On the go

When are we ever not on the go? Someday maybe we'll slow down or get a homebody child, but even Claire loves to go go go so for now I continue to just try to keep up. And somehow I keep picking up new passes that are ever farther from home, so more to explore this summer I guess! We have been loving up Thanksgiving Point as always and being thrilled to have the gardens open again, but somehow I did not bring my camera to capture any of those moments. We were there for opening day and I did so enjoy being back. The boys ran and ran and my mom and I strolled while Claire sat and slept happily in her stroller. It wasn't fantastic weather, but do-able. We are still anxiously waiting for spring to really come. As it is snow is falling waiting for me to swear at it when I get out of work. We had exactly one amazing weather day and then woke up to 2 inches of snow the next day. And of course I was at work for the good weather. Oh well, they say with Spring in Utah if you don't like the weather wait a few minutes. We're waiting! We also spent a nice evening at the children's garden. So nice to let the kids of their "tether" a little bit. To be able to run free where I feel they are safe. We all know both gardens so well and it helped that we were the only ones braving the weather that day. We love the off season for how quiet our favorite places are. The boys continue to enjoy preschool. They had a plant week and made themselves into lovely flowers: They also planted some seeds which we have enjoyed watching them grow. This week was food week and of course a big hit. We also caught the chance to hit Trafalga with A&A

C & A--Carter is quite the little climber. They also enjoyed laser tag and mini golfing and Reva and I enjoyed visiting of course. They were kind enough to have us over to their house to play this week as well.

Claire baby has begun to feed herself--she really loves to eat any way it comes. She becomes such a messy little thing that I just have to snap away. :)

Lowell had a rough week last week finding out that a close friend of his passed away. We attended his services and continue to miss him. He and Claire share a nickname--Squishy.

This April Fool's I decided the boys were old enough to enjoy a bit of a joke. So we made up a fun faux dinner for them:

Airhead veggies, cookies/cornflakes/peanut butter fish sticks, meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potato frosting, and cake pizza. They got such a kick out of it, it really was fun. They had heard about it at school and Davis went around informing us all that we were "fools". :o) That day Lowell got his own April Fool's joke discovering after we were all dressed with a babysitter and temple bags in hand that his recommend had expired the day before. Oy. And our stake presidency is being reorganized so we'll catch that another time. Thanks to Dinda who sat with the kids anyway while we went to celebrate "mission day"--the anniversary of his leaving on his mission. We enjoyed pizza and wings (at Pier 49 care of a City deal) in honor of Buffalo.

We enjoyed Spring conference as well, as much as parents of young children can. I was working through all the sessions and I am certain I got more out of it than Lowell was able to. What I caught I really enjoyed and need to start reading them again. It did inspire me, if nothing else, that I want to go to the Rome temple. My dad served his mission there so it seems like a fantastic family trip! I enjoyed priesthood session with my little sisters and the kids at Farm Country. Thanks Hill and Cyn for including me in your girl's night even if I have a following that come along.

Claire loved this baby chick--and then my camera died. I missed her first pony ride which she just loved. And the goats and horses and cows. She loves animals! She was a bit cranky though--she hasn't been sleeping great since getting 2 teeth. I hate teething. She got 1 March 26th and the other the next morning.

Monday this week we enjoyed having Hillary and my mom home and made a trek out to Red Butte Gardens. Hill gets a pass through work and since we love the Thanksgiving Point gardens so much we decided to test this one out. It was different than my beloved gardens, older, more established, more natural. It has hikes into the natural surroundings and is open year round. I certainly won't say I prefer it yet but we did have a good time and I got a pass to enjoy it throughout the upcoming year. I look forward to exploring its reaches.

C in the Children's garden--he posed himself, what a photogenic fellow

Big D--the snowman sweaters were a nod to the snow that fell that morning. Might as well get another wear out of them.

Playing with the giant lizards

Claire in their little kiddo hut

Us on a swing--TP gardens need these! I love swings!

Claire just loves her feet . . .

This was their idea too--I was worried it was too much weight for the antlers, but no big deal. An ice cream cone on the way home and we were all worn out. It was a fun day! Hillary even stayed that night so Lowell and I could go out again. We're so spoiled. Yummy chili's. Bummer the real reason we needed to go out was to replace our burned out microwave. Sheesh our house is falling apart.

Wednesday the kids had earned the requisite quarters to earn them a trip to a place where they could spend them, this time Chuck E Cheese, thanks to another City deal. I hope they post this one again, what a good deal--my $8 gave us $20 in tokens, and they accepted a coupon on top of that so the boys had 115 tokens to blow. And each game only takes 1 so they played for a good while. The prize selection wasn't vast but I felt there were decent choices for the amount of tickets they had. They were nevertheless hard to please in that department but still had a great time playing the games and meeting the big man himself! We'll be back.

Scoring against Daddy on air hockey

A pic from a photo booth--love it! And still just one token.

And I finally took Claire's 6 month shots--the bunny had smoothie spilled on it and it took a while to get him adequately washed.

Don't you crawl little Squish--2.5 weeks until our trip to Florida we are actively trying to keep this girly non-mobile!

At 6 months Claire, you love food, your brothers, and animals. Your favorites are pears and carrots and water. You will try to get anyone with a drink to share with you. You love any chance to feed yourself. I gave you a safety feeder with a banana in it and you devoured that thing. You just started on little puffs and freeze dried fruit and love to mash things around with your mouth. You like to crunch your little rice crackers with your 2 little teeth. Every morning when I come to get you you kick your feet and breathe fast, indicating your excitement. That joy brightens all who know you. We call you velcro hands because you grab everything! You especially love paper and can maul a newspaper in no time. Your favorite toy is still Baby Kate, you light up anytime you see her. You also enjoy time in the jumperoo and exersaucer--tips Dr Cornish gave us to delay you from crawling Miss busy-body. You are so very active--you were inside of me and really have hardly slowed down. We can't seem to get you to nap well these days even though you sleep really well at night. Just too much to see and do I guess. You shriek loudly and continuously though when you aren't you are usually saying mamamama. You love your doggies and smile whenever they are around, the same is true of your brothers. You dislike being put down for bed, being left alone or out of sight, and teething. We are crazy in love with you! Dr. Cornish said you are growing very well and weighed 16 lbs 11 oz at your appt.

Davis and Carter boy turned 5 and a half on Weds as well. At 5.5 C&D you are such silly vibrant little boys. You love SpongeBob everything (even though I hate it) but are coming around to my fav cartoon, Animaniacs. You still prefer "noodles and cheese" to just about anything else. You like waffles, yogurt, cereal, and eggs at breakfast, chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, and sandwiches with chips at lunch, and pretty much just don't eat dinner. Cheese is also a highlight and all things sweet--fruit snacks, popsicles, candy. You are wonderful big brothers and Claire is so enamored by you. You are smart little boys progressing well with reading, writing, and beginning math. Fine motor is still your biggest challenge but you are both improving, able to write your names well now. You enjoy all your electronic gadgets: wii, gameboy advance (you call it a DIS), mobigo, leapster, and most recently the ipad (you call it the big special). You also love to ride bikes and jump on the trampoline and really climb anything you can. You are best friends even though you also fight often. You have more energy than anyone could ever contain. I am so excited planning all sorts of fun for your summer. You hate bedtime, sharing, and not getting your way. You fuss about going to school but like it once you are there. You are the most charming boys I have ever met. We love you forever!

That's about it for us. The only other thing occupying my mind the past couple of weeks has been reading the Hunger Games. I just finished book 3--that's all 3 in a week and a half. I did enjoy them, hence the fast read. I hate that though, books I really enjoy just pass by too quickly. I think I will go back and read them again. The first is my fav though I do feel more complete having read them all now. The 3rd just has too much sad twisted things happen. The characters are so broken by the end it is a difficult read. I would like to have a happy fairy tale ending, but that wouldn't be true to the story either. The last couple pages did save it from utter despair however. And as love triangles go, I got what I wanted which always improves the story in my eyes ;).