The Farm

This last weekend we were invited by some friends to go Brigham City to ride a horse.  Our friends, John and Sherri, have family living up there that house their pet horse for them.  Makayla was really excited to go, and it was fun to see some of the animals, and to be that close to a horse.

Makayla liked the baby cows.  Sherri said we would have to come back sometime and feed them bottles of milk.  Makayla keeps telling me how fun it would be to feed baby cows, so we might have to plan another time to head back soon.

Daxton got a kick out of the big cows, and the horses making noises.  One of the bigger cows peed while we were standing there, and Makayla was absolutely amazed at how much liquid came out.  Too funny.

Looking at the babies.

There was even a pond on the property.  Makayla wanted to go for a ride in the paddle boat, but it was full of water from previous rain.  Another time, maybe.

Love.

This boy had a great time.  He loved everything we saw, and was excited to learn new things.

And what farm would be complete without a trampoline?  The kids were kept busy while the horse was being saddled.

Naturally, Daddy makes everything more fun.

Here we are meeting the horse, Kate.  Makayla touched her, and loved on her, but she would not get on.  The horse had a mini fit right before we were going to stick Makayla on, and after that she refused.

This kid, however, was not going to let anything stop him.  

He was all smiles, and ecstatic to get on that horse. 

I think he must have said, "horsey" about 500 times that day.

Daxton even got to ride around on the horse with Sherri.  He wasn't hesitant at all, and was again all smiles when he got back.

This picture says it all.

Devin is 30 and has never ridden a horse before.  Sheltered boy.  Sheltered.  I think he enjoyed his first experience.  I would have hopped on, but I figured my massively pregnant self wouldn't be able to swing a leg over.  I am sure it would have been sheer entertainment to have seen my try though.

Thanks, John and Sherri.  The kids had a blast!

Fieldtrip

I have been participating in a neighborhood preschool for Makayla.  There are six kids in her class, and each mother takes a turn teaching the curriculum.  Makayla has loved it.  I have had fun getting to know some of the other kids in the area, and I can tell they have learned quite a bit since we started last September.  This last week we got to go on a field trip to J&J Nursery.

We got to see how the plants are planted, and the different stages of growth.  This is some lemon grass (or something similar) that the kids thought looked like a jungle.

This is Makayla with her friend, Karissa.  They have become good little friends.

This is the whole group learning about those plants in the background.  They were all so well behaved and interested in learning about the plants.

This is a giant bear in the little gift shop area.  Makayla was seriously freaked out by it at first, but then she asked me to take her picture with it.  I wonder if we put that in our yard how many people we could freak out?

I am so grateful that I get to be a part of Makayla's education while I have her home.  She goes to school next Fall, and that is going to be so hard to let her go.

Birthday Surprise

I am rather fond of my husband.  He is calm, sweet, understanding, patient, kind, and hard-working (just to name a few).  I believe he is my perfect match in every way possible.  We get along so well, and I just love our life together.  That being said, Devin has not been into surprises.  I can pretty much predict what will happen on anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, etc.  However, this birthday was a different story!  Devin came home from work, collected me, dropped off kids with a sitter, and we headed out for my birthday.  We pulled up to the Ogden Airport to which he said, "pick a restaurant".  Yep, wild surprise, wasn't it?  WRONG!  The actual surprise was that Devin had planned to take me on a helicopter ride!  SCORE!  He worked with a guy that is just finishing up helicopter 

school, and he took us for a ride.  Incredible!

The biggest shock about the entire thing was seeing how little the helicopter actually was.  Picture the smallest compact car you can think of, and that was the inside of this bad boy.

We wore headphones to drown out the noise of the helicopter, and it allowed us to talk back and forth to each other.  Chris, Devin's friend, asked us where we wanted to go, and I opted to go over the mountains to see Snow Basin and Pineview Dam.  It was fun to fly over our city and point out our house, schools, busy roads and such.

 I missed taking a picture of my own house, so I snapped one of my brother's.  It is one of those....

 This was our view from the back seat.  It was interesting to watch the pilots to see how they controlled the machine.  Nice little learning experience.

 Devin and I were shocked to see all the open land still left in Northern Utah.  Beautiful landscapes!

Pineview Reservoir.  When we finished circling this area we headed up over Avon pass to Mantua, and came out the canyon to Brigham City.  After circling the temple and seeing a few other things we headed back to the airport.  By the time we got to Brigham my baby boy was literally doing flips inside of me!  He was probably wondering what was going on.

Ah, the dear, sweet, love of my life scored big this year.  What a wonderful surprise and a fun adventure we got to share together.  Here's hoping 28 is my best year yet!

Welcome Spring

Don't you just love Spring?  I am not a Winter person.  When is snows like crazy I try not to leave my house.  I don't like driving in the snow with two small kids, and I really don't like being cold.  Winter and I are friends until December 31st, at which point our relationship is usually terminated.  By the time March rolls around I usually want to cry because I am so sick of the sludge and snow.  This year, however, was not bad.  February was quite mild.  I will take rain to snow any Winter!  The mountains got what they needed, and I didn't have to shovel as much.  Win, win!

We went to the Zoo the last Wednesday in February (free day!) and had some nice family time.  On our way to the Zoo Devin spotted some deer (yes...while driving in crazy traffic) in a SLC cemetery.  When we were done with the Zoo, we HAD to swing by and check out the deer.  Let me tell you something, these little fellas were friendly.  This one came right up to me and stuck his nose in the car window.  Devin tried to get me to pet it, but I only pet animals that could be an actual pet.

Hasn't the weather just been lovely?  We have just adored these days that are over 60 degrees.  The kids get so delighted when we take them to parks.  We went to the Ogden Parkway and walked a few miles on the trails, then let the kids roam free on the playground.  They were in heaven.

This kid just LOVES his daddy.  Most of all, he loves his daddy to throw him in the air.  He is clearly not afraid of heights, because Devin really chucks him.  It gives me warm fuzzies to watch the kids with Devin.  A girl couldn't ask for a better daddy for her kids.

The kids have been helping me do some Spring yard work.  I was getting garden boxes ready while they ran wild in the yard.  I am so grateful for the property we own.  Most kids are just lucky to have a yard to play in, and my kids have a huge yard with lots of fun features.  I'm not sure we will ever move, because we love the area and property so much.  Blessed.  Very blessed.

Cousins

I babysit nieces and nephews on a regular basis.  We always have kids in our home.  I love seeing my kids make special little bonds with cousins.  I remember playing with cousins when I was little, and I am glad my kids get to experience that.  Babysitting can be stressful for me, but the kids look at it as constant play dates.  I guess it is all worth it.

Latest Cake Making

I really enjoy making cakes.  I like the process of picking a theme (or having one given to me) and pulling it all together to make a piece of work.  I have been making a lot of cakes for neighbors and friends lately, which is great because if I made all these cakes for my family we would all be hippos by now!  It has been nice making a little side money doing something so fun.  My kids love it too.  Just to be clear, they love watching me.  Occasionally Makayla will get to frost her own little cake when I am done making mine.  I think she likes making them as much as I do.  

I guess a few of my genes snuck in there after all.  

Lego cake.  I made this right as the Lego Movie came out.  Legos are huge right now, aren't they?

Pirate cake.  What one-year-old gets this bad boy for a birthday cake?  Haha, my nephew.  That's who!  The top piece came off for the smash cake.  He seemed to enjoy it.

Basketball cake.  I have a feeling I will be making many of these in the future.  Daxton loves sports, and basketball is his current favorite.  I had a hard time not wanting to eat these cupcakes!  Ahem, I mean the BABY had a hard time not wanting to eat them.

The Life of a Stay-at-Home Mommy

My kids love fruit.  They snack on fruit, and almost fruit alone.  I offer crackers and other things, but they prefer fruit.  Especially when Mommy is off taking a shower or something, because then they can sneak fruit around the house.  Grateful for fruit trees in the Fall.

Ah, kitties.  We love our kitties.  We hate our kitties.  Mostly we love them though.  Too much.

The iPad.  Where would we be without the iPad?  I am grateful for apps that teach counting, letters, etc.

I think she learns more from the iPad than she does from me some days.

Again, the iPad.

Sneaky Mommy taking a picture....

Sneaky Mommy got caught.

Run, Mommy!  He is coming for you!

Life doesn't get better than being home with kids.  It just doesn't.