Bell Canyon Hike

My favorite memories, from last summer, are of the hikes we went on.  I really love hiking and the boys love it too.  It's just fun to get outside and do something active.  Utah has so many hiking spots.  I felt a little overwhelmed trying to pick a place to go.

 Bell Canyon has a reservoir and waterfalls.  We decided to just hike to the reservoir--just under a mile away.  The trail there was mostly uphill with a lot of rocks.  The boys loved climbing over the rocks.  Joey had an exaggerated grunt with the majority of rocks he climbed over :)  It was totally do-able for little kids.  It was work and mom and dad had to help a bit, but it was a fun trail.

 starting out

It has rained the night before so temperatures were nice and cool when we started.  It even sprinkled a bit and that felt great.

 

We made it to the reservoir!  I'm still in awe of the mountains after living away from them.  They are so beautiful.

"I'm king of the waterfall!!!"

We took a long break and snacked on trail mix up at this point.  Charlie was "King of the Waterfall" (not sure where he got that from) and Joey dug in the sandy dirt with a stick.  

On our way back, Charlie asked if we could buy one of the homes close to the trailhead, "so we can go hiking every day!"  

First Day of Preschool

Well, it finally happened... Charlie started preschool today!  When we first moved here, I was frantically trying to find a class for him.  Every home run preschool was full and I was at least number 4 on multiple waiting lists.  Miraculously a preschool down the street opened a new 3 year old class!  We took a quick tour and hurried to get his name on the list.

A letter from his teacher came a couple weeks ago.  He was very excited to get some mail!  We met his teacher and took a tour of his classroom the following week.  It was a very exciting day.

The night before school we had a special dinner picked by Charlie: scrambled eggs, sausage, tater tots and fruit.  Breakfast foods are a favorite around here.  After dinner we had a little FHE and decorated Charlie's new school bag.  We talked about listening to the teacher, being a friend, what to do if you have to go potty...the basics.

Charlie: "mom, tomorrow you can play with Joey so you won't be sad.  I have to grow up now.  I have to go to school." 

Just before bed Charlie got a special priesthood blessing from his dad.  As we were getting ready daddy asked Charlie,"do you know your full name?"  Charlie's response?  "Charlie preschool kid." We tried so hard not to bust up laughing.  He is starting to say the funniest things lately!

I asked Charlie what he wanted for his special breakfast and "panpakes" were requested.  His all time favorite.  We all walked Charlie to preschool this morning.  I'm excited to live close enough so we can walk if we want to!

I'm so proud of Charlie!  He had a great day learning about the letter "M" and "Marvin the Monkey."  Of course his clothes came off within two minutes of being home.  I can't keep clothes on this kid!

Charlie is imaginative, creative and wants to be good.  We're lucky to have him in our family.

Thanksgiving Point Fun

A few weeks ago we bought a family season pass to Thanksgiving Point.  We have had so much fun using our passes!  I think we've been going twice a week?  I love that the boys and I can be sitting around and spontaneously decide to pack lunches and head out for the day.  I love knowing we have a place to go when we're bored.

Our passes get us into 3 different areas: Farm Country, Gardens & the Dinosaur Museum. We're trying to go to the children's garden center as often as possible.  The splash park inside is great and will only be open through the hot summer months.

 Last week Johnny & Brittany joined us at the Dinosaur Museum. 

 Happy they are back in Utah so we can have play dates!

These boys are getting so big.  Tony and I have commented on how weird it is to go to restaurants and not need a high chair (Joey is OVER those baby seats-no way!) or that we can all go to a movie together.  I think the biggest thing is we can go somewhere and leave the stroller at home.  All of us can walk.  It's so fun wearing a backpack and heading out with the boys on each hand.

The ice cream shop gives free kiddie cones to children 3 and under.  Yep, we take advantage of that every time!

We Moved!

moving day was a long day

I have so many blog posts to catch up on.  Now that our internet is installed and the office is set up, I can start tackling these posts that I don't want to forget.

We moved in 3 weeks ago and had lots of help from family and some really great neighbors.  We are so thankful for the help we received!  It was a crazy mess of boxes for a while, but I can finally say that pretty much everything is unpacked.  Ya, we still have some things to hang and lots of projects to tackle (in the distant future), but we are pretty settled for now.

cooking in my new kitchen

photo courtesy of Charlie

There are lots of things I love about this home.  The kitchen has room to breathe and an island for preparing food.  Every breakfast, lunch, snack & dinner, the boys sit on their stools and either watch or help me.  Cooking with them has been way more fun and way more messy.  I love the help, but man, parmesan cheese can fly great distances when a 3 year old and 2 year old are helping.  A bigger place means a bigger mess!

helping mom make dinner

Bath time in mom & dad's tub!

a pirate camping in the "spooky forest"

When we bought this home, we didn't realize Charlie's room was in fact a "spooky forest."  Every day we go camping with blankets, bowling pins to make a fire, play food and weapons.  Once the blinds are closed the room  magically transforms into spooky forest.  It's a good thing I have these boys to keep me safe from all the bad guys and wild animals in there!

muscle men

We brought our trampoline in the move and put it up a week or so ago.  In the mornings the backyard is shaded and cool so we jump and jump.

Making a house a home.

Lots of hanging going on around here--thank you 3M strips and Tony. 

Thank you, thank you Tony!

Our street has several new homes on it so we have lots of new neighbors just like us.  We're ready for the temperature to cool so we can be outside with new friends!  I really miss our old home and friends.  I keep reminding myself that these things take time.  It took time there and it will take time here.  That's how life goes.  Being newly pregnant, I haven't had the energy to go out and explore the area like I would normally be inclined to do.  I know where the necessities are and that's good enough for now!

the view from our street

It's beautiful here and I know we're going to fall in love with this area.