Hudson Happenings

Last Minute Camping and the Start of Fall

2017-09-29T15:49:00.000-07:00

This will be my last Garden Valley post... at least for today, haha.

A couple weeks ago, Matt, the boys, and I decided to go on a last minute camping trip. We LOVE that our property is close enough to just go up spur of the moment. Since it was just one night, we took a tent, but then also hauled up the Razor. We found a couple of beautiful trails. Our favorite took us to the top of a mountain that had the best views.

And of course, every time we go up, we work on at least one project. Matt has been busy cutting trees both big and small (again, stinkin' beaver!) into smaller sections. The boys and I decided to use some of these to make steps down to the creek.

We also went up again yesterday for Bradley's birthday. We only had a couple hours in the mountains, but we made the most of it by working more on our fort. The leaves are starting to change and the fall light is just so beautiful. I wish I could capture the beauty in a picture.

The Creek

2017-09-29T15:28:00.001-07:00

The creek was the selling point of our property, and has easily been the kids' favorite place to hang out. It is nice and shallow (at least at this point in the year) and it's nice to not have to worry about the kids getting swept downstream if they were to fall. They can play in the water on their own (with adult supervision of course) for hours.

Bradley's favorite activity is throwing rocks in the creek. He could probably just sit and do that all day!

Tyler loves floating little plastic boats down the creek... we just have to make sure someone is at the other end to catch them! I bought a bunch at the dollar store - such a great find!

Kylee likes to look for and catch little minnows and frogs.

And I enjoy just sitting in the shade, listening to the sound of the running water and my children laughing and playing. I'm sure Matt would enjoy this too, but he is usually off doing some project while I am watching the kids!

Total Eclipse

2017-09-29T15:13:00.001-07:00

There was a lot of hype leading up to the total solar eclipse this year. Our family was pretty excited and joined in that hype by planning a little eclipse-viewing party up in Garden Valley :-) Garden Valley was in the path of totality, and it was the perfect excuse for our first camping trip on our land. We had quite the crew - Matt's parents, Natalie and her kiddos, Spencer, Beki's family, and our friends the Salisburys. Our family was lucky enough to be able to borrow my mom and dad's new trailer!

Notice that all the weeds are gone on our lot (thanks Matt!) and also notice our beautiful driveway. That was another project that Matt and I worked on... it might not look like it, but it was a lot of work. It involved tons of rototilling, rock removal, and raking.

Anyway, back to the eclipse! It really was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my entire life. I thought it was going to be cool, but I severely underestimated just HOW cool it was going to be. We all had our certified eclipse glasses to watch as the moon started to move in front of the sun.

Mike had also created this cool contraption that showed the crescent shape of the sun.

As the eclipse progressed, you could see crescent-shapes on the ground and on the tents.

Finally, as the eclipse moved into totality, it got really cold and dark! I was told that it also got super quiet, but I wouldn't know because all the kids were so excited and screaming their heads off, haha.

It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity (unless I want to travel to see future eclipses), and it is something I will always remember. What a special thing to be able to witness from our new little piece of heaven.

Burnt Post Trail

2017-09-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

The "jungle" part of our property is pretty thick in places. The kids and I went for a hike one morning and it took us a long time to push our way through the vines to the forest. I decided to clear a small trail - it's amazing how much faster we can now walk through that part of the property! I'm sure we will continue to improve this trail over the years, but it's a start for now!

The Fort

2017-09-29T08:27:00.001-07:00

You can't have a mountain property without fort building, right?! On one of our adventures, the boys and I discovered the PERFECT place for a fort - amidst thorny service berry plants. The plants naturally grew up and formed little "rooms". We have started clearing it out a bit... it's not perfect yet, but I just know our kids (and probably us adults too) will have so much fun playing in this fort over the years.

Dead Elk

2017-09-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

I have a one-track mind these days. I have lots of other posts I still need to get caught up on, but all I can think about lately is Garden Valley. If I could stay up there full-time right now, I would do it in a heartbeat. I love just hanging out on the land and making small improvements, spending time focusing on my family, and dreaming of a one-day cabin.

I have had some people ask what we do when we go up to Garden Valley, so I decided to document some of the things we have been working on and doing! I am going to break this up into a several different posts so I don't end up with one giant post. This one, in particular, you may want to skip if you have a weak stomach. It was the one "not fun" disgusting project that we have had.

This is pretty gross... but I guess this is part of what comes with being a land owner, right!? After we put an offer on the land, we had a couple weeks for "due diligence". During that time, we walked all over the property. When we went down by the creek, we caught a whiff of what was most definitely a dead animal. After further inspection, Matt found that a dead elk that had gotten caught up in some trees that had fallen across the creek (darn beavers!). It was covered by a ton of other sticks that had also gotten washed down the creek, so it wasn't easy to see, but Matt could see the hooves sticking up. We knew this would be a big project, so we asked the land owner to remove and dispose of the elk before we closed. To make a long story short, they didn't remove the elk (or even come down in price on the land), but we bought the land anyway, so it was now our responsibility to remove.

Our kids were only allowed to play upstream until we could figure out what to do. Mandi and I started by fishing out bones (along with some skin and fur) from the bottom of the creek (what a nice sister!). We had a couple big black garbage bags full. I was surprised to see a mostly intact elk once we were able to remove all the sticks and debris to uncover it - I'm wondering if the bones Mandi and I cleared out were actually from a different elk? Anyway, the elk smelled before we uncovered it, but once it was fully uncovered, it STUNK. That is an understatement. I can't even explain how much it REEKED. We had to get it off our land quickly.

We had to figure out a plan of action for what to do next. We started by getting a rope around the elk and tried to pull it out of the creek, but it was too heavy. Thank goodness we had splurged when we purchased the land and also bought a Razor! We took the Razor down by the creek and, with a lot of effort, were able to pull the carcass onto a tarp, get the elk wrapped up, and then dragged the elk all the way up to the road. We put the elk/tarp on top of a piece of subfloor so the tarp wouldn't rip, and we dragged the elk to some public land, where we dumped it off a cliff. Now that it was out of the water and in the sun, it would probably be decayed/eaten pretty quickly.

Once the elk was gone, I felt like we could finally start enjoying the land and do "fun" projects... stay tuned for posts about those. They will be much more enjoyable to read :-)

Garden Valley - A Quick Tour

2017-09-29T07:50:00.000-07:00

We have loved exploring our land, and I feel like there is still so much more exploring to do. Here's a quick "tour" of our land. We have started calling it "Beaver Creek" so we don't just say "land" or "Garden Valley". We thought Beaver Creek was fitting because of all the trees the beaver has felled across the creek.

This is a picture of the front of our land. Our land is narrow and long. This is the flat part where we will build a cabin one day. For now, Matt has weed-whacked down all the weeds and we are using this as a camp space.

When we bought the property, we thought there was some kind of drainage problem, because the left hand side of the property at the top here was super wet and marsh-like. Matt started moving weeds around a bit and saw water bubbling up. What a fun surprise to find that we have a natural spring on our land! We have started to channel it a bit to try and dry things out on that side of the property. We are happy that we don't have to deal with a drainage issue, and that the water keeps our big, beautiful willow (and some cattails!) alive since we don't have a sprinkler system up there yet.

There is a bit of a drop off at the end of this flat section that goes down to the creek. We have an "upper creek" (that is really just irrigation water - you can see Matt standing by it below), and then another drop to the "lower creek" where we have already spent hours and hours playing in the water. The water in the lower creek is pretty low right now since it's the end of summer, but we were told it was super high this spring after all the water last winter. It will be interesting to see the water level change throughout the year.

There's a trail that runs along the creek. It cuts through our property and is maintained by the HOA. Yes, this means that technically people can walk through our property, but we don't mind. We only have only seen one other neighbor down there, and that also means we can walk along the trail along through our neighbors' land (we only have two other neighbors with cabins right now - the rest is undeveloped). The path is the perfect place for a stroll... and if you watch closely you might see some elk or wild turkeys! Hopefully we don't ever see any bears that we know are out and about too...

Just past the creek is our "jungle" area, with lots of viney plants (in the picture below, I cleared a small trail through the plants).

Past that, it opens to the "forest" with tall pine trees. This picture was taken close to the back of our property looking up toward the front.

Buying Land in Garden Valley

2017-09-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

It has been my dream for 13 years to own property in Garden Valley... ever since my first visit to Robin's cabin. I almost bought some land back in 2006 when some 1/3 acre lots were for sale by Robin, but I really wanted a lot on the river like Robin's, so I held out :-) Since we've been married, Matt has shared in my dream, and has spent the last 5 years checking properties on Zillow. There have been several times when Matt has suggested we drive to go look at some of the properties he's found, but we never went because it wasn't a real possibility at the time.

In April, Matt and I went to the Parade of Homes, and my friend Sally (who is a realtor) was talking to us about the housing market... Well, that conversation caused us to think about selling our rental. I went home that evening, crunched some numbers, and saw that it would make significant financial sense for us to sell our rental and put that money toward our current mortgage. It took a little longer than we had hoped to sell the house (due to the fact that we had just extended a year lease with the current renters so we had to sell to an investor), but we finally accepted an offer toward the end of June.

The last week of June, while Matt was at Trek, I had a crazy idea. What if we saved back some of the money from the sale of our rental and bought some land?! I found a property on Zillow that looked promising and sent the link to Matt, saying I thought we should go check it out. Matt called me as soon as he saw my text and was on board! The funny thing is that he had already "favorited" that exact property on Zillow (it had been on the market for about a year!). Shortly after Matt got home from Trek, we seriously started looking for properties. There were a few that looked like good possibilities, but I was really set on Garden Valley. I remember Robin telling me how they could get their kids off to school, head up the one hour to Garden Valley to work on their cabin all day, and then be home before their kids got home from school. That short drive was the biggest selling point for me, but Garden Valley also has so many other bonuses... Starlight Mountain Theater, an awesome tubing hill, a gun range, a river for floating or rafting, great hiking trails, and more.

We drove up and looked at a couple different properties. There was a gorgeous one-acre lot right next to Robin's property, and I was almost sold on it, but it didn't have direct water access. Matt really wanted water on whichever property we bought (and honestly, I did too), so we kept going back to that original property I texted him about. It was a three acre lot that backed up to BLM land and had a creek running right through the middle of it. The creek is what really sold us. We envisioned so many family memories being made there, and we decided to pull the trigger and take the first step toward making our dream a reality. We closed on the land the first of August and have been giddy about it ever since. It is our new "happy place". Every time we go up there (which was at least twice a week the entire month of August), we just can't believe that little piece of heaven is ours. Stay tuned for way too many future posts about our new home away from home (even though it's just bare land right now!).

Bull Trout Neighbor Campout

2017-09-15T23:37:00.000-07:00

You know it's going to be a good weekend when this is the view up and down your street! In July, we went on our second annual neighbor campout. We rented a trailer and headed up to Bull Trout Lake - a little gem of a location close to Stanley. It was the perfect setting, made even better by the fact that we had the entire loop in our campground to ourselves! This was the best decision - it was so nice letting the kids roam and not having to worry that they would bother someone else.

Our camp spots were right on the water, and there were plenty of toys to play in the water with!

Saturday morning, a few of us decided to head up near Stanley to go on a hike. The weather was perfect and the scenery was breathtaking. I was proud of the kids and how well they did (although Bradley and Tyler did end up being carried for a lot of it!).

And you can't have a campout without dutch oven! We had our second annual dutch oven cookoff. My macaroni and cheese was a bust (too salty!) but there was plenty of amazing food - chili and cornbread, nachos, potatoes, sloppy joes, and more macaroni. Yum.

Our family loves camping. We love being out in nature. But camping with friends makes camping even better! Looking forward to next year!

4th of July 2017

2017-09-15T23:36:00.003-07:00

Forth of July was just as wonderful as I have come to expect. I love everything from the flag raising ceremony to the parade to the outdoor activities to the company.

Tyler has been begging to try his "BB8" gun (he called it this even though I told him a dozen times it was a BB gun!). It was so cute watching Matt help the boys shoot the soda can.

Fishing was definitely a highlight of the trip. "The Farm" is so so beautiful, and we love that Grandpa stocks the pond! Tyler even caught his first fish (well, his first several fish!). We ended up going two days in a row :-)

I think one of my favorite parts about visiting Inkom is seeing the sweet relationship that my kids have developed with their great-grandpa.

One last picture... who needs fireworks when nature gives you this?! It was the perfect end to a perfect trip.

Birthday Celebrations (Including My First Ride Along!)

2017-09-10T20:39:00.002-07:00

I had a really great birthday! The morning of my birthday, I had a go/no-go call for a big project I had been managing at work... and it was a "go", so that started things off right! As soon as that call was over, I packed up the boys and we headed to the Jackson Family Farm for a free dairy tour. Of course my phone died right after we got there, but we had fun going on a hay ride around the dairy, seeing some baby cows, and drinking chocolate milk :-)

The evening of my birthday, we headed up with a bunch of family for a picnic and a show at Starlight Mountain Theater (thanks mom and dad!). It was fun watching my cousin Todd perform in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. It capped off a really wonderful day.

By birthday present from Matt came a few weeks later when he arranged for his parents to watch the kids so I could go on a ride along with him! I had such an enjoyable time and really grew to appreciate Matt even more. I'll share a few stories from the evening below.

Saving a Life - The first call that Matt and I went to was at an apartment complex. The apartment managers indicated that a man was late on paying his rent and nobody had seen him for a few days. According to them, the man had lived in the apartment since the 80s, didn't own a car, never went on vacation, and was never late on rent. Matt explained to the apartment manager that he couldn't just go into the apartment, but if the managers wanted to go in, then that was their decision. We followed them to the apartment and they opened the door, and Matt walked in with them to check on the tenant. They found him, laying on the ground in the kitchen. He couldn't talk,but was responsive (he could wiggle his toes and open his eyes), and it was apparent from the fluids around him that he had been there for several days. Matt was able to call an ambulance right away and talked to the man letting him know that help was on its way. This poor man had been alone in his apartment, with no air conditioning on, but thanks to observant apartment managers and neighbors, and thanks to Matt and the paramedics, it looked like the man was going to be okay. The paramedics indicated that the man probably wouldn't have lived until morning. I got a little teary as we walked back to the car. I think a lot of times, people only think of police officers writing tickets or catching "bad guys", but I just watched my husband help save a man's life!

Curry - Matt gets to deal with some interesting people on his job! Matt spoke to one lady on the phone who was convinced her upstairs neighbors didn't like her and that they were "scratching curry into the floor" and it was coming through her ceiling. She said they were doing it to be malicious because they didn't like her, and it made it hard for her to breathe. She told Matt that they were friends with the apartment manager, so the apartment manager wouldn't make her upstairs neighbors move, even though this lady had lived in her apartment longer than them. It was seriously so funny listen to her going on and on about them "scratching curry" into their floor. Matt had put her on speaker, and I was trying so hard no to laugh. But the best part was listening to how nice Matt was to her and how sympathetic he was. The lady just needed someone to vent to, and Matt let her vent! He suggested that she talk to the apartment manager to see if there was another unit available that she might be able to move to :-)

There were several other calls, including going lights and sirens to a car crash in the middle of an intersection during rush hour, responding to an apartment where the caller then proceeded to go get a gun when the officers showed up (they were trying to talk to her because she had called the cops asking for help from a situation the previous evening) and wouldn't put it down after being asked repeatedly to put the gun down (Matt had to pull the gun out of her hands), going to a call at a field where a bondsman found an abandoned car of someone he was trying to track down, etc. It was an exciting evening and I really enjoyed getting a feel for what Matt does every day. My love and appreciation for him grew, and I can't wait until I can go back out with him.

Swimming and Splash Pads!

2017-09-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

My kids love summer. They love being outside, and they especially love being in the water. This summer, Kylee and Tyler both did a session of swimming lessons. Kylee is becoming quite the swimmer, and has decided she wants to do indoor swimming lessons this fall/winter, and possibly join swim team next summer. It is nice to have a proficient swimmer - I know I need to still watch her, but it makes taking the kids to the pool by myself (without Matt) a little less stressful!

I loved watching Tyler in his lessons. I was proud of him for finally feeling comfortable putting his entire face in the water.

He especially loved the "horsey rides", haha.

I'm hoping to do lessons with Bradley starting next year. In the mean time, he had fun at our neighborhood pool and enjoyed going to the splash pad!

Law Enforcement Appreciation at Zoo Boise

2017-09-10T20:02:00.001-07:00

We are lucky to live in a community that supports its law enforcement. We were able to attend a special free event at Zoo Boise this summer as a thank you for Matt and the work that he does! The kids loved seeing all the animals, and it was cool to have so few people in the zoo with us (the zoo was reserved just for Boise PD, neighborhood watch leaders, and citizen police I think). The highlight (besides dad dropping by for a few minutes during his shift) was definitely feeding the giraffe!

The Hole

2017-09-10T12:51:00.000-07:00

Our backyard has had drainage problems since we moved in. Really, really annoying drainage problems. The first couple years we were here, we couldn't mow like the back 6-8 feet closest to our fence because the grass would have standing water on it. Then, the last couple years, in an effort to not have standing water, the rest of our grass was brown and crunchy because we only watered like 2 minutes a day. Oh, and not to mention the fact that didn't fix our water problems and our trees started dying because of all the water. You would think with all that water that we had been watering like crazy, but I think we only watered like 7 minutes a day, so that definitely wasn't it! I think we are just a low point for all our neighbors and the clay soil here is just so so bad.

After playing with sprinklers and how long they run for the last few years, we decided we needed to do something permanently this year. We originally planned to dig several holes throughout the yard to make drains. We thought if we could use the auger to get about 6 feet deep that the water would drain (we had done this near our raspberries last year and it worked great!). Unfortunately, the auger couldn't get through all the rocks in our dirt. Matt was having to pull the auger out after every half inch of digging so that we could dig out giant rocks. It was sooooo frustrating and so much work, that we just bagged it.

At this point, we had the start of a hole, maybe a couple feet deep, and nowhere near draining. It sat like that for quite a while, and then we started digging by hand. We dug and dug and dug and dug. And this was HARD work! It wasn't just digging dirt, it was using a rock breaker to break up hard clay and help loosen and break up giant rocks. The hole was about 4 feet wide and we dug to 6 feet... then 7 feet... then 8 feet before it FINALLY started draining. Hallelujah! We then dug a trench across the back yard to drain to the hole, made it into a french drain, and we are hopeful our water issues are finally fixed! Our grass this year is still beyond repair where we didn't water it enough, but I am super hopeful for next year that we can keep our grass looking nice all year!

Remembering on Memorial Day

2017-09-10T12:29:00.000-07:00

As has become tradition, the boys and I headed down to Merrill Park on Memorial Day to check out the flag display and then headed up to the cemetery to visit the grave sites for Grandma and Grandpa Rich.

I had visions in my mind of getting a cute picture of the boys in the middle of the flags. Yeah, that was never going to happen. I felt a little bit bad as my boys took off chasing each other through the field. Oops...

They were so good and respectful at the cemetery that it made up for their craziness at the park!

Spring Dance Recital

2017-09-10T12:19:00.000-07:00

Kylee enjoyed a second season of hip hop this spring and really enjoyed it.

Here's a video of her dance recital:

Spring Soccer 2017

2017-09-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

Both Kylee and Tyler played soccer again this spring - Kylee with FC Nova and Tyler with Soccer Tots. It is fun to see them enjoying this sport so much!

Tyler lucked out in having Coach Steve again. He really made learning the basics of soccer so fun for Tyler. Tyler's favorite games were "Don't Wake the Dragon" (where you had to dribble the ball to the goal, but put your foot on top of the ball when the dragon woke up) and "Stinky Diapers" (where you tried to kick all the "stinky diapers" into the parents' bedroom, but the parents kicked them right back into the kids' bedroom).

Steam Locomotive and Rooster Tail

2017-09-09T23:43:00.000-07:00

Sunday, April 23rd was a fun day for my family (well, at least for the kids and me - Matt had to work). After church, we packed up and headed out to see some fun sights! We first stopped at the Boise Train Depot to see the Living Legend - the historic steam locomotive. It was neat to see this piece of history!

After checking out the steam engine, we headed up to Lucky Peak to see the rooster tail. It has been a long time since I've seen the rooster tail (I'm thinking I saw it when I was a kid? and maybe just from the car?), and my kids had never seen it. After a quick picnic at the park, we were able to walk down the greenbelt to right near the rooster tail, and even feel the mist from the water. It was cooler than I thought it was going to be, and definitely an afternoon well spent.

Spring Break 2017

2017-09-09T22:45:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun time in Salt Lake last year over spring break that we decided to head back again this year!

We had heard that Shoshone Falls was beautiful this year, so we decided to stop by on our way to Utah to check it out. We were not disappointed!

Our first stop in Utah was the Gateway Children's Museum, followed by a hike up Ensign Peak. It was the perfect way to get some energy out after sitting in the car so long!

Of course we visited the beautiful Temple Square.

And we had to go back to Scheels to ride the ferris wheel! Tyler was excited because he was big enough to ride this year.

One of the surprising highlights of the trip was our visit to Tails and Scales. I had found a Groupon and thought it would be a fun place to check out - and the kids loved it! Kylee even decided to do her school animal report on the blue-tongued skink after holding one here.

I had read about things to do in Salt Lake and thought we would visit Gilgal Gardens. It wasn't as cool as we thought (as in, we definitely won't be back), so we hopped in the car and headed back to the Museum of Natural Curiosity. The kids loved it last year, and they were able to run around before we got in the car for the drive back to Boise.

We packed the fun into our three-day trip! Don't be surprised if we head back again next Spring Break :-)

Hard Drive Failure

2017-09-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

Of course, the one time in the 10+ years I have been blogging that I take a little hiatus, the hard drive on our computer crashes. Luckily I have a tech whiz brother-in-law who was able to recover the pictures that we hadn't backed up, but I figured that was just a sign that I needed to keep blogging! Get ready for several posts coming up over the next little bit!

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

2017-02-18T14:04:00.001-08:00

I love the gallary wall in my dining room. Everything on it has some sort of meaning to my family. I have had a framed "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" hanging on the wall since I initially created my gallary wall. When I saw the work that Matt's cousin did to personalize these, I immediately fell in love. Needless to say, I was thrilled when Matt got me a beautiful print for Christmas to replace my generic one. I absolutely love my updated gallary wall and will always treasure this piece!

The Boys Lately

2017-02-18T14:00:00.001-08:00

My boys are a handful! I'm sure that is the case with most little boys, but Tyler and Bradley sure keep me on my toes. Bradley is full of energy and has turned into a little climber. Nothing is safe around him. Our stools currently reside on top of our counter if we aren't sitting on them, and the dining room chair are locked in the craft room. This doesn't deter Bradley too much... he finds ways to climb even without stools and chairs! I also have to keep my garage door locked so Bradley doesn't wander out into the garage on his own.

Bradley is almost always happy. He has the biggest, cutest smile. He has started throwing fits lately, though. I try not to laugh as he throws himself on the floor. He's usually upset that I won't let him climb on the stool and crawl on the kitchen counter.

Even though he's only 16 months, Bradley has turned into a good little helper. He loves emptying the silverware from the dishwasher and he helps pick up toys when we sing the "clean up song". Speaking of singing, Bradley loves to sing. It is so adorable. He doesn't really say any words, but he thinks he does. Listening to him sing is one of my favorite things.

Bradley loves to eat. He especially loves snacks. All day long he goes into the pantry and brings me snacks... usually fruit snacks, but sometimes he pulls out entire boxes of granola bars or the big Costco bag of pretzels and brings them to me. He also constantly brings me cups to fill up so he can have a drink (he loves water).

He loves playing with toys, friends, and his siblings. He is good at stacking blocks (or jars from the pantry) and loves playing hide and go seek with his brother. He wants to be one of the big kids and loves movie nights with popcorn. He is such a bright spot in our family.

Bradley and Tyler are finally starting to play well together... on occasion. Usually Bradley will just want to take the toys Tyler is playing with (or vice versa) or knock over the tower of blocks Tyler has built, but every once in a while they play so well together. I hope they can become good little buddies.

Besides dressing up and playing with friends, Tyler's other favorite things include playing "school" with Kylee and hanging out with his dad. I love watching Tyler and Matt together.

This last picture is sweet to me. Yesterday when Matt woke up, he got ready to head out on a run. Tyler got all excited and said, "Let's go dad!" Matt thought a minute and finally told Tyler he could go with him, but he would need to sit in the stroller. Tyler told him that he didn't need to sit in the stroller because he was the fastest man in the world (he had been pretending to be Flash all afternoon). The next thing that happened melted my heart - Matt agreed that Tyler could go with him and helped him get on his shoes. I am so thankful for a husband who loves his family!

Dress-Up

2017-02-18T13:42:00.001-08:00

I had no idea that boys liked to play "dress-up". I guess I kind of assumed it was a girl thing.... ya know, princess dresses, jewelry, and purses. Boy was I wrong. Tyler's favorite thing to do lately is dress up. There hasn't been a day in months where he hasn't worn at least one costume. He insists on wearing them to the store, to a friend's house, to the Discovery Center, when we are out on walks, etc. He loves it, and honestly, I love it too (for the most part... except when I have to help him take his costumes on and off a million times a day for bathroom runs or costume changes). Here are a few of his favorites.

Snowmageddon 2017

2017-02-18T13:31:00.001-08:00

We had SO MUCH SNOW this winter. It was the most in recorded history for our area. It made for such a long winter... We were pretty much stuck inside (hence the lack of blogging - nothing exciting going on!) unless we were out shoveling. We did take advantage of the few occasions that it wasn't so freezing cold we could actually enjoy being outside! The kids had fun building snowmen, going sledding, and playing in the awesome snow cave Matt built (he is such a good dad!). I, for one, am happy the snow has finally melted!

Christmas Roundup

2016-12-31T09:40:00.001-08:00

Christmas this year was so much fun! I think I was maybe even more excited than the kids, haha. This was the first time in four years that we had Kylee for Christmas morning, and this was the first year that Tyler was really old enough to enjoy opening the presents. We did lots of activities leading up to Christmas including visiting Santa, going to a couple Christmas parties, playing in the (record) snow, decorating cookies, writing letters to Santa, decorating gingerbread houses, and more.

I also loved how Kylee decided, all on her own, to make a superhero pillowcase for Tyler for Christmas... such a thoughtful gift! It was so much fun teaching her how to sew.

We had the lovliest of weekends celebrating family and remembering the birth of our Savior. It was the perfect Christmas!