Good question

Last week the kids and I walked to the library. Unlike in the past when Rylee & Garrett spent the majority of the time in the stroller, they both walked or rode their scooters nearly the WHOLE WAY. Now it ended up taking a good 3 hours to get there and back (including 1 hour spent in the library) but I was so proud of them. On the way home I had to make things a lot more interesting to avoid whining. We found patterns in bricks, noticed and talked about different flowers and trees, sang "Popcorn Popping" and made a connection to what they were singing about (now everytime we see a blooming tree Rylee says, "Look, popcorn on the apricot tree"), played a game called "I'm thinking of an animal..." We'd give each other clues about a certain animal and the other would guess. My 5 year old stumped me with this one, "I'm thinking of an animal that lives in Africa. It has tusks and can be brown or gray. It does not have a long nose:". Any guesses? He finally had to tell me it was a warthog! So fun. We also stopped at the 3 places along the route where the water comes through. At one such stop Garrett watched the water rushing down the culvert and commented, "Jesus made this water." I said "that's right he did make the water". Rylee then asks, "How did he turn it on?" Good question Ry! I love how their little minds work.

Spring Break or Spring GO GO GO?

I didn't think "Spring Break" would have an impact on my family since my kids aren't in school yet. Au contrair, mon frere. It meant I didn't have any extra kids for the week, Garrett was out of preschool and it happened to be the same week that Jon was in Denver for work. Which to me equates to PLAY with no regard for schedules, regular meal time or food for that matter. I decided the kids and I would do something fun every day that we normally don't enjoy. Remember it takes very little to entertain and surprise my babies.

Monday I took them to the rec center but instead of picking them up from the day care and heading home we went swimming. "SWIMMING...today...in the pool?" Couldn't be happier. After, we got cleaned up and went to Costco (okay they're used to this but love it just the same) and had pizza, fruit smoothies and split a churro for lunch at 1:30. That's right, the queen of nutrition.

Tuesday started out with a trip to the doctors for Garrett's kindergarten check and thus didn't fall into the "fun" category but he did get to pick 3 dinosaur stickers and a pencil which somewhat made up for the four shots they gave him. My mom was watching Rylee during this time and sent me and Garrett off to lunch for some one on one. He picked Wendy's and we sat at the table and talked and did the puzzle that came in his kid meal. It's nice to spent time with each kid and give them your undivided attention. That afternoon we went to Walmart to get a birthday present and spend the "bravery" money (given by Grandma for getting his shots). We made a quick pit stop at home to get dinner...bread and apple slices... so we could make it to the 5:45 movie "How To Train Your Dragon" with our friends Cami and Justin and get the rest of our dinner...popcorn, soda and Bottlecaps. It was a really cute show and to hear Garrett laugh out loud is the best.

Wednesday we were invited to a b-day party for Garrett's friend Sydnee. I think this is so fun since Sydnee's mom, Crystal, and I have been friends since we were in diapers and went to each others parties and now our kids our doing it too. Anywho, we went to Pirate Island and enjoyed plenty of games, pizza and prizes. That night I ditched my sweeties with my mom and went to dinner with my buddy Rachael at Carrabba's....oooooh, yummy! Hey, I need a break too.

Thursday we headed to the U of U's Natural History Museum. At our Gray's Easter gathering the previous weekend Great Grandma Gray had clipped an article for Garrett about a 10 foot Ceratopsian dinosaur puppet that was at the museum starting on Thursday and there would be a little show. We arrive at 9:30 so we could see the museum first and be ready for the 11:00 show. I forget that Natural History isn't solely dinosaurs so it was nothing like the dino museum at Thanksgiving Point. My kids didn't seem to mind.

They had a bug area with live ones...scorpions, furry spiders, centipedes, etc. that totally made Garrett go nuts. I let them pick out something from the gift shop and then we got the best seats (on the steps of the lobby...there were no actual seats) for the show. They had volunteers for different parts and Garrett kept raising his hand and was never picked. The guy asked if anyone knew what a Parasaurolophus was and of course his hand shot right up and since he answered it he got to be that dino in the show. When the 10 foot puppet came out it stopped being fun for Garrett. I could hear him say, "ummm, I'm getting nervous."

Luckily they had all the helpers return to their seats for the remainder of the show. He was so happy to be part of it though, it was priceless. We left the UMNH and grabbed some lunch at Foothill Village, got some flowers for my aunt and checked out an awesome toy store to kill some time. This toy store was incredible, small, but so many fun, different things. Then we headed to my Aunt Diane's and Uncle Perry's. My kids took an immediate liking to Perry and hung out with him for almost 2 hours. He played t-ball with Garrett and then gave him the mitt, balls and bat. They played with Diane's many treasures and enjoyed the cookies and "pink drink" she had for them. We had a ball!

Friday we crashed and waited for Dad to come home!

Conference Cuties

Garrett and Rylee were so cute during conference this weekend. Saturday morning I announced that conference was starting and Garrett ran out of his room with his "Conference Activity Packet" and yelled, "Yay! I'm so excited to listen to President Monson". He watched as the different speakers got up and would find the picture of them in his packet and grin ear to ear when he'd find the match. Ry sat on my lap and Garrett was sitting on Jon when the two boys started talking. Rylee looked over at them and said "Shhh Daddy it's time to be reverent." Ha ha. Way to be put in your place. So they lasted about the first 45-60 minutes of each session and then would start running around, playing ball or other games but we had great fun together. During every prayer on Saturday and Sunday they would thank Heavenly Father to be able to hear or see the Prophet. It was so sweet and a testimony builder for myself, especially when so many of the talks seemed to focus on families, moms, and raising our kids properly. It reminded me of so much I can improve on and now is the time to do it when they're still ready and eager to learn.

Easter Eggstravaganza

Easter activities started early this year. Mom and Dad had us over Monday night for dinner, Family Home evening and the 3 egg hunts...yes, three. Each kids is assigned a color of egg so everyone gets the same things and no one is left crying. The 2nd hunt is 2 eggs (one for kids and one for adults) with moola. The 3rd is actually a scavenger hunt to find the HUGE basket filled with goodies for everyone to share. Garrett started recounting the upcoming events weeks before the actual day because he loves it so much. We also had and FHE lesson on Christ and luckily all the kids knew what it is we truly celebrate on Easter.

Garrett was ecstatic every time he found an egg. His face was priceless!

Thanks Grandma Sue and Papa for all the fun!

Garrett got to color easter eggs and have an egg hunt at preschool and was kind enough to share some of his loot with Rylee.

Saturday we went to Jon's aunt and uncles for their annual hamburger/hot dog roast and egg hunt. The cool weather didn't stop the kids from running around like little animals looking for eggs.

(Rylee, Whitley, Aiden, Addy, Garrett)

This would be my daughter hiding behind the chair at Aunt Judy's after she ever so carefully emptied her cup of cream soda on my foot and the floor. Then she looked at me and said, "But it wasn't on purpose." Riiiiight!

And this would be Garrett hiding behind Nana in hopes that I wouldn't notice him eating another cookie.

Friday night the Easter Bunny was feeling a bit guilty that nothing had been purchased for the Gray kids yet until she realized how much they kids had already had that week and would still get. So the Easter Bunny went shopping and the only edible item that each kid got was a box of animal crackers. They didn't seem to even notice - thank goodness!

After conference we had my mom and dad and Jon's mom and brothers over for Easter dinner. It was so fun to have all of them there. I feel very fortunate that not only are we all comfortable around each other but we truly enjoy it.

Uncle Jer reading a book to Rylee. They were so cute together but I think it made my Dad a bit jealous since he's always trying to win her over.

Now it's time to throw away all the candy that's still sitting in my house before I eat it all.

Concert Season Begins

My mom in-law and I went to see

this man, Michael Buble, in concert on Wednesday night. Despite the insane 1 hour and 20 minutes it took to simply get off the freeway and park at the E-Center (hello what were they thinking with that place anyway) and the bad weather (don't worry, just because we didn't bring umbrellas we didn't sacrifice our hair to the rain, we used reusable grocery bags to cover our heads). Yay, we're that lame! Anywho...once we got in things were just ducky. We had incredible seats and got there just in time for Mr. Buble to start - I think he was waiting for us.

He has a beautiful voice and we loved every minute. I think Shellie was a little heartbroken when he confirmed that he is in fact engaged - she was hoping for a proposal. Oh well, we had fun and sang all the way "HOME" (one of my favorites).

Words beyond their years

The things kids say just crack me up sometimes. Here are a few recent samples:

Leaving a restuarant...
Garrett: "Wow, now that hit the spot!"

Leaving Taco Amigo (yes Becca we are there far too often - clearly)
Rylee: "Bye Taco Migo, I looooooooooove you!"

Garrett: "That's what I'm talkin' 'bout BABY."