Riding the Rails

We have a train-obsessed child. He's always talking about, playing with, listening for trains. His favorite shows involve trains (Thomas, Polar Express, etc.) Every Sunday night, when we have family council, and Jared asks the kids if they have anything to add to our discussion, Hayden's reply is, "When are we going to ride a train?" One night, Jared's answer to him was "How about a couple of Saturdays from now?" We were all surprised, since we usually just say "Oh... someday." You should have seen his face. His eyes LIT UP, and he got the biggest grin. Then for the next couple of weeks (every day) I heard, "Are we going on a train today?" It just couldn't come quickly enough. Well, the day FINALLY arrived, and we headed up to the Sandy Trax Station, bought some tickets, and headed up to the city. Hayden just stared out the window the entire time... just soaking it all in! We ended up getting off at the old Union Pacific train station in Salt Lake. We went inside for a little bit. The kids thought it was pretty cool... seeing where people used to buy tickets... the murals and stained glass windows. It was neat. The benches are all gone now, but the kids had fun running around the huge room. Then we went out into the Gateway for a little bit and walked around, then got back on Trax and headed over to Temple Square for a while. We had a great time (and it must have been exhausting, because Bryson fell asleep on the ride back!)

Computers!!! Arrrrrgggghhhh!!!

We have recently decided that we are in the market for a new computer. This one of ours... while it's done it's job (sometimes), it's just not doing it anymore. We have GREATLY outgrown it, and I often experience "computer rage" while waiting for it to respond. It has progressively gotten worse over the last couple of weeks, as I've been trying to get some fun pictures loaded on to blog about... and it's literally taking F O R E V E R!!! I don't mean to complain... really I don't... wait, yes I do. I've had it. I really have. Sorry old computer, but you've GOT TO GO. I won't even tell you the specs on this old computer of ours. It's too embarrassing. Anyway... one of these days I really will blog about our fun trip to SLC on Trax last week, and soccer games that the kids have been playing, and our little dog who had a makeover. Really, I will. Meanwhile... if you have a great suggestion for a new computer, send it my way! :)

Easter Sunday

Well, the Easter Bunny made it to our house, bringing candy, books, and new scriptures for the kids. They were also excited to find that he had hidden eggs for them to hunt for. After they found all the eggs, they took turns hiding them for eachother to find. It was cute. I remember doing that with my sisters as a kid! A little bit later, they got dressed in their new Easter clothes, and I made them go outside in the chilly wind to take some QUICK pictures. Hayden was a little less cooperative than the others, but who can blame him? He was busy getting chocolate on his sleeves and grass stains on his new church pants. After church, we headed to my parents for Easter dinner - ham, potatoes, salad... and yummy cake! We had a great Easter. The best part is remembering the true reason we celebrate Easter... the Savior.

Colored Eggs

Before and After!

I always loved coloring Easter eggs as a kid. It's such a fun tradition. Our kids LOVE it! They took turns using each color and got a little messy, but they had a great time. After the eggs were all done, we headed over to my parents' house for lunch and a little Easter Egg Hunt. I remember having an egg hunt every year, either in my Grandpa Grace's backyard, or wherever Grandma and Grandpa may have been camping. We always ended up with a basket full! Our kids love it just as much. We had to have it indoors this year, so it was smaller scale, but still fun. The kids each had a type of egg they had to find, so they all ended up with a couple of eggs with money in them, and a few with candy. The candy was probably gone before we even left to go home!

Here's a slideshow of our egg coloring adventures.

Preschool Field Trip

Last Thursday we went on a preschool field trip to the Bean Museum at BYU. If you've never been there, it's a museum filled with animal displays. It's really cool. I remember my parents taking us there as kids. It's fun to have my nephew, Justice, in Hayden's class, because we got to ride over with them and hang out with them. We got there just in time to see the reptile show. The kids thought it was fun to see snakes and turtles. After that, we headed outside for a quick snack, then went back in to look around. Hayden and Justice just ran from display to display looking for buttons to push. They looked briefly at a few animals, but then they'd be off running again. Good thing my little twin nephews, Talon and Cardon, were good to hang out in their stroller with Jana and I chasing the other two. I think we made it through the entire museum in about 10 minutes! We decided to just leave since the two 3-yr-olds were wearing us out! We had a good time, though.

Toothless!

Bryson has had a little loose tooth for MONTHS... it just wasn't getting any looser, and he was getting frustrated. Monday night it started really loosening up, and at dinner he bit down quite hard on his taco resulting in a little bit of blood. It still wasn't quite ready to come out, but I told him it wouldn't be long. Fast forward to Tuesday morning. He walked over to me and said "Look mom. I can feel underneath my tooth!" He was wiggling it with his tongue and could actually get his tongue under it. We went upstairs to the bathroom and I touched it to see how loose it was, and with just a little pull it was OUT! No blood... no pain... nothing! He was SO EXCITED!! We made a little "Tooth Fairy Box" that night and put it in the window beside his bed. He was thrilled the next morning to find a golden dollar in the box! We were pretty surprised. The Tooth Fairy is usually pretty flaky when it comes to our house. Sometimes it takes her a week to show up. She must have been written up at work, because she is definitely doing better.


In fact... that poor Tooth Fairy ended up having to come the next night as well! Wednesday night, Bryson mentioned that his other tooth was loose. Boy, was it! I couldn't get it out, but it was SO ready. Thank goodness for Dad. He came in, gave it a little tug, and out it came! Two teeth in two days... and the Tooth Fairy scored some major points, because she actually came on time! Now we have this cute toothless kid hangin' around out house!

Celebrating Six!

I'm still just in shock that Bryson is actually six years old. Where did all those years go? The celebrations started on Friday... Bryson took a treat to school to share with his class. I usually go and take it, but he wanted to do it all on his own. His class sang "Happy Birthday" to him, and he got this cute Birthday crown and a fun little certificate with a pencil and a sucker from his teacher.

Saturday morning, he woke up to breakfast in bed. He thought it was pretty cool getting to eat breakfast somewhere other than the kitchen, but when he DID get to the kitchen, I had put up a birthday sign and there were presents on the table. He could hardly wait for Daddy to get home from his scout hike so he could open them!



In the afternoon, we had about 9 little boys running around our house. Bryson had an "Iron Man" party. He had originally made a list of about 14 boys that he wanted to invite, but I made him pare it down by almost half. I just couldn't imagine having that many boys! It would have been even more chaotic than it ended up being. I did feel bad about a couple of boys who got axed from the list... I actually wish we would have just invited them anyway, because we ended up with an extra (that wasn't even on the original list) that Bryson decided to go ahead and invite without my knowledge. The boys had a great time. Eryn and Kaitlyn set up a treasure hunt for them, and Eryn went along with them to make sure they could find all the clues. She was so cute helping out. Then we played a couple more goofy games, then it was presents and cake! And of course, as soon as they shoveled down their cake, they were back downstairs ripping open all the new toys they gave Bryson. Several small pieces (like Legos) ended up lost in the shuffle... but they had a great time, and nobody wanted to go home when their mom's came to pick them up. And one cute little thing that happened... right after they boys sang "Happy Birthday" to Bryson and he blew out the candles, Hayden walked over and gave him a hug and said, "Happy Birthday Bryson." I just thought it was the sweetest thing!



Bryson requested pizza for dinner, so after eating homemade pizza, Grandma, PapaBob, Jo and Corey, Corey's sister Jade, Jana, Brad and their sweet kiddos, (and of course Aunt Christina) all came over for another little party. We had cake and ice cream, and a few more gifts. Bryson had a WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!