Easter Weekend 2009

For Easter 2009 we went to Salt Lake City for the weekend. Gavyn had to have his yearly check up at Primary Children's Hospital so we decided to make it a full weekend of fun. We could have just stayed in the hotel the whole time and the kids would have been just as happy! We spent every day playing and then went back to the hotel to play in the pool every night. The kids love it. Here are the many pictures from the trip.

Our first stop was to Cabella's. We LOVE Cabella's and the kids love looking at all the exhibits.

Then, we went to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. Bryce is my dinosaur boy so this was his favorite.

Then we went to Boondocks for some food, miniature golf, batting cages, and games. This is us miniature golfing. It had the cutest course.

And this was Bryce when it was time to leave. He was not impressed. (I am so one of those mom's who when a child is hurt or crying makes sure they are going to live and then grabs the camera to document it!) Yes, he is hiding underneath the table.

Since they were all exhausted we then made our way over to IKEA - the greatest store on earth! Curtis and I LOVE shopping there. The kids know that once we walk in the doors it will be a while before we leave.

Luckily, Gavyn fell asleep pretty quick. Bryce eventually fell asleep too with Gavyn laying across his lap and he on top of Gavyn. The camera was underneath them or I would have had a picture of that too!

And then there was food! This perked everyone right up again. My boys definately need their food.

On Saturday morning we had an Easter egg hunt for the kids in the hotel room. Curtis took them out in the hallway for a walk and when they came back the room was covered with eggs.

These pictures are somewhat out of order from this point on. . . oh'well. We hit the Children's Museum and let the kids play for a while. Curtis and I love this museum as much as the kids do!

We were there early so this is Bryce and Gavyn trying to open the gate while Cayden takes a rest.

The helicopter on the room is always a favorite!

Cayden reporting the news.

This kept all four of my boys occupied for quite some time. You put the cupcake holders in and watch them fly around.

And, this was my masterpiece! Bryce helped build the ball in the background.

Earthquake time!

We went to the Pioneer Park for a huge Easter egg hunt that was going on and the boys got to meet the Easter bunny.

We also went to Temple Square and went on a tour of the all the buildings.

Here we are at the conference center.

And this is from the roof of the conference center.

These were my favorite two statues!

A father holding his son.

The Tree of Life.

Overall we had a great time and went home happy and exhausted. We can't wait to do it again next year!

Just Gavyn

Need I say more?

Cayden's 2009 Science Fair Project

Cayden's poster he designed all by himself. I think he did a great job!

The materials needed


Step 1 - pour in water

Step 2- pour in oil

Step 3 - drop in food coloring

MIX

Conclusion: The water is dyed red, yet the oil is not

TA-DAH!

Gavyn-isms

I found this video of Gavyn and it shows his personality perfectly. He is such a spitfire and he is always trying to make people laugh. Gavyn says the cutest things and I thought I would write a few down to remember.

He always asks to take a bathtub, never a bath.

When Gavyn gets hurt he asks for an ow-ee (I have no idea how to spell that so think phonetically) instead of a bandaid.

Gavyn tells everyone about our new catch-grasser for the lawn mower, as apposed to the grass catcher.

All cereal is called cheerios and if that is not what he really wants it is a guessing game. I have tried multiple times to correct him on this one, but I think it is all a joke to him.

He calls his grandpa numerous things including, but not limited to...grandpa, grandpy, grumpy, gramps, pops....you get the idea.

When he got his immunizations he complained that his needles hurt.

Gavyn pleuralizes everything. When he's sad he says it hurtses. He asks for treatses. The other night he prayed that we could all be friendses with each others.

I love listening to this little boy talk, which is a good thing because he never stops!

First Day Of School

I am not a mother who loves when her kids go to school. I love having my boys home and being able to hang out and play with them all day long. I love being able to teach them new things and take them to fun places. I love being able to snuggle them in the mornings while reading books together. I just love spending time with them.




We have met the teachers and we love them both. I know the boys are in good hands. They love school and that helps. Cayden and Bryce were both up at 5:30 am dressed and ready to go. It was nice because we got to snuggle together and read until there bus came.





At least I still have Gavyn home for a couple of more weeks before he starts Preschool. I am going to miss them, but I have to admit it will be nice to be back to our normal schedule.





Here are some pictures of my handsome boys this morning.

GOOD LUCK BOYS AND HAVE A GREAT FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

A very long post!

I was doing so good on my catching up and then one evening I got a big blog post ready, hit publish post, and the entire thing was lost. So, I get frustrated and stopped posting for a bit. So here we go with the updating ... again! I think I might just do a whole bunch of posts tonight to get it done so I can be up-to-date again. I feel like there is so much going on that I want to post, but I can't because I am too far behind. So I am going to finish out posting on everything from 2008 so I can start on 2009. First, I have to tell about one thing...

Last week Cayden had to have four teeth pulled out. He was a trooper and one tough little guy. It took us two hours to get the bleeding to stop and after that he was back to his normal happy energetic self. The next morning he came in to tell me he had received the $5.00 from the easter bunny and he wanted to tell me thank you. (Cayden learned about the Easter Bunny in kindergarten after reading a book about fairies that said they were make believe... go figure). Anyway, he also told me that he felt he had received too much money so he put half of it in our disneyland money bucket. He said since he is the oldest he felt it was his responsibility to raise the most money and he asked me to please not sneak him back the money. Can I just say I love this kid. He has got the kindest heart and I am such a lucky mom to have him!

Okay, now I will do a catch up. The day after Christmas last year Bryce and Gavyn both had to go have their tonsils and adenoids out and get tubes put in their ears. Here are some pictures from the day.

This is before the surgery in the waiting room. We had to be there by 6 am so the boys were pretty tired.

Here they are practicing their breathing. Bryce loved it. Gavyn was not so sure.

Gavyn went back to surgery first. He was nervous, but he did really well.

Bryce was bored so he kept himself occupied by doing back bends on the bed.

This is daddy and grandpa while they were back in surgery.

I couldn't take pictures afterwards because both Curtis and I were in lay back chairs holding the boys. I had Bryce and Curtis had Gavyn. G-man came out of the surgery really well. Within a day he felt great. He still was having a hard time sleeping through the night because his throat would get dry. That went on for about two weeks.

Bryce on the other hand had a horrible time recovering. He had a bad reaction to the meds and was constantly throwing up. His poor little throat was so raw. He lost more weight than he should have and he just looked terrible. It took him about two weeks just to get over the pain from the surgery. He spent his entire Christmas vacation in bed playing DS and watching movies. Good thing we pampered him maybe too much to make up for it.

This was the morning after the first night both boys slept through the night again. I was so excited I made us get pictures right after we got out of bed. You can see in this picture how tiny Bryce got.

And here the boys are with momma. I love these little guys so much!

A couple of weeks later when we were having a family home evening we decided to make home made mini pizza's. The boys loved making their own pizza's.

Here they are enjoying their work. Or at least pretending to.

This is another night of just having fun with the camera. Apparently I did not want Curtis in this picture. :)

One last thing happened in 2008. On December 30 my man turned 31. Curtis is an absolutely amazing person and I feel lucky every day to have him by my side for time and all eternity. We have been through a lot together and I am grateful for every trial we have had because it has brought us closer together each time. Here are 31 things about the love of my life in no order whatsoever.

1. His favorite food is stroganoff.
2. His favorite color is black.
3. His favorite chore is mowing the lawn. He is very meticulous about our yard and always wants it looking good.

4. Curtis was recognized as the best goalie in the state when he was a sophomore in high school.
5. He took dance and ballet to better his coordination when he was younger.
6. Curtis is a very good swimmer, but he hates to swim.
7. He is not a fan of camping either.
8. Curtis loves to go for rides in the car just to relax.
9. He is a very good cleaner.
10. Curtis likes to clean when he feels frustrated.
11. He has one sibling, his sister Christine.
12. He went on a mission to Carlsbad, California.
13. When Curtis was on his mission he left the first week in January and came home two days before Christmas so he only missed one Christmas.
14. Curtis loves riding his bike with the little boys.
15. Curtis loves kids and kids always tend to gravitate towards him.
16. He is a big kid at heart…which probably explains the item above.
17. He is amazing at recalling scriptures and can tell you any story mentioned in them.
18. Curtis loves to serve others and is always ready and willing when he is called.
19. He loves having little boys to wrestle and rough house with.
20. Curtis is an amazing daddy.
21. Curtis used to be a gymnastics spotter.

22. He also loves being able to buy our homes unfinished and finishing them with his own hands.
23. Curtis loves watching movies and his idea of a perfect date is dinner and a movie.
24. Curtis is very good at writing poetry. He wrote a poem about the Holy Ghost and read it at his missionary farewell. This is a talent he keeps hidden most of the time.
25. The one item Curtis cannot wait to purchase is a pool table.
26. Whenever Curtis gets hurt (ex. Almost cutting his finger off two different times) he heals strangely fast. The first time it took two days after the ER visit and there was not even a scar left. The second time it took a week to heal completely, but that was after his chemo and them telling him it would affect his healing time.
27. Curtis is a cancer survivor of 2.5 years.
28. Curtis is a very organized person. He always knows where everything is.
29. He is also a romantic. This is also something he likes to keep hidden. Sorry hon, the secret is out!
30. Curtis loves playing just about any sport from basketball to golf to racquetball to croquet. I think the only sport he does not like is swimming.
31. Curtis is the best husband a girl could ever ask for!

I love you babe and am so grateful for everything you do for me and the boys. Thank you for being such a good example to me and to them. I hope our boys grow up to be just like their daddy!