Weekend Fun

Over the weekend we decided to head back up to Danny's cabin. Still cold, but fun. We stayed a night at the cabin, a night in Park City and then spent the following day back at the cabin playing games and hanging out. Cute Whitney absolutely LOVES the cabin. She is in her element there. She can do really whatever she wants, play outside, get dirty. Poop and pee outside in the wilderness.. Honestly, what 3 year old wouldn't love that? Hank was quite the trooper as well. Just being a sweet little guy. It was wet, muddy, rainy and still cold but very beautiful. .

Danny, Hank and Aaron.. Danny is doing something weird with his chin. he is not a fan of the picture taking.

Playing cards.. Again, Danny doing something weird with his face.

Sleeping beauty.. Whitney woke up with the craziest hair. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Danny and Aaron went shooting and apparently Danny needs a few lessons.. The gun kicked back and got him in the nose.

Park City. The condo we stayed at had hot tub. Although she is not pictured, Whit did get in later (while it was SNOWING.. what the heck?? Snow and it's almost June.. ) but she loved it.. couldn't get her out.

Uncle Parker with all the kiddos.

Just relaxing.

Lessons Learned from the Prophet #1

I just finished reading President Monson’s biography and absolutely loved it! My testimony has been strengthened by the example of this gentle giant. I have learned many lessons from him through his biography that I hope to never forget and want to apply in my daily life.

#1. Family life is the most important and treasured gift that we have.

President Monson sums up his feelings this way: “When we have sampled much and have wandered far and have seen how fleeting and sometimes superficial a lot of the world is, our gratitude grows for the privilege of being part of something we can count on—home and family and the loyalty of loved ones. We come to know what it means to be bound together by duty, by respect, by belonging. We learn that nothing can fully take the place of the blessed relationship of family life… All of us remember the home of our childhood. Interestingly, our thoughts do not dwell on whether the house was large or small, the neighborhood fashionable or downtrodden. Rather, we delight in the experiences we shared as a family… What we learn there largely determines what we do when we leave there… The thoughts we think, the deeds we do, the lives we live influence not only the success of our earthly journey, they also mark the way to our eternal goals.”

I look back on my childhood and the best memories I have are the times spent together as a family. Vacationing with the cousins. Spending summer’s… almost every day with my cousins. It was wonderful and I wouldn’t trade it for a million dollars! I am grateful for my family.. my parents, siblings, grandparents, extended family. My family really is a product of who I am and who I want to become.

Being a mom and having my own little family, I so want my children to have the very best childhood anyone could possible imagine. That doesn’t mean giving them everything they want money-wise, but rather creating traditions and memories together.. and documenting them so that they can look back and hopefully remember. I love my family.. they really are MY greatest TREASURE!

Some of us cousins at my cousin Brooke's wedding last Wednesday. She looked beautiful!

Our little family. It's pretty impossible to get all of us looking at the camera at the same time. Oh well. :)

Baby Chicks

Never let your husband go to IFA alone... He will ALWAYS come home with baby chickens. He will ALWAYS win over his daughter's heart with the cute little things and slightly soften my cold- mean heart. I will admit, they are pretty darn cute when they are babies. Whitney, of course, thinks she is their mom. Carrying the 3 little things all over the yard. Making them play with her toys, taking them on rides in her car. She loves them.

Hank loves to sit and play outside.

Just sitting with her favorite baby chick

Mother's Day

"I'd rather be a mother than anyone on earth

Bringing up a child or two of unpretentious birth...

I'd rather tuck a little child all safe and sound in bed

Than twine a chain of diamonds about my carefree head.

I'd rather wash a smudgy face with round, bright baby eyes

Than paint the pageantry of fame or walk among the wise."

- Meredith Gray. The Beauty of Motherhood.

Happy Mother's Day!

What to do when there is nothing to do

We have exhausted all of our inside activities for 2011.. There is only so many times that you can go to Mcdonalds to play, the library for story time, the aquarium (which Whitney doesn't even really like anymore.) We have watched Tangled I think 100 times. And I am plane tired of picking up the hurricane of messes Whitney leaves behind when ever she walks out of a room. I have become a weirdo when it comes to checking the weather, checking it multiple times a day.. Thinking/hoping that it will miraculously change, it never does. I think it's safe to say.... we are SO ready for warm weather that stays for more than a couple of days!

Having said that, there have been a few activities that will keep Whitney entertained for more than a minute... Making and playing with salt dough. It's super easy to make, you can dye it any color you want and Whit will sometimes play with it for up to an hour!! We have the 100 cookie cutter container that has all the shapes, alphabet, animals etc.. It's a perfect and fun way to practice her letter recognition by cutting them out with the salt dough. You can store it in the fridge for really as long as you want and it has been a life saver on days when there is nothing to do!

salt dough recipe:

2 C Flour

1 C Salt

4 tsp Cream of Tartar

2 C Water

1/4 C oil

Combine ingredients into a pan and cook on medium. Heat until it has lost it's glossy texture. It will be lumpy. Dump out and knead until smooth.

America's Favorite Pastime

"A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz."

~Humphrey Bogart

AMEN!! We love going to Parker’s baseball games. It is the perfect afternoon activity.. soaking in the sun.. hot dogs, Otter Pops, sunflower seeds. Can’t get much better than that! Sadly, it was so cold this year that we didn’t make it to many of his games. But it is still OUR favorite pastime… watching uncle Parker play baseball!

At this game against Lone Peak, he hit a home run.. go Parker!! Hank loves to stand and hold onto the fence.

Parker's biggest fan.

Week Re- United

I use to babysit this cute little guy, Camden. For 2 years these 2 spent hours and hours together. They were a handful at times, but absolutely love each other. Since having Hank, we haven't watched him anymore. Lucky for us, Jessie did babysit him for a couple of days, of couple of weeks ago.. And they didn't miss a beat with each other. They played great and had so much fun! Of course, we (more like Jessie) had lots of activities planned in the short 3 days.. We went to Jump On It in Draper. So fun! ..And cheap. We played at the mall and went on the train ride (not that the mall is very fun with 3 little kids, but I had to get a present so we had no choice.) We went a baseball game, Wheeler Farm, played at the park.. I mean we really tried to get every possible activity squeezed into a little 3 day time span. It was fun! There is nothing cuter than watching 2 little kids play together and have conversations with each other! Here's some pictures of our fun week:

Jump On It was really SO much fun! They jumped for 1 hour and just had a blast. We will definitely have to go again. Anyone want to come with me??

Who ever is running the little train at South Towne mall is probably making some good money. It was pretty expensive to ride this 2 minute train ride. In fact, it cost me more money to ride this than for all of us at Jump On It. But the things we do for our kids..