IDEEEHOO

Last weekend we headed to Idaho to visit my family up there.  My cousin was getting baptized so we decided to make the journey.  It's the first time I've traveled alone with two kids.  I was a little nervous, but it ended up just fine. My Aunt's kids were really great to help out with the boys.  This is a funny picture of the boys playing outside before we left.  I just loved how Lexie always makes sure she's close by.

My cousin, Ty, was Asa's buddy for the weekend.  We walked up to the church and Asa just loved him.  He called him "that big boy".
Ty with Asa and Brayden with Coen.  I just love these kids!
Coen exploring at my grandma's house
The kids would walk back and forth on this old trailer and make it a teeter totter.
We went to Ty's ball game while we were there.  I think Coen enjoyed the dirt more than anything.
Silly Asa
Asa just loved Grandma Shults. He wanted to sit by her the whole time.
Asa and Kelsey at the game
And this is what kids learn when they visit a house full of grown boys.  Coen knew exactly where these things went when he saw them.

A hot wet day

My BFF and her family all went in on this ginormous waterslide.  She invited us to play on Tuesday and the kids had SO much fun! She had her neices and nephew over as well and they all played so great.  At first Coen sat in my lap and wasn't getting in, but later he decided he should get in.  He climbed up that ladder a couple of times, but didn't like it at the top, so he mainly just played in the pool.  It was fun and I am so glad we went. We all got some sun burn too! I didn't get the boys very good.  So note to self....put the block on every hour! 

4th of July adventure

We had quite the eventful weekend.  Cody took Friday the 3rd off (a rare occasion) and we planned on heading south.  First to St. George, then to Vegas for a night. Well it was all fine and dandy till we got to Beaver for a "pee break".  The truck decided it would stay in 5th gear (we figured out later) and so it wouldn't go.  After about an hour of sitting in their parking lot Cody finally came up with a plan and we had my FIL pick up the kids and I up and take us to George, and then Cody had a friend bring him down the "spare" truck and then planned on towing the Dodge home.  When Daron showed up and we loaded in his truck Cody decided he'd try driving towards his buddy in 5th gear.  His truck ended up being driven all the way home and was fine by the time it got home.  We feel very blessed that it broke down on the way to the desert instead of while we were in the heat of the desert.  It was so much better that we had it resolved instead of having to worry about something like that so far from home.  This is how we entertained ourselves in the truck. 

Asa gave me a series of funny faces that were hilarious. 

I had to get to get a group shot.  You can see Cody concentrating on what we are going to do. 
The kids zonked out in Daron's truck pretty much right away.  His A/C was efficient so the poor kids were sweating like crazy. 
The next day we went to St. George's 4th of July festivities.  They had this fun bounce house and the kids just loved it. 
Then there was the train.  Coen was NOT having any of that.  I paid the money to get him in and he wouldn't even think about getting in.  The "train" was water barrels cut open and added wheels and was pulled with a lawnmower.  Asa thought it was great though.  He had a smile on his face the whole time.  The picture of him I zoomed in on him, and he wasn't even looking at us.  So cute.

Asa loved the swings too.  Jayden was so sweet to help him into the swing and get him all buckled.
They had a fabulous slip in slide that at first Asa wasn't interested in, and then loved it.  
At the end of our morning Cody and Angie stood in line in the heat of the St. George day for sno cones. Asa loved it.  Angie told Kasen that he looked like Joker with his red lips from the snowie and Asa thought that was the funniest thing. 
We headed to vegas later on and since we had the Ford we had a hard time getting around.  The truck won't fit in any of the underground parking, so we had to search for a lot that was ground level and outdoor. Which meant we couldn't do much site seeing with the kids.  With it being 106 outside, it was just too hot to walk the strip with them. So we went to M&M world and saw Cody's buddy's nascar.  Asa thought it was great and we picked up a mini nascar for him.
After we explored the shop we went to the basement where they boys played games.  Coen mainly just liked to sit and pretend, but Asa liked the games.

We spent the night in a Hotel in Henderson and planned on watching fireworks at their city festival.  Instead we ate nasty ghetto KFC, and watched a few fireworks from the parking lot then headed into the hotel for some swimming.  The hotel was nice and clean, but it was on the outskirts of town, so there wasn't a lot happening.  We had the pool all to ourselves for most of the time.  At first Asa and Coen hated the pool.  THen after a while I got Coen to loosen up and he was jumping off the side to me.  And then towards the end Asa finally liked it and jumped in a couple of times to Cody.  The kids thought it was fun staying in a motel room.  We had a king bed and a queen bed and Asa planned on sleeping on the queen bed.  In the middle of the night he decided to sleep next to Cody and I slept with Coen on the queen bed. IT was a fun adventure, but I wished we would have done more with the kids since we made the journey to Vegas.  All in all it was fun to get away and not have to worry about real life for a weekend.

What a day...

Seriously, this was one of my most favorite times of boating ever.  We went out on the lake yesterday and it was so beautiful.  The weather was perfect, the water was perfect and everyone had a good time.  I sat there in the bow of the boat just taking in all of God's beauty.  Snuggling with Coen (like I had much of a choice, he was petrified) and going with the motion of the waves (created by us) and just simply enjoying the warm air and the atmosphere.  Asa loved it this time as well.  Last week he went with Cody and Cody's friends and I guess he wanted to go home before the even got to the harbor.  This time he was sitting by himself watching the action going on behind us.  I just dont even know how to put into words how great it was.  And really I think it was all my perspective, Cody, most likely, didn't feel like this trip was any different than any other, besides the perfect water.  As I thought and pondered life's blessings I couldn't help but feel so grateful that we had the opportunity 6 years ago to purchase a boat.  I'm so grateful now that we still have it, and that it runs (it spent two years out of commission) I imagine there will be many more family memories made with this boat, and I'm so grateful! I feel like I have so much to be grateful for in life, and this is just a piece of it. 

I love this picture of Asa watching his Daddy wakeboard. 

My little cowboy

When we were getting ready for the rodeo on Saturday I decided I should snap some pictures of my darling little cowboy.  I seemed to have gotten lucky and got some GREAT pictures.  He was so cooperative and let me take a million pictures.  These are a few of my favorites.

Parade

With some friendly encouragement from the MIL and BFF I decided we'd go to the parade this morning.  I was spoiled growing up because I lived 2 houses away from main street.  So, whenever I wanted to go to the parade I just walked.  I think because of that I have had no interest in the past 8 years to attend Lehi's parade.  It seemed like such a hassle to park 4 miles away and walk main street. LOL.  I am so glad I went.  The kids had a great time and were really good.  I thought for sure Coen would be a little monster and run around the whole time, but he didn't.  It was so much fun!  Too bad I didn't bring my camera, so you are stuck with iphone photos.  Asa said he wasn't going to look.  He wanted to watch the parade.  

Carrie made these stinking cute bullseyes for candy and it worked! The kids got pelted with candy and even an otter pop at times.  One lady thought she'd show us and walked by and said "nope" and tossed candy to the next group! Too funny.  

Happy Fathers Day!

I just wanted to take a moment to pay tribute to all the daddy's!!  

I am so blessed to have such a great husband, who is a great daddy to our boys.  He loves to be busy and to do fun stuff with them.  I love that he works so hard to give us a great life! I love that he comes home as soon as he can from work to be with us.  I love that he does whatever we need him to.  I love that my kids love him more than anyone else (although Coen is a bit of a momma's boy) The moment Daddy gets home is the highlight of the day!

I really and truly am so grateful to be the daughter of such a wonderful human being.  My dad is one of the kindest people on this Earth.  He dedicates his whole life to helping others.  He inspires me to be a better person.  I can't recall a time ever in my life that he has ever spoken an unkind word about anyone.  He is so sweet to me and my boys.  I know I can always count on him to hang out with my boys if I need him.  I love how much he loves my kids and how much they love him. I know anytime I need someone to talk to I can always talk to him and get whatever encouragement I am seeking. I love that my dad is a little on the hippy side and has a pony tail, wears chuck taylor shoes and plays the banjo and the Euke like nobody's business and I love that he is a fabulous song writer. I love you Daddy!
We have been blessed with the opportunity to live next to Cody's Grandpa Frank.  I love that my kids love him so much.  He morphs from a grumpy, gruff, opinionated old man to a big loving teddy bear who loves hugs and kisses from my boys.  Asa has an obsession with going over there everyday.  I don't think his day would be complete if he hasn't seen Grandpa and Grandma! I cherish their relationship!  

We also love to go visit Cody's Dad, Daron, in St. George.  I wish we got to see them more often, but we love to spend time with them whenever we can get away.  He loves to show us a good time when we go down there.  It has been so amazing to watch him grow as a person over the past few years.  He has always been a very kind, fun loving, and genuine person, but now he's even better! 
I have the most amazing big brother in the whole world! He has always been one of my very best friends! As we've gotten older and now have families of our own we don't get to see each other as much.  but I cherish every opportunity we get to hang out.  I love to see him playing with his kids.  He's so full of energy with them and I always know when Daddy's got them they are going to have a great time!  I love that he's a very dedicated (and maybe a little obsessive) hard worker at whatever he is doing. He does whatever it takes to do what he needs to support his family and to enjoy what he does.

My Brother in Law, Rik, is one of the most dedicated father's I know! He loves his girls like nothing else (aside from my sister).  He is a fabulous uncle too! My kids always have a good time when he is hanging out with us!  We are lucky that my sister married such a great person.

Sadly, I don't have pictures of all the other fathers out there in our life! So, I want to wish a Happy Fathers Day to everyone else!

Fishing

I have no idea where Asa had the great idea that he wants to go fishing.  We've never been since he we've had him.  So we decided to take a Sunday drive to the fishing hole at the old Adventure Land Park in American Fork.  We were just planning on going for fun, but some unsuspecting fool got roped into letting Asa fish!  Actually he was the nicest man! We were watching him reel in a fish and Asa was so intrigued and the guy was so sweet to answer all of his questions. Finally it ended up that Asa got to fish with his pole.  He even almost caught one, but it got away.  I think Asa now has fulfilled his desire to fish!

Coen wanted to be in on all the picture taking.  I actually love this picture.  It shows his cute little face along with the beauty that surrounded us up there.
We were the beneficiary of another kind family.  Coen and I were watching the ducks while Asa fished around the corner. The ducks happened to be hanging out near someone's resting/fishing spot.  They gave us some bread so we could feed the ducks.  Coen thought it was hilarious, but once they started coming closer they were kind of scared. They were very beautiful duckies and it was fun to watch them frolic around.
The boys just loved exploring around the park.  We walked up just about all of the trails.
This was the most beautiful area of the whole park.  There were these steep stairs hidden behind the trees. We walked all the way up them and it deemed necessary to take a picture!  Too bad my kids weren't cooperating! We were convincing Asa to sit down and let me snap a picture and he bumped his head on one of the rocks so he was crying.  Coen was content playing with that yellow ball, then handed it over to Asa.  This was as close as I could get to them smiling.  At least they were both looking!

Day at the park and a movie

Recently, I have been blessed to reconnect with a childhood friend, Carrie.  We have been walking every morning for the past month and one day she called to tell me that she saw an ad in the paper for a kids matinee at the old Towne Cinema.  It started this week so we thought we'd go for it.  This is the first time Asa and Coen have been to a movie in a show house. Asa was laughing histerically at the movie at first and then got kinda bored about an hour into it.  Coen was only entertained by the movie for about 10 minutes.  Since it is a kids program, there were 5,000,000 kids there, so it didn't really matter if Coen was acting up or not.  It was fun to go with Carrie and her two kids.  Asa calls her Cuwwee.  Not so good on the R thing :).  It was also fun to see the Towne Cinema after so long.  I don't think I've been there since I was in Jr High.  It hasn't changed too much, besides new seats, paint, and carpet. It was nice inside and the kids had a great time.

When I tell Coen that we're going to take a picture he immediately sits down.  So they are sitting down in the foyer of the movie theater. 

Sunday afternoon we went to the park in Pleasant Grove with all the cool wooden things.  The boys loved it and never wanted to leave.  Coen didn't really know what to do, but Asa figured everything out.  When we got home I went out back and working in the yard a little and Asa was having way too much fun with the hose!  In fact, I'm surprised he would squirt himself with it!  It was pretty funny.

I don't know why this picture won't rotate the right way.  It is that way in my Iphoto.  SO, I guess you'll have to tilt your head.  Asa was trying his darndest to get up this thing and he was actually having quite the time.  Coen looked at it and decided it wasn't for him.  He walked away shortly after this picture was taken.
I forgot my camera, so i took these pictures from my phone.  This one is so funny of Coen.  I don't know why HE showed up red, but it's still cute.   He loved the slide and even had his own version of the word "slide". 

He thought this wobbly thing was fun. Asa was on it for a second and then moved on.