Mmmm...

Max and Andrew enjoying their "scrumptious and delicious" birthday blueberry pie - Andrew's favorite. (Poor little Ben is running a fever today & was already in bed so he didn't partake of the pie.)
Happy birthday Andrew!

April showers

Lots of stuff this last week...

We finished landscaping! The last wheelbarrows of wood-chips have been hauled and spread!! Max has been the most diligent little helper with his little John Deere wheelbarrow. He insists on shoveling and hauling loads with Mom and Dad.

Sunday, we surprised Andrew with breakfast in bed for his birthday, which is this Tuesday. Of course, he started coming downstairs while I was scrambling eggs, and I had to order him back upstairs, and then Max almost started crying because he couldn't understand why I sent Dad back to bed. "Does he need to sleep some more Mama?" Anyways, Andrew was surprised and pleased with the attention. He is also enjoying his new fancy birthday watch.

Then we headed off to church, did naps, and then went to Cabela's. On the way to the highway, there's this rambling compound that Andrew had told me about. He asked about it at work, and they told him, "oh yeah, that's the polygamists." What?!?!? His coworkers also told him that if you hit Costco about 5:00 on Saturday, you'll see the polygs. I'm tempted to stalk the aisles of Costco with my camera in hand, but you know what a zoo Costco is on a Saturday...So anyways, on our way to Cabela's yesterday, I paid close attention to the compound. It's all very nicely landscaped with a baseball field and playground equipment, a nicely maintained LARGE brick building with numerous front doors. I want to stake them out, see if they're polygs in pioneer clothing or regular clothing. Apparently there are polygs that dress both ways. Ahhh, Utah...

But we had a fun visit to Cabela's. Fun place to visit most anytime, but especially on a rainy day. The boys of course loved the aquarium, the stuffed animals (not cuddly stuffed, but dead stuffed), and it's fun to wander through every camping accessory you could ever imagine. I was hoping to get Max some Carhartt's, but I was very surprised that they didn't carry any Carhartt's in kids' sizes. (I bet Big R has kids' sizes!)

And what better way to cap off a fun weekend than with a Nuggets victory?? Go Nuggets!! And we finally get to watch them because Altitude is blacked out here during Nuggets' games since we're in "Jazz territory," and I refuse to pay for the League Pass crap they try and force you to buy.

This morning, we hit the Children's Museum. Oh my goodness, it was really nicely done, and the boys had so much fun! Here are some pics: Shrieks of joy with this big crazy water thing that they'd send ping-pong balls down the different tubes.

Weekend

Well, we are almost done landscaping, which feels awesome. We spent Saturday weeding, laying weed barrier and spreading wood chips. Today, Tom (bless his heart for volunteering) & Andrew mixed and spread cement for the walkway to the other gate in our backyard, which should do it for cement work.Once this last walkway dries and the forms come off, I'll lay the last of the weed barrier and wood chips. Yeah!! Then the yard will be officially done.

Teya came to play with the boys while Tom & Andrew worked. Teya introduced Max to his first My Little Pony movie, the first of many chick-flicks I'm sure he'll have to endure in his lifetime. But he's a better man for it. Then we headed over to some other friends' house for dinner - Tiffany, Brian and their two kids, Riley and Bailey, ages 1 & 2 (Irish twins). They also live in Daybreak, about 6 blocks away. They are a really nice family that we just met at the park one day and have had a lot of fun getting to know. Plus, they're also Nuggets fans, so you know they're good people. Weirdly enough, Brian and I both graduated from Heritage (he was 5 years ahead of me though). They move around a lot with Brian's job, a tunnel engineer, but for now, we've all landed in Utah. That's it around here for now!

Job well done Holly!

A couple pics of my saucy new 'do Holly created last night: Shorter in back with great layers, longer in front:I love it! Thanks Holly!

Happy Easter!

Hope you are all having a fun Easter! The boys went to an Easter egg hunt this morning at church, and then the Easter bunny left more eggs at our house while they napped. The Easter bunny was kind enough to leave the eggs in the basement at our house since it's kind of chilly outside :).

Max likes to open each egg and check the treat inside before putting it in his basket. I'm sure he'll learn the more efficient "hoard now, check treats later" method at some point, but for now it's kind of sweet to see them not so competitively picking up eggs. For example, there were no body-checks. And I don't know what to say about this picture except that it cracks me up:

We also did some landscaping this weekend. Andrew put about 10 plants in the ground and laid a concrete slab from the driveway to the backyard. What a hard worker!

We also dog-sat for Tom & Krissa. Kuma and Aspen were very good girls, but since you know that Aspen's kind of a snob, they really didn't frolic around too much together. Still, they generally hung out and got along fine. At first, Max & Ben had to be carried from furniture to furniture because they were afraid to be on the ground with the two dogs, but they relaxed after about an hour or so. (And I think I caught Kuma mid-blink.)

April!

This week Grandma Jill & Grandpa Jim stopped in for a 3-night visit. They enjoyed our new guest digs in the newly finished basement, and we all had a great time just letting the grandparents & grandkids catch up. Wednesday, we all visited the Bingham Copper Mine that's right by our house. It's the world's largest open pit copper mining operation. I should've taken my camera on that little trip! Everyone had fun watching the gigantic machines (tires are 12'6'' on the trucks!) do their thing and learn about the mine (I know it doesn't sound very interesting, but it really was :) ).

The weather's been great this week, so we also just spent a lot of time outside, either playing at the park or riding bikes in the driveway. After Grandma & Grandpa hit the road this morning, the boys and I headed up to check out the SLC zoo. A very fun morning to cap off a fun week! This giraffe was very obliging to pose for the photo:
The boys on the giant caterpillar: