Benson Learns to Ride a 2-Wheeler!

Yep, My 7-year-old son has crossed yet another threshold, he has moved on to the two-wheeled bike. There were some things that I couldn't wait for my youngest to do, but most of those things happened before I realized he would always be my youngest! So when Benson didn't want to take off his training wheels, I wasn't too disappointed (yes, I also let him suck his thumb and baby him in a lot of different ways) although Alan had shown great enthusiasm at the age of 4 and insisted we remove his training wheels. But our little cousin Tyler came to spend the night and brought his bike-that did not have training wheels. Today Tyler taught Benson how to ride a two-wheeler and George removed the training wheels from off his bike! Good job Benson! You're still growing up too fast for me!

What Happens in Vegas...

Yep, here we are gettin' lucky with the Buddah...I mean getting luck from the Buddah! My friend Kim and I had a great trip to Vegas where while we didn't see Jay we did see this beautiful statue and went to The Price is Right! As well as our hotel pool that was a mini Seven Peaks! We were gone just long enough to miss the kids and the hubbies and short enough to not miss the housework and whining (don't worry none of the above was in short supply upon my return...)!

Mother's Day Tradition

So I just read all your blogs about mother's day and some of your kids sang to you and some of your talked to missionaries and one of you did a huge tribute to her mom and some of your husbands are amazing... but mine is more... because for mother's day I am going to VEGAS with my friend Kim! Again, I hate to brag, but come on it's pretty great. We might even see Jay Leno's show. I am sooo excited about it I can almost get through all the housework and laundry and craziness around here! Happy Mother's Day!

Fire Pit!

One of my favorite things about our house is the backyard fire pit!

We have had soooo much fun having campfires in our own backyard!

There used to be a tree (that shed inedible cherries all over everything) with a circle of concrete around it, so out went the tree and we have been attempting to burn out the stump ever since! And while George is definitely the biggest fan of a family campfire, next up is the dog!

Rori loves being outside with us (or maybe she just loves the occasional bite of cheese-dog that comes her way?)!
So if you're ever interested, we'd love to have you over for some hot dog roasting with dutch oven cobbler and s'mores!

Cold Stone

We love Cold Stone! Is there anything else to say?

Hansen Planetarium

For the 3rd grade field trip we got to go to the Hansen Planetarium! The best thing about not working is being able to volunteer for things like this!

Happy Easter!

I love all holidays, and Easter is one of the best! In our family we have 12 categories we call 'pillars' that are our basic themes for each month and April is Testimony. Easter is connected to so many symbols that represent our Savior and all He has done for us! This year we colored eggs and it was actually more fun than stressful (a bonus of our youngest child being 7!). And we found the coolest idea for a family home evening about testimony: you plant a fast growing seed (we did mini pumpkins) and explain that your testimony grows just like this seed, if you attend church, your seed gets to stay in the soil for the week. If you say your personal prayers, your plant gets to stay in the sunny window and not in the dark cupboard for that day. If you read your scriptures you get to give your plant one tablespoon of water for that day.
After 9 days Alan's seeds are sprouting (I hope the rest of us just planted our seeds a little deeper or I may have some explaining to do). Having 'pillars' has really been great for our family, it makes choosing family night lessons a little more structured and fun and it's been so fun to look back and talk about what we did and what we'll repeat and what we won't! The most fun, though, was to choose them with George! It's amazing how different we are and how our differences can be so complementary!