Silas turned 3!

Yesterday was not only Father's Day, but it was my cute and funny Silas's 3rd birthday! 

He was so excited and grateful for all his gifts. He got a full firefighter outfit and a ninja turtle outfit which he immediately wanted to put on and start playing with. It has been so fun to watch him transform into a fire chief and saving people from fire and yelling "wee-o wee-o wee-o!" He sounds like he little minions from despicable me. 

A little spotlight on Silas. Silas makes me laugh every day. He just has this natural funniness about him which is eccentuated by his cuteness. He also gets his buttons pushed easily and can become upset over little things. But he enjoys pushing other peoples buttons too; he is a tease. He is also very loving and will give the sweetest hugs and kisses. Lately when I put him to bed, he'll say, "goodnight. I wuv you." Then I will say , " I love you too! Goodnight." Then he will say again a little stronger , "no! Goodnight, I wuv you!" Then he keeps repeating it until he is almost screaming at me that he loves me and he is also crying. I don't understand it, but I have a feeling I may not understand a lot of what he does throughout his life. 

We love Silas and we are so grateful to have him in our family! He adds spunk and entertainment to our lives. Happy birthday to my awesome three year old!

Riding a Bicycle: a Father's Day tribute

Yesterday Doug went to the east Idaho garage sale and he came home with a sweet treasure for Brigham, something he has wanted for a long time, a bicycle. 

This bike had no training wheels so it was either buy training wheels to put on or spend the time to teach him to ride without them. Doug took Brigham out for about 30 minutes and worked with him to get going. Brigham did get going too! But, his muscles weren't used to it so he would tire out and not be able to go as well. They came back in and an hour or two later Doug said, "Brigham, do you want to go out again?" Brigham was so excited to go out again. They went out at least five different times throughout the day, working on different things like starting and pushing off, turning tighter circles, and balancing. I was blown away with the time and energy and patience he had with Brigham, working with him to learn a skill that he will enjoy using the rest of his life. 

I hope Brigham will remember the time and care he spent teaching Brigham how to ride a bike. It got me reflecting about when I learned to ride and you can bet who was there with me, teaching me....it was my dad. He also was the one to teach me how to ski, until a paralytic wanted to teach me, but my dad stayed with me the whole time and that was a great comfort to me that he was there. I loved going on daddy daughter dates and when we would go to the mall and dad would act just like a kid and go hide our purchases. My dad planned vacations for our family to take which are times I have some of the strongest memories. Dad always got excited to try new food and made me excited about trying cool and different foods too. 

I am so grateful for the man I married and how wonderful of a father he is to our children. I am so grateful for my daddy; I love and adore him. I am grateful for my father-in-law and how he raised a most wonderful son and taught him how to work. Happy Father's Day to these wonderful men! We live and appreciate you all!

Building a stronger and healthier body: consistent exercise

So, I just finished doing my 60 days of Insanity workouts!!! Man, it was so hard! But, I kept pushing and before I knew it I was able to do the push-up- jacks and the suicide jumps. Working out is so good for your body and the harder you work, the stronger you become. Here are several benefits and awesome things I have noticed from doing some hard core exercise.

1. After I work out, I seem to crave healthy food. This is awesome because eating healthy food also helps you get in better shape too. They work together. 

2. My muscles are stronger and better toned. Obviously I am not a bulky woman and I never will be, but it sure is fun to see those nice muscle lines showing!

3. My balance has improved. I believe this is because my core is stronger. I can hold the flamingo stretch confidently now, when before I was wobbly.

4. I have increased my flexibility. Yep, I can stretch farther than I have in a long time. It's great for your muscles to be flexible. They won't strain as easy.

5. I have more energy. It's funny that to get more energy it requires pushing yourself to exhaustion or fatigue. But the more you do it, the stronger and more able you are to endure. After a really hard and exhausting workout I am so amazed at how much energy I feel like I have when my heart rate has fully recovered. 

6. My body went to the weight that it needed. I had five extra pounds on my body that I didn't need. Guess what! I lost exactly five pounds! You know, I think your body knows where it's supposed to be and if you are doing the right things to take care of your body, it will start heading toward the healthy weight that you should be. 

Now that I finished insanity, I will have to start a new workout goal so I can keep going and building a stronger, healthier body!

Little Family Camping Trip: Wolverine Canyon

Doug just finished his fourth year of teaching last week and next week he starts another Master's class. This week is his week to breathe a little easier with only having to do farm work and house work. So he suggested that our family should have a little campout. 

I had never been to wolverine canyon before and it was very beautiful! It was actually very green and we were right by a creek. It would have been perfect except for the lovely cow pies!

It didn't take long after we arrived for Adam to say, "wader mom, wader!" Yep, they found the creek and started throwing rocks in it. Rocks are like the most awesome thing to Adam right now. We took a little walk and he wanted to pick up every rock he could see, but his little hands could only hold so many. He kept putting them in the cup holder of his camping chair.

Silas was more attracted to sticks. He tromped around jabbing his pointy branch saying, "I got a stick!"

Brigham enjoys being the BIG boy and loved that he could toast his marshmallow all by himself. 

I think Doug's favorite part was sleeping sandwhiched between me and Adam. Adam couldn't sleep very well, but calmed right down in daddy's arms. He was squashed. But, on an air mattress, it's easy to roll toward the bigger person. 

We had a yummy tin foil breakfast in the morning then packed up and went on a hike to 40 horse cave. I was a short, but very steep hike. It was a little bit of a struggle getting the boys up there, but despite the little slips, the boys loved it. Brigham enjoyed learning to be a better hiker and Silas enjoyed yelling hi to the cute little birds. 

It was an awesome adventure and one we should do again, however next time I would prefer a campsite with bathrooms! :)

Dream Night at the Zoo

Brigham was sent an invitation in the mail from his Dr to a special free night at the zoo for special children and their families. It was called, "dream night". 

When we arrived at the zoo tonight it truly was a zoo! The line was out of the parking lot and there wasn't anywhere to park unless we wanted to take a nice long walk. We probably would have toughed it out, but Doug had a campout to be too as well. We decided maybe we should just go out for ice cream. 

So we continued past the zoo and started making our way to Kiwi Loco. But Brigham's broken heart and Silas and Adam's disappointments: we had to turn around and go back. 

When we got back, the line was so much better and there were actually two parking places right by the entrance!! It really didn't seem all that crowded either once we got inside. 

It was such a sweet and special opportunity. What an amazing feeling to be around all those children who had some sort of disability or hardship or medical needs. You truly felt how precious they were. The animals may have felt it too because they were incredible! They were all putting on a show! Swinging  monkeys, playful otters, wrestling and climbing sloth bears, lions staring you down and the other one was eating. It was so cool! The kids loved it and thought it was so exciting and you could hear laughter and gasps and excited shouts. I was so grateful to get to be a part of that evening. 

The menace and the moneymaker

This morning while I was working out downstairs, Silas decided to climb up to get to some higher cupboards that had art stuff in it. He got out about six bottles of acrylic paint. He decided to paint by dumping colors on the paper and then smearing it around. Luckily most of it ended up on the paper. Later he found a pair of scissors and took it to one of Doug's white Sunday shirt. It's a good thing he is cute and apologizes. 

Brigham recently planted and picked up flags in a couple of fields so grandpa could have markers while he fertilized. Grandpa paid him pretty nicely. Brigham wanted new shoes and so he bought shoes and gum today (I couldn't let him use his money to buy something that I should have bought him so he paid for half and I paid for half). Boy he was sure cute and confident paying for his stuff; wasn't scared at all. He's getting to be a big boy!

As for Adam, he is so stinkin cute! And he tells me when he is stinky too. 

Love these kiddos! 

Life Lessons from Robbins

A little while ago we were happy to see a Robbin improving an already built nest on the window ledge of our bathroom window. Soon we discovered 4 bright blue eggs. When the eggs finally hatched, we put a ladder in the bathroom so the boys could climb up and peek on the babies. It was awesome to watch the mommy and daddy birds work together to take care of their little Robbin chicks. The mommy or daddy (not sure which) found a worm and came and gave it to the other for it to eat and then regurgitate back to their little ones. When the babies could eat worms without that process, the mom and dad worked together everyday, the whole day, to feed their babies. These babies were always eating. I thought it was so amazing how they worked together; they even communicated with each other by calling out to the other. Maybe they were warning each other that Silas was around because he sure liked to chase them away and wanted to throw things at the nest. 

It was fun to watch the birds get feathers and when we came back from Utah they were all out of the nest. I hope all of them made it!