Dear Jr Primary, In My Defense

Dear Jr. Primary,
A few weeks ago (has it really been a few weeks all ready?!) my sweet little boy Penn volunteered to say the opening prayer in sharing time during Primary. I guess he was very adamant that he didn't need any help and proceeded to say a very long and detailed prayer. He prayed that everyone could keep their eyes closed during his prayer and that his daddy wouldn't be so silly. But the part that I would like to address is the part that he prayed that his mommy wouldn't be so mean! I feel like you're not getting the whole story and I wanted to set the record straight!
I promise I'm not a "mean" mom. His every need is provided for. He has warm and nice clothes, nutritious food prepared with love every day and plenty of toys and intellectual stimulation to help him grow up big, strong and smart.
Believe it or not I'm the "fun" mom. I liked to present a few exhibits to help illustrate my point.
After the big storm I helped the boys build a snow fort in the backyard and pretended to hide from giants for over an hour. When we got cold I made hot chocolate for everyone.

They have little shovels to help with the heavy lifting

I love Penn's mischievous face

Snow Mountains for them to play on! We also made a fun snowman.

On occasion I buy glow sticks for them to play with in the bath tub, it's pretty amazing.
We have family movie night regularly. We sometimes blow up the air mattress and eat special theater treats and always have air popped popcorn.

Just getting comfortable before the movie

Recently I found an amazing deal for a monster truck rally. We took the whole family. Before the rally we eat at the boys favorite restaurant, the popcorn restaurant, Wingers. We watched in awe as Monster trucks revved their engines, smashed old cars and jumped off mounds of dirt. The motor cross was by far their favorite part. Motorcycles jumping alarmingly high and doing amazing tricks made everyone clap.

It was a little loud and the ear plugs were too big for her ears

WOW!

See the "fun" Mom!

Now to be fair, I can understand why he may misconstrue my love as being mean. I get to stay at home with him all day. Which means I'm the one that gets the most opportunities to remind him to make good choices. When he's opening coolers at the store that he shouldn't it's my voice that reminds him that isn't a good choice. When he's wrestling with his brother too roughly it's my voice that asks him to stop and apologize. When he takes a toy from his sister it's my stern look that says it all.
Maybe it's not so bad being the "mean" mom. Maybe being the mean mom is really just code for being a great mom. Thanks Penn, I love you too!

Christmas

Christmas was truly wonderful this year. Before even setting up the Christmas tree we had a family home evening all about the birth of Christ and why Christmas is celebrated. It was great to start things off on the right foot. When we did get out the Little People Nativity the kids retold the story to us. We were touched by how much they remembered and the way they expressed things.

Since last Christmas Penn has loved the movie "Polar Express". Its about a train to the North Pole. We had to borrow it from our friends in July because he loved it so much. So after the decor was up we surprised the kids with their very own copy of the book and movie. Throughout the month even Logan kept asking if we could ride the Polar Express some day and that's just what we did the Sat before Christmas. We told the kids we were going to find one and loaded everyone into the car and went "hunting". Of course we already had tickets for the Polar Express in Heber. It was just more fun to make it an adventure. 

So Happy

Having too much fun to pose for a picture

I highly recommend this adventure. We all had a great time. The train ran on "Christmas Cheer", had elves and a fun host for each car. They played Christmas music over the speakers and the passengers just randomly burst into singing along. Even the kids enjoyed singing Jingle Bells and Rudolph. Mrs. Claus served homemade cookies and we all enjoyed hot chocolate (until it ended up in my lap, courtesy of Logan). We made it to the North Pole and Santa boarded the train to say hello to each of us and present us with our very  own sleigh bell. Someone even got engadged with Santa's help. The ride was about 45 mins long which was just right. Not too long and not too short.

Dancing with an Elf

Every year the first gift of Christmas is opened on Christmas Eve, before the P.J.'s. It a picture of Christ to help us remember the true reason for the season. Penn was so excited he already had an idea of where he wanted to hang it in his room. Christmas morning was great, Aunt Becky even came up for the fun. We opened gifts kind of slowly and allowed the kids to play with their gifts as we went along. It extended the fun and gave the kids a chance to play with everything.

A singing, pretty princess castle. Audrey was in Heaven.

Remote Control Trucks, a huge hit

Nerf Guns! Yes

Christmas is always so full. There are lights to see, cookies to make, family to visit and lessons to learn. But we are truly grateful for the reminder of the love our Heavenly Father and Savior have for each of us, and the love we share with our family and friends.

Catching Up

My confession: I think about blogging all the time, but I've fallen so far behind it's a little overwhelming. Plus life has gotten so crazy. These last 6 months have been busy, I have so little time. But have no fear I have a plan. I'm going to post a ton of photo's here and get all "caught" up and then we can move on.... This will work.... Right?!?

The kids had wonderful birthdays. Both involved trains (you may have noticed we love trains around here!). We rode front runner up to Ogden to visit the Playhouse Museum for Audrey's birthday. 

Audrey can do it "by herself" at a train museum while waiting for front runner on her 2nd birthday

For Logan and Penn we visited.... I don't even know what to call it.... A local train enthusiast has turned his property into a mini train theme park. He has a few mini trains you can ride on, miniature trains to small to ride on but fun to watch, a play ground and picnic area. Uncle Mitch came up and we all had a great time.

We took an amazing camping trip with the Bingham's to Jackson Hole WY. We kayaked, wake boarded, mountain biked, played at parks, took a gondola to the top of the mountain and got more mosquito bites exploring then Mom thought was possible. It was an amazing trip!

Kayaking with Dad

Good friends just chill'n at the lake

Spencer went to PA for a work conference and got stuck there during Hurricane Sandy. His 5 day trip turned into 11 days! But things worked out perfectly, he was able to visit with his parents and help them prepare for and weather the storm. It turned out to be a blessing, we just missed him a ton around here.

Halloween was a blast. We had a little Halloween party with our friends and everyone had a great time. Kearsten and I laughed "with" the kids during the donut eating contest. They're still convinced we should have just handed it to them. So funny! 

Little Bo Peep, Woody, Snow White, Capt. America and Iron Man

Thanksgiving was crazy. All the grandkids packed into one house makes for an interesting dinner. But it was delicious and despite the insanity we are truly grateful for one another.

This was the first year we got a picture with Santa and no one was crying! But I'm not going to say too much about Christmas in this post, I'd truly like to do it justice.  

I think that covers the big events, lets just call that caught up...

Durango and the Iron Horse 2012

Once again Spencer wanted to conquer the insane bike race/climb other wise known as the Iron Horse. He finished it last year but just missed beating the train into Silverton. He wanted to remedy that this year. So off to Durango, CO we went. We are super blessed to have Uncle Mitch there, he's a great host and a ton of fun. This year Grandma and Grandpa Davis also met us there!

Mitch helped us get tickets to ride the Durango train to Silverton. The boys were in heaven, esp Penn. If you've never ridden this train, I highly recommend it. The views are impressive and the mountain pass was spectacular. It takes a few hours but the kids did really well and truly loved it. Combine trains and family and it makes for a great day.

Trying to take it all in before we started. Plus they had to see the engineer.

Penn just loving it

The next day was the race. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have no idea how Spencer powers himself and his bike over those mountains! Two of the peaks are 1100 feet, we don't even have peaks that tall here that he can train on. He was on track to beat the train when a huge wind storm rolled in. It was so bad it blew two police motorcycles into one another atop the last peak. An ambulance had to take them to the hospital with serious injuries. So they stopped the racers and actually cancelled the race because it wasn't safe. But after 15 mins the wind died down some and they told the riders they could finish at their own risk. Having come so far of course Spencer finished but came in just behind the train. If he hadn't been stopped he would have beat it. I guess we'll have to try again another year to make it official! He really did well and we are so proud of him.

While there we also attended the semi-pro race and no trip with kids is complete without a trip to a few parks. We so enjoyed spending time with our family and have wonderful memories from this trip. it was a great way to celebrate Spencer's birthday. The boys are convinced that it's worth the drive to see Uncle Mitch even if we could only stay for an afternoon.

Having fun at the pro race with our cow bells and Grandma and Grandpa Davis.

Our Trip to PA

I'd really like to get our blog all caught up, but there are a few things that just can't be skipped. Our trip to PA is just one of those things. We had an amazing time and here are the pictures to prove it.
No trip with the boys is complete without trains. Grandpa Davis knew just the place. The Strausburg Train ride was fun and the hands on museum next door was nothing short of amazing. We climbed on and into all sorts of trains, pulled all the levers and pushed all the buttons. We played with Thomas the Train engines and tracks and watched model trains on miniature rails. It was ideal and I think everyone had a good time. The only down side, it's always drama when it's time to go.

We also visited a theme park, Dutch Wonderland, designed just for kids, not even kids at heart...but for kids. Nothing too big. There were several roller coasters for preschoolers, flume rides for toddlers and model T's for them to drive. Penn has always been about an inch to 2 shorter then Logan. So when Logan just barely made "height" for the biggest roller coaster that means Penn was just short. It was soo sad, even Mom felt like crying. Sometimes life just isn't fair. The next biggest roller coaster wasn't as neat, although it surprised me at how fast it was. 

Good thing Jenny was there, Logan's legs aren't long enough to reach the gas pedal.

Mom and Logan took Dad and Penn on in the bumper cars. I don't even have to tell you who won (it was Logan and Mom!)

Another highlight of the trip was our visit to Cape May New Jersey, where Jenny lives. We visited the Atlantic Ocean while we were there. It was a colder, windy day but honestly a ton of fun. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand and even found a dead shark while on a walk with Grandma and Grandpa Davis. Nothing too big, but "so cool, mom!" The water was cooler and at first they just ran from the waves but eventually they got in. Every time they came out we'd try to dry them off and call it a day but they kept asking to go back in. They even convinced Grandma to go with them, forget that she wasn't in her suit!

Building sand castles was a hit. If we could only convince the kids they don't have to smash them the second they are built!

Spencer's Eagle Scout project was building trails through a wooded area for hiking. It was tough hot and humid work. We thought it would be fun to take the kids on that hike. My favorite part of this picture is that Penn and Audrey couldn't be bothered to stop and take a picture. Onward and upward!

 This is another favorite picture. Grandpa Davis vs the kids in tug a war. It was almost too much for Grandpa, almost. We also helped plant the fortified garden in the background. No Peter Rabbit will be munching on their tomatoes or peppers thanks to Grandpa's ingenuity.

 Nightly we went to a local park, they had this "spider man web" and they loved climbing on it. It was a fun park and a great way to ensure they slept well that night.

We feel blessed to have spent so much time with our family. Audrey got to meet Grandma Peterson for the first time, played with toys that Dad did when he was a little boy, visited the national aquarium in Baltimore and flew on airplanes. It was a trip the boys still talk about and often ask when we get to visit Grandpa and Grandpa Davis again.

Hey Again

Hey, it's been awhile but I promise we haven't been sitting around twiddling our thumbs. We've been super busy. Here are just a few of the big highlights. 

We visited Baby Animal Day once again. Audrey loved the baby ducks and as you can see the boys took things very seriously when holding the bunnies. One of our favorite babysitters went with us and was a life saver. Thanks Tiffany!

We celebrated Easter with my family in Idaho Falls. Monica blessed our newest and very cute nephew. We also showed off new Easter outfits. I'm blessed with a wonderful friend who is a wizard with a sewing machine. She helped me sew Audrey's dress. Yep, I made that practically all by myself.

The boys had a commencement for preschool. They really enjoyed preschool but to say that don't perform on demand doesn't really capture the disaster it was. Logan was too busy watching everyone else to actually sing and Penn just wanted to run around and explore the stage. When Penn grows up he wants to be a "train guy" and Logan wants to "work on roads and play in the dirt with daddy".  

For Christmas Grandma and Grandpa Gudmundson bought us a year pass to the zoo. We've loved going a couple times a month esp when friends join us. The new polar bear and river otter exhibits are amazing. 

Finally, we took the kids camping at Crystal Hot Springs. Penn tells us it wasn't really camping because we weren't actually in the mountains. I guess we'll have to try again. But we had a great time swimming and sleeping in the tent in a crazy windstorm. 

Another notable thing, Penn was our quiet child in Sacrament Meeting a month or two ago. He did well, until Dad signed "I love you" to him and he flashed it back. When we realized he had a captive audience all of a sudden he loved everyone in the congregation and couldn't stop signing. Next he just had to show off his new sandals but that required lifting he leg up over the banister and pointing at them. I guess we have a little work to do but lets not forget he's only 3.

We've also enjoyed some great time with the Davis'. Stay tuned for more great pictures.