Mt Rushmore

Mt Rushmore

Our first stop on our trip was in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We took a tour of the State Capitol. The animal pictures are from Bear Country USA near Mt. Rushmore. Then Chimney Rock in Nebraska. And of course Mt. Rushmore. If you look close at the picture of the elk, you can see 4 more big bulls laying down in the back. These bulls were huge! Of course it's not the same as seeing them in the wild but they were really big. In the bear area there are over 100 bears and 20 wolves.

4th of July

The barn in the picture is not to far from our house. We thought it was cool that they were flying the flag on the 4th. The flag is on the right side of the picture if you can't see it.

Crazy Busy Summer!!!

It is hard for me to keep this updated because my husband works from home and uses this computer all day. Today he is at a golf tournament, so I am seizing my opportunity to use the computer for more than 60 seconds at a time!

So far this summer we have been gone from home more than we have been at home. We just finally spent our first full week at home. But now are going to be on the road again. We'll just enjoy it while we can! After a couple of house hunting trips to Midway, UT and leaving empty handed, we found a place to rent in Midway while we keep looking for a house. So we will really be moving the end of August. Hopefully the housing costs start to come down in the fall and winter and we can get a better deal on a house. Over the 4th of July my parents came up to CO and then we all went on up to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. We were really impressed with the place and had a great time. There is tons to do there and Mt. Rushmore really is AWESOME! Colby still talks about it. I totally recommend the trip to anyone. It is one of those things that you have to see for yourself to appreciate. And there are lots of other touristy things to do there too. On our way home we made a detour through Nebraska and went to Chimney Rock. It is the rock out in the middle of the prairie that stick straight up like a chimney. The pioneers used it as a landmark. There are lots of pioneer stories about Chimney Rock. It was really neat to see.

I am posting some pictures of my boys that I took last week in our back yard. They are so grown up and handsome! Colby is Mr. Toothless! Who do you think they look like, me or Mark?!!

Fathers and Sons

Tonight is Fathers and Sons, so I have a whole 24 hours to myself. The boys just left and I am not quite sure what I am going to do with my time. The opportunity for me getting time alone at my own house just doesn't ever happen. In fact, I don't think it has ever happened before, so this really is a day to remember! I am debating whether or not to go to the mall and get Cheesecake Factory for dinner, or just stay home and order Papa Johns Pizza. What a dilemma! Hopefully all goes well for the boys and they don't come home early. You never know about this crazy Colorado weather, it could start snowing! I am attaching some cute pictures of the boys this last week fishing in Midway. Cameron caught an 18 in Trout and Colby caught two smaller ones. The boys were so excited to catch the fish, and Mark was excited to eat them.

So back to my night alone... so far so good even though it has only been 10 minutes, Mark hasn't called yet so thats a good sign!

House Hunters

So, do any of you watch the show House Hunters on HGTV? I really liked to watch it and couldn't wait until it was me that was the one "house hunting". Well, after spending a week "House Hunting" in Utah, I am convinced that the show is totally misinforming us as to the real process of looking for the perfect house to buy. It's not easy and is quite stressful and frustrating. Maybe we are just to picky and are making the process harder by trying to find a house that meets all of our demands, but I figure after 7 years in school we deserve to be picky.

So after an unsuccessful week on the hunt we came back to Colorado a little depressed and sick at the cost of housing in Utah. It is ridiculous how much houses cost. We could buy a mansion here in Denver. Hopefully the market starts correcting itself and prices come down a little. But I have to say that even after all of the frustration, I am still so excited about finally owning my own house. After spending the last 7 years renting and moving every year, we are ready to settle down. Finally all done with school! YEAH!!! Not to mention that we kinda need to be somewhere before December 5th so we can have baby number three!!

Our perfect house has to have a view like this, not to much to ask right?!! Isn't Midway gorgeous.

Mighty Bug Hunters

Colby and Cameron love finding bugs. GMa Davis brought them some bug catching kits and boy were they excited. The poor bugs had no idea what was after them! After catching a few grasshoppers and lots of rolly pollies, they had a cage full! Not to mention all of the earth worms that were at the bottom under the layer of dirt! And I had to include the picture of the pretty wild flowers that bloomed out behind our house. There are so many of them this year I love looking at them. So if anyone needs help catching bugs, Colby and Cameron are the guys to help!

Cameron's 4th Birthday

Well, last week on the 22nd, Cameron turned 4! I can't believe that my baby is 4. When he woke up that morning he asked me, "mom, is it Tuesday now?" I said yes Cam it is finally Tuesday. His response was the best, he said, "YES I am 4 now, yipee!" We had a little party at the park that day and unfortunately, it got rained out, so I don't have any good pictures from the party. All he wanted for his birthday was a "2 wheel scooter" and a "2 wheel bike with rubber wheels". GMa and GPa Davis came through on the 2 wheel scooter and mom and dad came through on the bike with rubber wheels. He was a happy camper! He still reminds me everyday that he is 4 not 3. Today he had his first accident on the 2 wheel scooter. I was just counting the days until it happened. Luckily it was just a scraped knee and only needed a wet paper towel and a couple of minutes until it was better. With this kid's luck, a scraped knee is nothing!

No Front Teeth!

Colby thinks he is so grown up because he has now lost 4 teeth! Both of his front teeth are gone and he looks so cute! He ordered Corn on the Cob at Chilies a few days ago and when he picked it up to eat it he tried to take a bite but couldn't bite any! We had to laugh and cut it off the cob for him! Now he even has one more bottom tooth loose. He was in St. Johns when he lost the top ones and the "Tooth Fairy" at Grandma's house pays double, so he really bad wants to go to SJ to loose the rest of his teeth. Thanks Grandma! Colby is also finally ready to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. It has taken him a while to get up the courage, but as soon as he found out that his cousin Bayli who is only five and a girl knew how to ride a bike then Colb was ready! He had to have on every pad and protection he could think of. It was quite fun to watch him try. And Mark was so patient with him, it was great! Another big thing for Colby is that he only has two and a half weeks left of Kindergarten! He is already telling anyone who will listen that he is in First Grade now. I can't believe how fast they grow!

Finally!!!!

May 3, 2007

Finally it was time to turn on the sprinklers and Cameron was so excited! He has been asking since January if he can run through the sprinklers. So this day when he asked if he could I said sure and he looked at me kinda funny and said "really? it's warm enough?" Yep, finally it has been warm enough here to run through the sprinklers. Maybe summer isn't too far around the corner! For this little almost 4 year old boy, summer can't come soon enough. Cam loves to be outside from sun up to sun down. He only comes in when he needs something then goes right back out! He really needs to live in St. Johns where there is so much to explore! So far we have a pretty good sized collection of Grasshoppers and Earthworms and Rolly Pollies. The boys digs in the dirt all day and says he is looking to discover new bugs in Colorado!

Go Cam, you are so cute!!

Cam Reading Scriptures

The other day when I was reading scriptures, Cam decided that he wanted to read too. So he got his Book of Mormon and a pencil and sat down next to me and started reading out loud and marking scriptures as he went. He reads scriptures a lot and it is so cute but this is the first time he had a pencil. If you look closely you'll notice that the book is upside down!! He read for about 10 minutes that way. He would say something then say, "Is that right mom? Did Ammon save the kings sheep?" Sweet kid. I hope he always has the desire to read his scriptures!

Easter

I was all excited about Easter thinking of the fun Easter Egg Hunts and picnics and just being outside enjoying the nice Spring weather. People kept saying that it could snow and ruin all of our Easter plans but I didn't want to listen. The thought of more snow and cold weather made me sick. So I went ahead with my fun Easter plans until Friday night when it started SNOWING! That's when it hit me that it really does snow on Easter in Colorado and that the Easter Egg Hunt the next morning would probably not be held outside. I really could not believe the horrible weather we were having. So we made plans to have the Egg Hunt at the church, which actually worked out quite well and at least the kids got to have an Egg Hunt at all. But as for the nice cute Spring Easter pictures that I was so excited about taking, well... we have a couple of cute pictures of the kids in the church. Seriously, our high for the whole weekend was about 28degrees. It was sad to see the green grass and new blooming flowers poking up out of the snow. But we survived the weekend and the Easter Bunny found Colby and Cameron and all is well. Colby got some Littlest Pet Shop from the Easter Bunny. (yes I know they are girl toys but he is obsessed with them which I don't really mind because it is nice shopping in the girl section!) And Cameron got some new Hot Wheels. They also got the Happy Feet movie which I thought was quite a cute show. Overall we had a fun Easter weekend. And just the fact that we were in the same state and even in the same house for two Easter's in a row is an accomplishment as well as a first for us! This week Colby finally went back to school after a two week Spring Break. (don't ask about the weather. It sucks again.) Yeah for school!! I don't know how I will entertain them all summer. Any suggestions are welcomed! Now if I could just get Cam in school too! Be sure to notice Colby's missing front tooth! He lost it a couple of weeks ago and is so proud! He got two one dollars from the tooth fairy. I woke up at 6am to him holding the dollars about and inch from my face. He was so excited he couldn't sleep. That makes three teeth for him so far. My boys are growing way too fast!

Colby Ran Away

Tuesday was a hard day in Colby's life! He woke up on the wrong side of the bed and stayed that way all day. He was having a hard time obeying, and was in trouble because of it. He kept saying that his life was "bored" because he had to obey. I tried to explain that when you obey you are happier and you get to do more fun things, but he just wasn't having it. He finally told me, "it's no fun being a kid if I have to obey your rules. I'm running away!" He got up, put on his jacket and walked out the back door. At that point Cam started crying and telling Colby not to run away. But Colb walked out the door and then out the back gate into the open space behind our house. Cam came running up to me still crying saying "I'm really gonna miss Colby. I wish he didn't run away." So after a few minutes when I couldn't see Colb, I went out to check on him. I could see him about 50 yards up from out house sitting under some bushes! After about 5 minutes he came back to the house and told me that he really was running away and that I needed to leave the back door unlocked because he was going to sneak in at night and sleep in his bed, then he would sneek back out in the morning. I told him I would leave the door unlocked and that he was welcome to sleep in his bed and that he could come back and eat dinner if he wanted to. He said ok, grabbed a water bottle and went back out! In the picture you can see him under the bush! He stayed out there for about 30 minutes until he finally came back in. Cam was so happy he was back he kept telling Colby how much he missed him! Colb told me that he was just home to eat some dinner and then he was going back. I just figured that I would play along and not make a big deal of it. I don't know if it is all six year olds or just mine that is as stubborn as a mule. I really don't know if I can make it through this stage. And I know that there are many more hard stages to come. AHHH!!! I keep thinking to myself, Welcome to being a real parent!!! It's a good thing that the kids make us laugh so much and that we occasionally see their sweet side so that we remember how much we really love them!

All Boy!

Last week it was finally like Spring. Cameron played outside from sun up until sun down. Then on Saturday it rained all day. But after such a long cooped up winter Cam wasn't discouraged by a little rain. He discovered that the worms come up on the grass when it rains. He picked up about 100 earth worms and put them in a big cup with a little dirt. He would come walking up the side walk with a hand full of worms and dump them in the cup. Colby would walk around and point out the worms to Cam, but Colb wouldn't pick them up! That night Cameron begged me to let him keep the worms in the house because they would freeze outside! I tried to explain that the worms always live outside and they don't die. But I caved and let him keep the worms in the house. Them next day those poor worms had to bear the curious mind of a three year old. They were dumped from place to place and picked up and carried around. He played with them all day. That night he left the worms in the Frisbee with very little dirt, so they all died. When Cam discovered that they were dead he just shrugged his shoulders and asked, "when is it going to rain again?" So needless to say that when he woke up this morning and saw that it was snowing, he was really excited to go on another worm hunt!

Sunday Afternoon

On Sunday after Stake Conference we went for our usual family drive. The weather was so so so...nice. I think Spring has finally sprung, although I have my fingers crossed becuase this is Denver and the weather changes by the hour. But I hope it lasts for a while. The boys love to get out in this field and look for golf balls. Finding a golf ball is like finding a treasure! On this drive we ended up at a place called Perry Park becuase there are lots of deer. Which is why we go on so many family rides in the first place. There were deer everywhere! The bucks hadn't dropped their horns yet so it was cool to see them so close. If anyone is up for a visit, it is really nice here now. No more snow!!! Yeah for Spring!!!!!

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Our last stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico. We didn't get to see much of it except on the drive to the airport. But by this point we were so ready to be home we didn't care. All total we were gone from our kids for 18 days. I look back and can't believe we left them for that long. I think they thought we were never coming back! They were so excited to see us and us them! This trip was the trip of a lifetime and we are so grateful for the opportunity to go. We learned a lot and have lots of great memories! We are already planning for our next trip!