Our Mayan Adeventure

We ventured to Salt Lake today to find a bunk bed for the boys. We plan on having them share a room and bunk beds are the only way to go. We were passing the Mayan Restaurant and thought the boys would love to go there for lunch so we stopped in. I thought they would love it but I underestimated how much they would love it. Kade thought we were in the jungle where Diego lives and so he was so excited. While we were waiting for our food the lights suddenly changed and people appeared on the waterfall. One happened to resemble Diego(young, with dark shaggy hair) it was so perfect, and so Kade was SUPER excited because he got to even see Diego in the jungle. Then they dove and did flips into the water. Kade couldn't believe he was seeing this! It was so much fun. Darryl and I have been to the Mayan before

















but it was recently bought by a new owner and we both agreed it is much better now. The food, and the shows were great. They do a different dive show every 30 min. now. Before you were lucky if they had divers at all.

Stuck!

I'm in the other room and hear Kade shout, "Help I'm stuck!" I thought he must have his leg or arm stuck between something but I couldn't think of what. When I walked in I couldn't help but laugh at his predicament. He was trying to get down off the bench and his shirt caught on the bench leaving him hanging in the air. I admit I left him hanging for a second so I could grab the camera and get a shot of the funny sight.

A funny comment from Kade yesterday:
I took the boys to the park yesterday and then a short walk. It was a typical day playing at the park and an uneventful walk. After we arrived home Kade walked through door and said, "That was the best vacation ever!" You can see that we haven't raised the bar very high for him. I'm sure it was just he's so ecstatic to be outside it doesn't' matter what we do he's happy.

Oh Sunny Day!!!!

Fabulous! It was about 60 degrees today and the kids and I were extatic. They played in puddles left by the melting snow; making feet prints on the driveway and floating snow chunks down the gutter aka "river." With super great weather and super sweet boys I was a very happy girl!

Side Note: This time last year vs.

Now

Primary Talk!!!

Last Sunday Kade came home with a sticker proudly placed on his shirt that said, "Kade volunteered to give a talk in Primary next week." He was SO excited about it all week. He told everyone he talked to that he was giving a talk in church. I found this little picture in the Friend that I thought he could use and sure enough. I told him his talk was going to be about how he could help show his family love, he looked at the picture and immediately said, "I can sweep the floor, pick up my toys, make my bed, play checkers with my brother, make chocolate chip cookies with my mom, read a book with my sister [or brother : )], set the table, and sing a song." Okay done! The talk was written. Sunday came and he was SO excited and proud. He marched into the primary room, went immediately to the "Talk" chair, folded his little arms, and smiled broadly at everyone in the Primary Room. While he was giving his talk he would look at the Primary Presidency and say the line and then repeat it back into the microphone. It was the cutest thing ever! I wish I could just keep him little.

I {heart}. . .

Things I {heart} about Kade. . .

• He insists on giving me Eskimo kisses every night when I tuck him in.
• His favorite thing to do is play "sleepover." You pretend it's Christmas; decorate the tree, make cookies for Santa, and go to sleep. Then you take turns being Santa and bringing in toys to put under the tree while everyone is 'sleeping'.
• His slight dimple on his right cheek.
• He loves to make German Pancakes with his dad.
• He thinks Kamas Pool is the greatest place on Earth, and is so proud when he swims all by himself.
• He wants to slip-n-slide everyday.
• When referring to someone that is smart he says, "I'm almost going to cry, you're so smart." or if I say he is smart he says, "I'm almost making you cry, I'm so smart."
• He loves to sing and really puts emotion into what he sings.

Things I {heart} about Clint . . .

• All he could ever really want is to play "Docious"(Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious) on Granny's player piano.
• When we put him to bed he asks for us to sing "Docious" and then he says, "I do the pedals." He moves the blankets off of him and then lightly taps his toes.
• He could eat a yogurt anytime. (I remember I was that way too, even though we didn't have them very often.)
• He can only have his binki when he is in his bed so he tries to sneak it. He acted like he was reading a book and walked around with it covering his face. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "Hiding." When I pulled the book away from his face I discovered why; It was so he could suck his binki.
• He is always humming or singing a little song.
• He was playing/fighting with Kade and heard Clint hit Kade. I immediately turned around and asked a guilty looking Clint if he hit his brother. With a blank look on his face he said, "No. I was just playing Duck, Duck, Goose." Though he does love to play it I'm sure that wasn't what really happened.
• He is very independent and says, "I will do it," many, many times each day.

Valentines Day was nice. The boys (Darryl included) each brought me a box of candy and Darryl included a card. It was pretty sweet of them all. Kade was so excited about them bringing me candy-- I think he really was just excited about the possibility of him getting some of it. Later that day I kicked Valentines for Darryl and the boys. My mom sent her traditional sugar cookies to us, and a valentine card and candy for the boys, so I included all of that in the pile of Valentines on the porch. I rang the doorbell then ran back in the house and acted busy. The boys and Darryl ran up the stairs to get the door. They were so excited to see the loot on the porch. I asked Kade how he thought Grandma got her Valentines on our porch and he said, "I think maybe she's in the backyard; Let's go check." I told him that I thought cupid must have brought it for her. I remember as a kid my mom and dad kicking us a valentine every year. It always consisted of a card for each child and mom's sugar cookies. Fun traditions. Later that night we got a babysitter and Darryl and I went to dinner with some friends. It was such a fun night. Two of the gals were husband-less, but they talked like they were married so I don't know if they even missed their spouse. My favorite quote of the night was between them: One asks disgustedly, "You're getting salmon?" To which the other replies bluntly, "Look, if I'm going to be watching you eat a bloody cow all night you can deal with my fish."

Tubing Day

It was the annual Redmond Minerals day at Soldier Hollow. The boys were at an age this year that they really had fun. Clint like the ride up the hill but didn't care for the ride down. Kade on the other hand could have stayed all day, especially after lunch and his belly was happy.

He's 4!

Well his birthday finally came; He asked everyday, and I think he thought it would never come. With it being 4 year olds I decided to only invite a small number of kids, those whom he plays the most with. Kade is really into Cars and Diego so I combinded the two for the invitations since we hadn't planned the rest of the party and we didn't know what kind of party we'd do.Whenever Kade talks about










birthdays he always talks about a pinata, balloons, party hats, friends, birthday cake and ice cream. We covered his bedroom floor with balloon last night and so we were excited for his reaction in the morning; There was none. He didn't notice them because it was still dark so we went in later and he covered his mouth with excitement and stood there excited for quite a while. I can't get enough of seeing my kids so happy or excited. We had it all this year. This was the first year we've done a friend party. Darryl's parents had to come up for business and so it was fun to have them here for the day. Darryl also came home for the party and ran a few fabulous rounds of Dora, Dora, Diego (aka. Duck, Duck, Goose.) We played Piston Cup Red Light, Green Light; A Diego Animal Rescue where they searched for hidden cut outs of animals with their "Click" cameras(I found these perfect party favors at Walmart. You can see pictures of animals when you look in the camera. I think they were 4 for 98 cents!) The kids were so cute they walked around looking for the animals like tourist looking through their cameras and clicking like crazy. When it was time for the gifts we gave each child their gift and they all tore into them and proudly held them up when they had it unwrapped. It was so funny, however I felt bad because Kade didn't really get to thank each kid and see what was gifts were from whom. We learned for next time. Then it was off to the pinata. Rescue Pack turned into a pinata for Kade's party. He was pretty excited about that. I couldn't believe how long the pinata lasted. Each kid put a pretty nice hole in it but it didn't completely give all the candy until Darryl shook the stick a little. They all dove in and started collecting the candy in their little baggies then Garrett enthusiastically stood and held his bag up for all to see. He'd picked out all the bubbles and had no candy. We let him keep a majority of the bubbles since that is what he obviously wanted but we did trade out a few bubbles for candy so the other kids could have a bubble-- too funny.










I could only find Barbie party hats so I opted to make my own. I think they ended up looking like Dunce caps but Kade thought they were cool. Kade wanted cupcakes instead of a cake so I decorated some cupcakes with Diego fruit snacks. They all sang and Kade's little buddy Braxton helped him blow out the candles. Seven kids, all 4 and under, with cupcakes and ice cream-- turned out much less messy than I expected. It was a bit of a whirlwind but SO MUCH FUN! Kade was so sad that we had to take his friends home; I think he thought they would stay all day. : ( Unfortunately Granny and Grandpa had to leave too before the storm picked up. We spent the rest of the night playing with bombs(balls), trucks, glow sticks, block cars, spill the beans game, cookie game, builder book, and coloring with markers. He really wanted to do the finger paints too but that may have to wait until the grass is available. : ) It was such a great day for Kade.
I had to add the story behind the Pinata for future reference. I decided that a store bought pinata would be too hard for the kids to break so I decided to make my own. This was the beginning of a long road. The first mistake and the major mistake was that I blew up the balloon too much; It took me over and hour to do 1 layer. Then it had to dry for about 24 hours. Then repeat, repeat, repeat. I wanted to speed up the process so I turned a heater on in the room, well the heat made the balloon expand and warp and so it popped the layers I'd done. So I added a repairing step to the process. The pinata wasn't very sturdy so we added 2 layers of glue. Then 3 or 4 layers of paint, and a Diego Rescue Pack smiley face. Then reinforce the top with duct tape and insert and attach a hanger and Voila! you have a pinata. I'm sure I spent more money than one from the store would have cost and the time and mess surely wasn't worth $10. However to see the kids excitement when they would slam a hole in the pinata made it all worth it.

Ice Fishing

Click on the pictures to see Kade's cute expressions.
Kade's first ice fishing trip. I didn't think Kade could be any more excited than he was when he was headed fishing with his dad. Then he came home from fishing and was even more excited. He'd caught a fish, he'd rode on a snowmobile, and he'd won his very own tackle box. His tackle box is his pride and joy. He says it is so special. Thanks Glen for making his day so amazing!

Who knew

Note: This is more of a journal entry so I can remember how I felt and what was going on in life-- pretty depressing.

Well this week has been full of shock for me. First, I heard that the local grocery store laid-off 30 people. The next day I find out that everyone I work with lost their jobs too. They planned on shutting down the college; they've since reconsidered that and decided to offer classes but have no staff. We're talking about a couple without jobs, a single mom, people that have worked there for over 20 years, etc. Oh, my heart is just breaking for them. There are some that transferred up from the main campus only to have it blow up on them. I just feel so relieved that Darryl has job, but at the same time I feel so scared that it all could go away in a flash; just like it did for those I work with. I wish I new what it is going to take to fix this economy.
Then yesterday we found out that a guy that was like Darryl's Siamese twin was caught spying on and filming young girls dressing. It sounds so cliche to say it but seriously this guy is just not the type of guy that would do something like this. To make matters worse he was a school teacher and had a cute family of his own. I think the most of Darryl's time spent in Cedar City was with this guy. He taught Darryl how to paragliding so we spent many days at the golf course flying. We also spent many nights together hanging out, and playing games. We did our spooky dinner with them every Halloween. I just can't imagine what they're going through.

My heart is just aching for everyone lately.
I guess you just never know about life or people.