Camping

I love the outdoors. I love spending time with people I love. I love sitting around a campfire. I love being technology-free. I love hiking. I love fresh air. I hate the sleeping. I don't sleep well when I camp because I worry too much about whether or not the kids are warm enough, creatures, etc. The kids love to camp, and we have made some great memories while camping, so that outweighs a sleepless night here and there. A few weeks ago, my sister-in-law Laura planned a great camping trip close to home. It was so fun!

A panoramic view of the campsite:

Friday night was filled with practicing somersaults,
keeping a soccer ball in the air,
playing frisbee,
cuddling with grandmas (can you believe these two are grandmas?)
visiting,

playing Duck Duck Goose,
playing cards,
singing "Happy Birthday" to my boys (Sean's was Friday, Warren's was Saturday)
eating s'mores,
singing by the campfire (accompanied by Mark on guitar),
and hearing childhood stories from Grandpa. A few favorites included: Grandpa being attacked by a baboon, his provincial boxing championship (step aside, Rocky), his pranks while working at the pharmacy, his (brief) attempt at a mo-hawk, his life changing moment that decided his career, and many others. It was so great to hear these stories and reminded me again how important it is to share our history with our loved ones.

After a super restful sleep (or not so much), Saturday morning brought:

breakfast,

awesome bedheads,
fun on the zip line,
enjoying mountain air,
canoeing,

interacting with the wildlife,
splashing in the water,
cuddling with cousins,
posing Napoleon Dynamite style,
and lunch. We went home exhausted, covered in dirt and happy. I will leave you with my very favorite photo of the trip. I think this one will be framed:
(have I told you how much I love his eyebrows? Well, I do. A lot.)

Words I thought I would never hear or speak

This morning as I was washing dishes I heard this genuine complaint from David...

"Mom, Warren won't share his fart with me!"

I responded how any mother would with...

"Warren, please share your fart with your brother."

(In this particular case: fart=whoopee cushion)

It's Birthday Time For (both of ) You!

Every time the boys' birthdays roll around I try to make things as even as possible. They almost share a birthday, so I always want to make sure they each feel celebrated fully. This year was a birthday party year for them and we were toying with the idea of having separate parties. The tricky part is that they both play with the same people a lot of the time, and it would be difficult to decide who to invite to which party. So...double birthday party again!

The party was the week after their birthdays, so we tried to do at least a little celebrating on each of their birthdays. First up was Sean.Eating the whipped cream from the crepe breakfast...

And...his beloved gift. We didn't have to wonder (at all) what his heart desired for his birthday.
The evening of Sean's birthday we went on a camping trip with my family (a post of its own), and the birthday fun continued the next day for Warren's birthday. When we got home from camping it was time for Warren's family celebration. He opened his gift...then we went to dinner and rounded out the evening with an Orem Owls game.
(before I go on, I just need to say a little about that tiny little tuft of hair on my forehead. That is supposed to be "new growth" that was growing in from when I lost hair with my pregnancy with Brig. He's now a year old and bless that little tuft's heart, it's still working on growing. You have no idea the amount of time that goes into trying to position it so it doesn't stick straight out or up or down. It's a real treat.)

Anyway, there wasn't too much game watching during the game. The little kids were more interested in playing on the playground which meant that either Darin or I was watching them. The older kids did enjoy the game, but we really went this time to enjoy the fireworks. I had bought glow sticks earlier and handed them out just as the lights went out. We all got cozy and the fireworks started. It was truly magical. I had one of those "Mommy moments" lying there on the blanket with my whole family, enjoying the night air, the fireworks and the music. It was perfect. The moment happened during "When You Wish Upon a Star". I started to get a little teary. The moment ended soon after it began when one child was crying because a piece of a firework got in his eye and a different child called a foul on a sibling (improper use of glow stick). The moment was long enough for me. Even writing about it makes the feeling come right back.

I was grateful that we had a few days to prepare for the birthday party (it was on Wednesday of the following week). The boys decided on Nickel City this year. We had a bunch of bandannas left over from the Pioneer Trek, so I made them into little pouches that the kids could use to hold their coins, tickets and treasures (knowing that as one of few adults at the party I would get put on "can you hold this?" duty. I hoped to alleviate that by providing their very own holder).

Sean requested a Pokeball cake and Warren requested handcarts (his birthday is on Pioneer Day and pioneers were fresh in his memory because we had just returned from Trek).

Sean's cake looked much better before it had to make it all the way across town in a moving vehicle. It's a little droopy and a lot squished but Sean was thrilled. (and that's what really counts, right?)
The kids had a blast running around spending their nickels to their heart's content.
After all the nickels were gone we gathered the kids to sing "Happy Birthday" and open presents.
I felt bad for the moms who came to get the kids. The kids were all taking a long time trying to decide on their treasures from the ticket redemption desk. It is a very important decision; one that can't be rushed. I should have taken that into account when planning the timing of the party.

Seven and Nine are suiting the boys quite nicely. Happy Birthday, Boys!

Treasure Hunters

Earlier this week we headed out to do some Geo caching with cousins. We started out the day with 5 sets of coordinates. Our first stop was at a park. We never found the cache, so we let the kids play on the playground for a little while.

Caches two and three were on very busy roads. We had 9 kids with us. We tried. We failed. Cache four we (the adults) were more determined than ever to find the dang thing. We hiked around in ankle high scratchy weeds while the kids waited in the comfort of the car. I think it may have been anti-climactic for the kids, but eventually we did find the cache (Darin was the lucky winner) and called the kids over from the car to choose their treasures. We gave a slight attempt at cache #5, but decided we had had enough treasure seeking for the day.

Kamryn, Coleman, David, Sean, Warren, Aunt Jodi, Darin

Jodi chose coordinates that were close to the Bingham Canyon Mine so we could stop by after geo caching. It was free admission that day (bonus). We stopped in long enough to snap a few photos, let the kids look through the binoculars (a childhood dream of Darin's) and spend our money in the gift shop. The boys each got a pocket knife and Liv chose a necklace with a miniature penny charm.

David and Warren


The ginormous tire

At this point we parted ways and our family went to dinner, then rented College Road Trip. It is a family favorite. We are determined to become much less amateur-ish when it comes to geo caching. Practice makes perfect, right?

Give me Five!

As I was browsing through my photos, I found this video. It's a family favorite. (I was teaching pre-school at the time, so that's why my front room looks like a pre-school!) Warren is not quite three in this video.