The Canyon

Since it was the first weekend in June, and gorgeous weather, we decided to go have dinner down the Canyon. Unfortunately, everyone else in Utah seemed to have the same idea. We had to drive around and around to find an open table. We finally found one that was situated right in between the river and the road, with no play space, no shade, and an outhouse. Lovely. It was probably the worst spot we've ever had. Our favorite sites were "closed for remodeling". Hopefully they open soon! Regardless, the kids had a blast. Saxon kept telling me "Mom! This so fun!" And Bridger would copy everything Saxon did. They were so funny!

Saxon doing his "peace out girl-scout" (thanks Aunt Brookie):

Bubba-chubs in his Cubs hat and Mike dumping river water on Saxon:

Since it was so hot out and we didn't have any shade, Mike kept dousing the kids with river water. It was icy, but they must have loved it because they kept coming back for more. He taught them how to fill their hats up with water and put it back on their heads to cool off.

Me and my 2 boys:

Of course no one cooperated for our family picture. But you can see my big pregnant belly. Only 3 months left...

Nate and Bubs:
It was originally all of us, but me and Saxy weren't looking so I cropped us out. Mike actually got Bubby to smile, so I didn't want to delete it.

We made hamburgers, roasted veggies, cold fruit, and s'mores. They kids cried when we had to leave. Obviously they don't remember that we come a lot! Saxon kept begging to spend the night. He's going to love Shaver Lake this year!

Memorial Day Getaway

For Memorial Day Weekend, we went to St. George because Nate's sister Emily was going to be blessing her new baby Eliza. It turns out that my Dad was going to be in St. George the same weekend, so Mike decided to come with us too.

Most of Nate's family came into town for the blessing, so Saxon finally got to play with COUSINS! He loves getting together with cousins! Of course, I didn't get out my camera, so I don't have any pictures of the cousins together.

On Friday, we met everyone down in St. George for dinner, then all the kids went swimming at the hotel together. It turns out that Bridger is a little fish just like Saxon was. He can swim all over with his little floaties on. And Saxon...is a little tease. He kept giving his cousins wet willies and picking on them. Mike and Jeff take full responsibility for teaching him to give wet willies.

On Saturday, we met the cousins at the park for the kids to play. Saxon found a tree branch (that was the size of a small tree) and insisted on taking it on the playground with him. We had to draw the line on taking the tree home with us. After the park, we let the kids swim for a few minutes, then put Bridger down for a nap. He was so worn out he slept all afternoon! Saxon stayed awake and was able to go back down to the pool with his cousins when they got back. My Dad and Mike came by the hotel for a little bit to visit too. Later, we went to dinner and then late that night, met my Dad at Nielson's Frozen Custard. He wanted that, or Iceberg. He kept telling us about this amazing place called Iceberg. We just laughed because Iceberg is a fast food chain out here and not that unique for us. The frozen custard was fabulous though, and my Dad bought each of the kids their own. They were thrilled!

On Sunday we went to baby Eliza's blessing. Saxon loved holding baby Eliza. He kept telling me "Look Mom! She's so little..." It makes me excited for Humpty Dumpty. I can't wait to watch Saxon with him. I don't think Bubby will be that interested yet :) We went to a luncheon after the blessing and the kids got to play with the cousins again. The kids somehow got the idea in their head that they needed to go for a hike. So, Uncle Jared volunteered and Uncle Josh went with him and took ALL of the kids on a hike. They LOVED it! After the luncheon we stopped by Mike's hotel and let the kids swim a little and then bathed them and headed home.

It was a quick trip, but it was fun to be somewhere warmer for the weekend.
Here's some of the few pictures that I did take:

The Proposal

On Friday, May 21, Gregor proposed to Joy.

She said yes :)

He took her to dinner at "The Roof" at the Joseph Smith Building, and then told her that he wanted to visit Grandma and Grandpa while they were in Salt Lake. Instead of going to their house, he took her up to the roof where we had set up candles and flowers at a table overlooking the view of the Capitol Building.
Then then came downstairs where we were waiting with Grandma and Grandpa and Joy's parents.

We are so excited that they are getting married. We already consider Joy a part of the family, so we can't wait! The kids are excited for Gregor to stay with us for a little while before the wedding :) They miss their Uncle Gregor.

August 14 is the date...

We love you guys so much!
Congratulations!!!!

Shrek Forever After

Mike took all of us to see Shrek Forever After in IMAX 3D.
It was so fun!
Both kids sat still through the whole thing and for the most part, kept their glasses on.
Mike even got them each their own Icee.
So lucky!!!

Thanks again Mike! We had so much fun!!!!

Cheetos Face

Bridger had been asleep for 3 hours this afternoon, so we went in to check on him and see if he was ok. This is what we found...he was sitting on the changing table, eating a bag of Cheetos:

Of course, Saxon had to join him so they could make silly faces:

My cute guys!
Finally a real smile from Bridger:

Garden: part 1

"We are sowing, daily sowing, countless seeds of good and ill,
Scattered on the level lowlands, Cast upon the windy hill;
Seeds that sink in rich brown furrows, Soft with heaven's gracious rain;
Seeds that rest upon the surface Of the dry, unyielding plain;"

We were finally able to plant our garden this year.
We started a bunch of sprouts a month ago, and then transplanted them to the garden.
We have a double garden this year so we're trying out some new stuff...like sweet peas :)

"Seeds that fall amid the stillness Of the lovely mountain glen;
Seeds cast out in crowded places, Trodden under foot of men;
Seeds by idle hearts forgotten, Flung at random on the air;
Seeds by faithful souls remembered, Sown in tears and love and prayer;"

Saxon was a good helper and watered everything we planted.
One of our neighbors hasn't planted yet, so he raked their garden and dug up some of their weeds for them.

"Seeds that lie unchanged, unquickened, Lifeless on the teeming mold;
Seeds that live and grow and flourish When the sower's hand is cold.
By a whisper sow we blessings; By a breath we scatter strife.
In our words and thoughts and actions Lie the seeds of death and life."

Bubby ran up and down collecting rocks, and occasionally squashing some poor seedlings.
He did help me plant pumpkins though and did a really good job.

"Thou who knowest all our weakness, Leave us not to sow alone!
Bid thy angels guard the furrows Where the precious grain in sown,
Till the fields are crowned with glory, Filled with mellow, ripened ears,
Filled with fruit of life eternal, From the seed we sowed in tears."

Since Bridger didn't get a nap (you know what that means) and Saxon was having an emotional day, we took a break to swing for a while. I was hoping Bridger would just fall asleep, but he didn't...

The boys wore their "garden boots" so they could stomp around in the mud.
They have matching ones, but Bridger was too sad to let me take a picture:

We're so excited about our garden.
Wish us luck!
If anyone has any good gardening advice or secrets, I would love to hear it...

"We Are Sowing"
LDS Hymn Book #216
This was actually one of my least favorite songs on my mission. I didn't recognize it in English, so my companion, Kristi, sang it for me and we laughed so hard! It turns out it was my least favorite in English and Portuguese. There are some songs that I like better in Portuguese, and some I like better in English. This one was about the same for me in both languages. As I was flipping through the hymn book, I came across this one and read it. It turns out that I do actually like the words as a poem, so here it is :)

Bowling

We went bowling this afternoon with some friends in our ward.
Saxon is in love with their little Chloe and kept telling her how he knows how to go bowling because he went to Uncle Kenny and Aunt Lisa's wedding.

The boys got to use the ramp and bumpers so that they could knock some pins down.
On each turn, Saxon would look at where the pins are and line the ramp up.
Smart little guy.
Bridger would just push the ball with one finger, but he always managed to knock a bunch of pins down.

Saxon and his vampire teeth from Pops:

Bridger and his "big smile" after knocking most of his pins down.

We hadn't been bowling since Kenny and Lisa's wedding. The kids loved it, and since we went during the day, we were the only ones there (which was really nice). We'll have to go more often. Our friends are fabulous bowlers though, so we're going to have to practice a little first :)

Bees Game

I don't have any pictures to go with this, but Saturday night, Mike took us to a Bee's Game. The kids LOVED running around on the grass and Mike bought them snow cones. During the 7th inning stretch, Jeff put Saxon on his shoulders to sing "Take Me Out the the Ball Game" and they even made it on the big screen! :) I wish I had been faster with my camera so I could have taken a picture. It was so cute!

Then, the Bee came over to the grass to say hi to everyone. Saxon ran up to say hi and Bridger started making buzzing sounds and pointing. Saxon got a high five from the Bee and Bridger got his hand autographed. It says "Bee". He loved it!