Rock Climbing

Nate has loved rock climbing and hiking and since he was a kid.
He has hiked Timp several times as well as Nebo and Mt. Whitney (2x).
He told me when Saxon was born that he wanted to take him hiking and rock climbing.
My newborn?...No.
Over the last few years he has still been wanting to take him,
but I had to remind him that it would be no fun to carry a tired toddler up a mountain.
So, since Saxon is a very grown-up 2 1/2 year old,
we decided to try out rock climbing today.

This is what Bridger thought of being strapped to my back while Saxon had all the fun:
life's not fair.

My self- portrait with chubba on my back.

Saxon was beside himself, he was so excited!

This is Nate getting him all strapped in.
Each time I asked if he was sure this was safe, he reminded me that he knows what he is doing, and that they took Angela when she was little. Was she this little though? He's 2...

It turns out, I didn't need to worry.
Like father like son...Saxon was a natural.

He even got a big gash on the side of his leg from the rock, but he kept going.
And of course, he marked his territory on the nearest tree.

It was a really fun day. I even tried it and Saxon took the pictures (which I am not going to post. An upward angle is never good). Lucky for us, Nate really does know what he is doing and we all survived...even Bridger.

Garden Fresh

When Holly came over the other day, we went down to check out our garden. Holly, being and experienced gardener, pulled the only weed in our garden. She also mentioned that Rachel and I should use our basil before it gets sun damaged. We did have a lot of basil. Rachel looked up a recipe for pesto and we tried it out. It was pretty strong (I think because it was so fresh), but really good still.

Nate was really excited too. He said he hasn't had fresh pesto since he lived in Italy. He made pasta and used a little pesto, and some fresh mozzarella. It was so good! So, our first "fresh from the garden experience" was a success! It's been a fun project too. Saxon loves to go every evening with Nate to water it. We even have a few new little sprouts coming up. Looks like we have a ton of radishes coming up.
Does anyone know what to do with radishes?

Bikes and Bubbles

Thanks to some coaching from Dad, Saxon finally mastered his bike. He hasn't been able to get the hang of pushing with one foot, then the other. He usually prefers his scooter because he's speedy on that. This afternoon, I heard Nate cheering for him, and I looked off the balcony to see him pedaling away. :)

Wednesday morning was our last toddler gym session. It was "Bubble Day" at Discovery Park. It was everything bubbles, lots of fun , and we all got sunburned.

Of course, what fun are the bubbles if you don't torment your brother with them?

Poor Bridger kept getting a face full of bubbles.

Saxon loves his toddler gym class, but I think our next adventure should be swimming lessons.
Wish us luck!

Memorial Day

Nate had to work on Memorial Day, so we went with Mike and Jeff and Megan to the pool.

Every time we set Bridger on the side of the pool, he would dive head first right back into the water. He didn't even mind being dunked as long as he got to stay in the pool.

Saxon has been sick the last few days, so he wasn't his normal self in the pool. He hung onto Mike and Jeff while they swam.

Later, we had pizza at Jeff & Meg's and helped them paint. I think my boys cleared them out of otter pops :) Saxon alone had at least 4. He told Megan, "Saxy wants a blue one, Saxy be so happy with a blue one!" How could we resist?
We had a fun day and we hope everyone else did too!

Boondocks

Mike took Saxon to Boondocks yesterday and spoiled him rotten!
First, they drove the "race cars."

Then, Saxon's favorite, the bumper boats.
Mike started out driving,

but once Saxon got the hang of it, he took over!

He drenched everyone, including all of the people standing in line, and all of the parents watching. Notice his water squirting at the gates instead of the other boats...he apparently didn't want to miss anyone.

He also played the arcade games and won enough tickets for 2 airheads and 4 (1 ticket) spider rings. Go Saxon!

Caution:

Caution: Learning to walk is dangerous business!
Look at that big bump by Bridger's left eye.

My poor guy!
He was pushing Saxon's firetruck around the house and it got away from him.

Later, he was trying to walk around in the bathtub (holding the edge), and slipped and bit his tongue.

He can walk around all of my furniture now, so it won't be long before he can keep up with Saxon. His newest trick is to pull himself up on the toilet and splash in the water. I know...gross! It brings back memories of my Saxon baby who used to do the same thing.

Garden Party

Welcome to our garden...

My friend Rachel and I both wanted to plant a garden this year, but being 1st time gardeners, we decided it was best to share a plot and figure it out together. Luckily, her husband (Mac) grew up on a farm, and my husband (Nate) grew up in farm country (Fallon, NV.) So, we had some support. Here's the beginning of our gardening adventure...cross your fingers for us!

The kids were really helpful too. They managed to water everything (themselves included) except the plants. They made some fabulous mud puddles. You gotta love that Vienna is gardening in a dress and little white sandals. :)

Bridger couldn't wait for the veggies to grow, so he ate the mud instead. He also ate the grass, the bark, the tomato cages, and any of Vienna's toys that he could get his little paws on. He cried his little heart out when we put him in the stroller, so we decided to set him free and see what happens. Here he is standing at the gate watching us.

This picture isn't a smile, but it's a pretty good shot of the mouth full of mud!

And of course...the star of the show. If he's not the one taking the pictures, he has to be front and center in every one.

Rachel and I decided that our garden would be more beautiful if it had a variety of colors. Since peppers have the biggest variety of colors, we seem to have chosen a lot. We have all shades of sweet peppers, as well as jalapeno peppers, serrano chiles, and our personal favorite, the macho nacho hybrid blend. We're also growing tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. Does anyone out there have a good salsa recipe? Or maybe a good pesto recipe? We planted 3 kinds of basil (purple, sweet, and lemon).
I'll post more pictures once we add the finishing touches to our garden :)

Bees vs. Cubs

Last night we went to the baseball game:
Salt Lake Bees vs. Iowa Cubs.

We dressed up to support the (Iowa?) Cubs.

This is Saxon showing me his hotdog...
Bridger even ate some.

All of us at the game.
My kids refused to smile.

The Cubs won,
so...finally a smile from Saxon!

My giggly baby...
You can see his top teeth starting to come through.

These are some pictures that Saxon took.
He has pretty good aim!

While we were there, we noticed several people wearing LA Angels stuff. There were people wearing Bee's stuff, and we were wearing Cubs stuff, so we just figured that everyone dressed for their favorite team. On the way out, we saw a banner saying that the Bee's are the Angel's minor league team. Ha ha, that explains all of the Angel's stuff we saw :)
Anyway, it was a really fun night!
Thanks Mike!!!

The Path of Destruction

Saxon seems to have a talent for carving out a path of destruction in everything he does. Here's what he has been up to in just the last few hours:

-He dressed himself in too big basketballs shorts, a rash guard, and a beanie and followed me to my friend Rachel's house.

-Rachel and I were picking out a garden, and while he followed us, he pulled up all of the flags that the plumbing company had put out marking different things.
-He helped himself to a piece of cake and ate it in my living room. There were cake crumbs stuck to the TV (I have no idea what was going on there).
-He stripped down and peed off the balcony.
-He shredded my paper towels all over the living room and then threw them off the balcony when I told him to clean up.
-He threw the rest of his cake off the balcony and now we have ants.
-He filled up his shampoo bottle with the new toothpaste that we bought him.
-I was filling up the bath and told him to get in. Instead, he took off his clothes and threw them in the bath and ran away laughing.
-He un-made all of the beds this morning right after I made them.
-He built a "temple" with all of the pillows in my house.
-I got out of the shower to find him sitting on my dresser emptying my jewelry box.
-He tried swinging from the string on the blinds and just about snapped it off.
-He tries to "fly" by jumping off the arms of my couches.

That was just last night and this morning...We can hardly keep up!

First Pool Day

We had our first pool day of the season today.
Mike's pool is open and heated already.
The weather was gorgeous so the boys needed to be outside.
Mike was a good sport to take us, because taking kids to the pool is quite an ordeal. By the time we bring treats, towels, clothes, drinks, floaties, pool toys, 10 different sun blocks, etc, it was almost more than we could carry.
Here's Bubby in his new swim suit and Saxon's old Cubs hat.

Saxon started out with floaties and his Nemo ring,
then he decided that he actually does know how to swim.
So he dove right in...
Luckily, Mike was close by to help him out.
Apparently, he's ready for swimming lessons.

After having some chicken nuggets,
Bridger was dying to get in the pool with Mike and Saxon.

Getting some sun!

Bridger also thinks he can swim.
He kept diving out of his floatie ring.
Mike finally got him out and held him.
He would throw him up and dunk him.
Bridger loved it!!!

All smiles :)

The kids were excited to come home and see Daddy after their fun pool day. Saxon refused to change out of his swimming suit because he wanted to show Nate that he had been at the pool. Hopefully one day Nate will have Saturdays off...

Ps: Thanks Grammy for the new swimming suits!

Smile...

Saxon has to do everything the big boys do...

-A few days ago, Mike took us to Brick Oven for dinner (Yum! We love Brick Oven). The strawberry lemonade he ordered came with a lemon wedge in it. He held it up for Saxon and said:
~Saxon, what is this?
*(with a wave of his hand and an eye roll) A strawberry (obviously).
~Are you sure?
*Sure.
~What color is it?
*(another eye roll) Red.
~Do you want to taste it?
*(after licking it, making a face, and giving it back) Ew...that strawberry yucky!