Sun

I love the end of winter.  I love the flowers blooming and the kids playing outside more then they are inside.  I love the excitement the boys find in worms and bugs.  I really love when the garden starts to bloom.  I love the colorful blossoms and getting my hands dirty in the soil.  

This summer we got a pass to the canyon and the boys love being in nature to explore, skip rocks in the river, and climb trees.  I think we will spend many days up there this summer when school's out.

One of the most exciting things that has happened since the snow has melted is Hyrum's new love of his bike, minus training wheels!  After a couple of Saturdays of Brett working with him, he was off. Now we have a hard time getting him to stop riding his bike.  He is becoming such an independent little man.

Funny things the boys say:

Hyrum:  While we were eating lunch one day Hyrum asked if I was extra smart because I had two brains.  I was kind of confused, obviously.  I told him I only had one brain.  His response: "No, mom you have two brains in your body because you have one in your head and one in the baby that's in your tummy.  So does that mean you're extra smart?"  This boys brain is ALWAYS going.  His thought process and deductions blows me away sometimes.

Noah:  While I was pouring Noah some cereal he said he would get the milk.  I watched as he pulled the full gallon of milk from the fridge with difficulty.  It was heavy and he carried it to me with both hands and said, "I. . . WILL. . . NOT. . . LET. . . THIS. . . MILK. . . DEFEAT. . . ME!"

Owen:  This little man has added some new words to his vocabulary.  "No" has really opened up understanding between us.  Now it's so much easier to find out what he wants to eat by pointing to things.  His cutest new word is "ME!"  When we ask a question like 'who wants to. . . ' He raises both hands over his head and yells "ME!"  It is SO cute! Mostly, he does it when we ask who wants to say the prayer.  He is just so cute!

Happy Mothers Day

Mother's Day in Utah means it is now finally a safe time of year to work in the garden with out fear of snowfall. . . or at least we hope.  This week I've been working on our front garden.  Pulling weeds.  Planting flowers.  Laying out dirt and mulch.  Pulling more weeds.  Then today was the big day for the family backyard overhaul.  The plan: edge, mow, weed, place new compost and dirt.  Our plan changed a little.  We've spent four summers debating what to do with a huge rock/boulder that inhabited the center of our garden space.  It has made planning for this space almost impossible. Once Brett got working on weeding out 'the jungle', he decided once again to attempt to defeat the rock of all rocks.  After a few hours of sweat and dirt, he cleared enough space around the rock so that it could move back and forth with a lot of muscle.  There was no going back now.  After many attempts at moving it he took a trip to the hardware store and got some heavy machinery to help with the rock eviction.  He had fun drilling and pounding into the granite, breaking off several pieces to make it more manageable.  The boys got to try out "Thors Hammer" - as Noah called it.  During this process we had the dirt/compost delivered to us by some young men earning money for scout camp.  They unloaded the dirt around where Brett was working and the scout leader worked with Brett to move the rock to the side of the garden so it can be used as seating.  It's amazing what a difference it makes to have all that space cleared up.  The backyard is looking so much better.  I'll post some after pictures later this week once we get the lawn mowed.  

I'm amazed the boys could pick the hammer up it was heavy and hard to swing. 

This picture is a little deceiving.  He is NOT drilling into his foot. 

The drill was really loud, so the boys sat with their ears covered most of the time.  They had to be far enough away that they wouldn't have rock pieces flinging on them.  

I had the best Mother's Day this year, thanks to the men in my life:).  Hyrum and Noah were really excited about the 'Mom Party' and couldn't wait to give me breakfast.  They kept coming into our room way to early asking Brett (loudly)  if it was time to sneak downstairs and get me breakfast.  Once it was a decent hour to wake up, Brett went down with the boys and got me my cereal of choice. Noah ran up a few minutes before Brett and the other boys, threw a present on me, and then ran away.  I pretended to still be asleep:).  Once everyone was in the room I acted really surprised to see everyone.  I sat up and fed Owen my cereal that he was begging for before I opened presents.  The gifts were perfect and much needed/wanted.  I'm so glad Brett took what I told him I wanted and ran with it:).  In Kindergarten class Hyrum made a special card for me with a paper that talked about how great Mom's are.  I loved them, but I had to laugh at the checklist that had two attributes unmarked.  I don't think he actually read what they said, but it was pretty funny.:)  It was a great day and I am so grateful to be a Mom to such cute/wonderful/happy/smart/funny boys.