Spring Break

We spent SEVERAL hours in the car driving to the mid west to visit both of my older brothers over Spring Break. We haven't ever gone anywhere for Spring Break, so this year we did it in a big way. Over two years ago, both of my brothers moved out that direction. I had never been to either of their houses or seen the places they live. This was a perfect time to go. Everett didn't do fantastically in the car, but we made it work. We arrived to Missouri on Saturday the 26th. For the rest of that day we just hung out (enjoyed being out of the car), playing with cousins and just chatting. Jason was still out of town for some conference, so Katrina did a wonderful job entertaining us that evening. Sunday we spent relaxing too- going to church and then to a rehearsal for a missionary fireside that Jason was in charge of and Katrina was playing her violin. I was really enjoying the day loving on my sweetest little niece. I love just be the aunt to so many adorable little girls!! On Monday we went to a train museum, which the boys all LOVED.

After the train watching we headed over to a very fun (tasteless) restaurant. You order your food by phone, then you watch as the trains above you deliver your food. The kids, of course, sat on the edge of their seats waiting for our train to come. It was so fun!

After we left the restaurant we went to a small "Under the Sea" display. We just let the kids go, running the whole way. I was able to grab a few photos. There were things to ride, buttons to push (to make sounds) and fun places to stick their heads for photo opts.

I wasn't the only one loving on baby Tagan- Jamison is my little baby lover.

This little Wyatt has the funniest expresions and says some of the funniest things. I loved spending a few days with him. I laughed tons!!

The last night we had some really good Kansas City BBQ. I catch a hilarious picture of Everett trying Jamey's pop. I don't think he knew what to expect.

On our way out there was a train, of course we had to stop and take a picture. Our Missouri stop kind of had a train theme.

We left early in the morning on Tuesday the 29th to make our way to Indiana. On our way there we took a short detour to the St. Louis Arch. I had been once when I was teenager, but Jamey didn't think he had ever been. I am so not a fan of heights, so while Jamey and the kids enjoyed the view, I hung back just to take some pictures. We decided that it is extremely pricey for what there is to do. All we did was ride to the top, look out the little windows, then head back down. Oh well, at least it was something fun to do to break up the drive.

We finally reached Indiana late on Tuesday night. We spent Wednesday again just relaxing, letting the cousins play and chatting. That night Brett got us tickets from a friend to attend the Pacers/ Detroit Pistons basketball game. Our seats were unbelievably close! We were only 12 rows from the floor. After watching the game for a bit, Brett's friend came up to him and handed him 4 tickets to sit right on the floor! I have never in life been that close to so much action. We all took turns sitting on the floor. It was a fun game and the Pacers show us a win.

The kids were having so much fun- can't you tell. I wish they could have realized what an opportunity they had with those seats.

On Thursday we visited the most AMAZING children's museum ever! It is the biggest place I have ever seen. Four floors of rooms with things to play and learn. We spent only a couple of hours there, however we could have been there for days. The kids had lots of fun. While we were waiting in line to purchase our tickets there was a 'real' Bumblebee in the lobby. It was actually used in the movie in spots.

Spencer was at the train station giving Jamey his ticket.

I have LOADS of pictures from the museum, but I didn't want to over post. We also played in the Dora/ Diego room, Dinosphere, the carousel, Egypt, and many more.

Friday Brett took a half day and we headed over to the Indianapolia Motor Speedway. We first checked out the gift shop- go suckered into buying each of the boys a car, before we got on our bus tour. The driver took us out on the track while giving us the history of the track. Jamison could hardly control himself. I asked him if someday he wanted to race a car on that track and he excitedly replied "YES!" Jamison is all about cars right now.

We spent Saturday hanging out watching conference. We were screaming and jumping with joy as they announced the plans to build a temple in the Ft. Collins area. My mom and dad were actually in the conference center- they said it was all they could do to not shout. Jamey also somewhat helped Brett put in a new dishwasher between sessions. The day was perfect, to just relax once again and let the cousins play together. Once again we got up early on Sunday morning and started our long drive home. We did stop after about 10 hours of driving to stay the night in a hotel. The kids had fun playing in the pool before we got some dinner and slept for night. Monday we finished our drive home. It was so good to be back home, but we made some really great memories with family during our Spring Break week.

Pinewood Derby

Quickly I wanted to post about Spencer's first Pinewood Derby. On March 19th, he raced his red sports car. For two weeks before the race, Jamey and Spencer spent several hours cutting, sanding, painting and decorating just the right car. Unfortunately the car didn't race well and Spencer didn't place the best, but he was super excited about getting the "Best Sports Car" award. We have LOTS of years to perfect just the right car, maybe by the time Everett is done with cub scouts Jamey will have this pinewood car making down.

Our New Family Addition

Meet TRIXIE!

It all started a couple of months ago when Spencer brought his class pet home for the weekend. It is a gerbil; which I was scared of. So I started doing some looking on the internet to see what kind of pet would be good for our family. We've done the dog thing several of times, but we don't have a fence and I am not in the mood to want to house train a dog. I don't like cats, snakes, gerbils or hamsters; birds live too long and are noisy, and fish don't interact. So what were we left with? From all the reading on the internet, I kept seeing that guinea pigs were the best for young children. Guinea pigs like attention and let young children hold them. At work one day Jamey's cube neighbor asked him if he knew anyone who wanted a guinea pig because he had a friend giving one away. Since we have spent the last 4 months or so talking about getting one, I told Jamey to get it. So here we go...

Jamey surprised the kids one night after work. (Actually March 16th, but I got pictures the next day- St. Patrick's Day hence all the green shirts.) They were beyond excited, Jamison a bit more. He is our little lover in this house. Jamison chose her name- after a character in Speed Racer; I thought from the triceratops in Toy Story 3, but was corrected. (Funny side note: When I was telling the kids that we needed to come up with a girl name, Spencer quickly said, we could name her Jamie because that is a girl name. Jamey was not impressed.) So far so good. The kids are taking good care of her, feeding and getting her water. They are getting more comfortable with reaching into her cage. Every morning Everett needs to go into the boys room to say good morning. It has been good- now if we could just figure out how to keep the smell down more...

Keystone

A couple of days after Jamey started his new job the beginning of February, he got a call from the HR person who told him that the company annually holds a Winterfest in Keystone. Because he was now an official employee (he was offered and accepted the job back in November, but we had to wait on the government to finalize a part of his clearance) he and his family were invited. We had 2 weeks notice, I had to move a client but we made it work! My parents very kindly took Everett for the weekend so that we didn't have to mess with a little one. The company paid for a condo for two nights, all food on Saturday and an activity of choice. We chose to do the snowmobiling excursion. We left mid afternoon on Friday February 25th, and drove up to the mountains. It was so beautiful with all the fresh snow. That night we just hung out and ate at a restaurant in the little square. The boys loved watching all the snowboarders and skiers walking around. The atmosphere at the restaurant was very fun too. Saturday morning we woke early to get some breakfast before meeting at the shuttle. We drove for quite a while to get to the snowmobiling mountain. After getting outfitted and given a few instructions on how to use the snowmobile we were off. I am not an adventurous person and they put me at the end of the long line of people. Jamison was having a hard time with his gloves and goggles, which at one point went flying off. I had to stop and grab them which made the whole group stop. Nice uh?

We followed in a line up to a higher spot, mostly getting accustom to how to work the snowmobile. They stopped at a place where they had us practicing passing people and going in a circle. Also up there they had two kid snowmobiles. Both boys jumped on and had a blast!

Then we broke into smaller groups and got our speed on, or at least that's what we were supposed to do. Again, I was nervous and Jamey complained later that I went too slow. He was the one who choose to be behind me. After it was all over Jamison told me that he was scared. I wish I had known while we were on the mountain! It made me feel better that I took it slow. When we got back to the condo we had a few hours to relax, take showers, watch some TV and play pool before dinner. Dinner was at the top of the mountain. We rode the gondola all way up. It was so far we even had to transfer gondolas to finish the trip up. Once up there we walked into a very fun restaurant. It was a fondue restaurant. We got the kids (and us) all hot chocolates.

Walked around looking at the place and taking some pictures.

The dinner was so good, but it was absolute torture to our children. Three hours of eating and cooking your meal is not fun with an eight and five year old. Again I was feeling so grateful that we left Everett at home. We decided that next year all of them might stay home! On Sunday morning we planned to go tubing, but the kids were ornery, so we just packed up and came home. There were parts that were so fun, others not so much, but we are so grateful to Itec for the weekend away.