, because there are stories of three different men who committed suicide after games at this 'cursed' poker table.

So many old time mining equipment and buildings are left all over the place. It's really amazing to see, and hear all the stories of the city that used to thrive there.


(Above): We went to a cowboy show. with lots of fake gun shots! Sawyer was into it, but Hunter wasn't very amused. The only thing he really did was yell "No no no!" at the bad cowboy, and then wander around bored.

Joy School

Since January, Sawyer has been doing a small 'joy school' class once a week with other pre-k boys we know. Our very simple version of 'joy school' is having a 1.5 hour class & play time doing simple preschool style activities. We rotate between moms/homes each Wednesday, and they always have a great time! I've never been interested in sending my kids off to preschool since I'm already lucky enough to be able to stay home with them, but this has been fun socially to get together with a few other boys his age. I've also enjoyed the 'teaching' experience, seeing them so excited over experiments we do together, or watching my wedding ring splatter rainbows onto the wall. :)

Favorite Parenting Tip:

I can't remember where I initially heard this tip, but I started doing it a year ago, and it's so genious & simple I just had to share & make sure my parent buddies know:

TOY TRADE OUT!

*Do you get sick of your kids getting out every single toy, every day? What a mess!!!

*Do your kids get bored with some of their toys, so you feel a slight pressure to get them new things sometimes?

This solves all those problems.

Here's how you make it work:
1. Get out a bin or two (or three)

2. Fill them with toys that your children are currently not playing with very much, while they're not looking! **If you try and do this while they're watching, they'll suddenly have an extreme interest in playing with the item they see you packing away, and squeal and cry for it like you're taking away their teddy bear**

3. Put the bins away somewhere convenient: closet, garage, basement, etc.

4. Clean and rearrange the kids' room/playroom, now that you have so much extra space (and if you want to throw them off on anything missing).

************let 4-6 months go by****************

5. On a day when they seem particularly bored around the house, pull out one of the bins, and yell something like "Christmas morning!" as you excitedly open the bin in the middle of the room for them.

6. Watch as your kids sqeal in DELIGHT, pulling out all the things they'd forgotten about, and suddenly have an enormous interest in, as though it's a brand new toy.

7. While they're playing with the 'new' toys, select other toys to rotate out to fill the bin you just emptied, and tuck it away for another 4-6 months.

8. Enjoy the money you save by never having to buy any toys for your kids- just let Grandmas & Grandpas and birthdays/Christmas take care of it for you.

I think one of my favorite parts of this, is that I don't feel pressure to give away toys to Goodwill just because we have too many. Before, I'd wonder "well, we'll have more kids someday who'd want to play with these..." and be sad to give them away. This solves that problem. I actually just keep a 'baby toy bin', now that Hunter's outgrown them.

**Last Tip: Never pack away a toy that would be too obviously gone- as in, one that they really DO play with every day. For us, this means their wooden train set, that is the highlight of most days & what kids always play with the most when they come over**

Mother's Day!

Look what Sawyer invented! He and Joe went to a florist to pick up a corsage (they usually do this, for me to wear to church Sunday morning), and Sawyer asked if they could make flowers for my hair instead. The florist hadn't done anything like that before, but said they'd figure it out. Here's what they made (and I LOVE them!):

Now, Mother's Day didn't work out quite like I'd pictured. I'd been developing an awful cough & sore throat, and Saturday night Hunter threw up! So he and I ended up staying home from church sick. I was soooo bummed when Sawyer & Joe showed me my flowers I was meant to wear that day, since I didn't go. So I still threw on a skirt and put the flowers in my hair for the rest of the day at home. :)

Joe cooked the BEST thing he's EVER cooked before! This is usually the only day of the year he cooks, so I was really looking forward to what he'd planned. He NAILED it!

Then he and Sawyer made my favorite cake: Rainbow Chip!

Sawyer really IS happy, just being silly...

Thank you to my awesome, handsome, wonderful boys! This was better than my birthday! :)

Utah Weekend!

We just had a spectacular weekend visiting friends and family in Utah! It's been 6 years since we moved out of state (hard to believe- but I guess not really, since we've lived in 5 different states since then)!

Some of our very favorite people in the whole world are Dave & Emily. Emily is Joe's cousin, and Dave was Joe's best friend and roommate in college. Dave and Emily just happened to meet and end up getting married. We all used to hang out back in our Utah days (and several visits since then), so it was a no brainer that we'd have to meet up again while we lived this close to them (Dave is back at BYU getting an MBA). We all stayed together in a GORGEOUS vacation home in Deer Valley (by Park City) for the weekend, along with our other cousins Lauren (Emily's little sister) & Andrew (her husband).

I tried to capture the huge amounts of snow out that window:

Sawyer and Grace were basically inseparable! I love seeing little cousins so happy together. And of course, the kiddos loooooooved the hot tub!

When leaving on Monday, we swung through Provo to see Joe's sisters Kelsey & Ruth, and walk around BYU campus for old time's sake. We only spend a few hours with them, but it was totally worth it! Then climbed back into the car for our 9.5 hour drive home. Spectacular weekend!

Simple Easter

G.E. put on a family Easter activity that we really enjoyed. Instead of an easter egg hunt filled with candy, they took a healthy approach and just had age appropriate little toys scattered all over the lawns. Here's Hunter waiting for the starting buzzer for his section:

At home on the Saturday before Easter, we had the boys hunt for their Easter baskets, and an indoor egg hunt (it was rainy and cold). We dyed eggs with Sawyer while Hunter napped (maybe we'll let him try next year- but I get frustrated enough at him spilling milk & water at every meal, to allow him around big hot cups of permanent food dyes).

On Sunday we attended church where I sang in the choir, and then came home and prepared a simple traditional meal for us. This is the second year where we've made a point to keep all the chocolate/egg stuff on Saturday (or earlier), and then keep Sunday spiritual. It's brought a much more wonderful Spirit to Easter Day, and lets us have that extra time to teach our children the real meaning, instead of it being lost in the candy (but without taking away the springtime fun). I'd recommend it! :)