Monday, August 26, 2013

A Scheels Adventure

This past weekend we took the kids to Scheels again, this time to play some of the games and ride the ferris wheel. We spent several hours there and the kids would have loved to spend more time! We'll definitely have to do it again soon.

The boys riding the ferris wheel. Chad was a little worried that Cayden would freak out, but he did great! We would have let Laura ride too, but she was 4" too short. Maybe next, next time. :)

There are several photo-op areas in the building and the kids enjoyed doing most of them. It took a little while to convince Cayden that the animals weren't real, specifically the bear and skunk.

Laura was a little unsure of the skunk at first,

but eventually decided it was ok to pet. Cayden wouldn't go near it; he was too worried about it spraying him!

Kids driving the monster truck. This was Cayden's favorite.

Excited to have the truck all to herself.

Ooo! A bear!

This picture makes me laugh. Laura couldn't stop looking up at the huge bear and Cayden was making his "scary" face and refused to look at the bear. I'm honestly surprised that we convinced him to go sit under it.

Playing the shooting game with daddy and way too interested to look at the camera.

Playing with mommy too. The game told me that I needed to go back to shooting school, or something to that effect. Ha!

Finally let me take his picture!

We did a little bowling. At one point I had to chase Laura down the lane because she was running after the ball.

And a little golfing. This picture shows perfectly how each of them played. Cayden actually used the club to hit the ball and Laura just walked from hole to hole throwing the balls in.

We also looked at lots of fish. Laura could have spent all day there. This was definitely one of her favorite parts!

Running up and down the stairs was another one of Laura's favorite activities. She would just giggle and giggle. She enjoyed it so much that we did it a couple of times just for fun. Poor Chad got a decent workout - that girl is no lightweight!

 We finished off a fun evening with ice cream! Both kids approved and have already asked to go back.

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Life Update

We've been having a lot of fun around here this summer... playing with friends, exploring what there is to do around our new home, spending time together as a family, and lots of visits to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We are loving life, but this pregnant momma is praying for some much cooler weather soon!

Afternoon nap with Daddy. These two just melt my heart. And boy does this little girl love her daddy.

Sleeping at church. We have the horrible 1 pm time for church this year and that happens to be when the kids take naps. Cayden does fine without a nap, he just gets a little cranky near the end of the day. Laura without a nap is something you don't want to see. She usually ends up falling asleep at church and while it isn't anywhere long enough, at least it's something.

We went with our good friends to Thanksgiving Point and let the kids explore the dinosaur museum. Cayden absolutely loved it, could have spent all day there, and frequently asks to go back. Laura was just in awe of everything and was content to sit in the stroller and stare (for the most part). 

Laura playing in a pretend dig site.

Cayden and Sienna building a magnetic dinosaur skeleton.

Playing in the water and sand with dinosaurs...

...and digging for bones. These two activities were probably Cayden's favorite!

Showing off his 'scary' face. At least that's what he said. :)

Cayden's 'scary' face and Laura's 'I-don't-care-that-a-shark-is-about-to-eat-me' face. Girl cracks me up.

Bike ride to Grandma and Grandpa's house. The kids loved helping pick squash, tomatoes, and raspberries from the garden.


Cayden and Laura decided to help Daddy and Grandpa wash the cars. I think they ended up getting more wet then the cars did.

 We finally got Laura dried off after "helping" wash the cars only to have her go out back and soak herself while trying to drink out of the hose. I love the look on her face in the last picture!

We visited Scheels to see what it was all about. The kids loved it and Cayden only agreed to leave after we promised to go back soon so that he could ride the ferris wheel and play some of the games. Doesn't Cayden look like a natural driving a monster truck? :)

In other exciting news, Chad applied and was accepted into the University of Utah's Master of Science in Information Systems program! Chad has been thinking of grad school for a few years now and we only started the application process in July hoping to be accepted to start this coming new year, in January 2014. Things fell into place and happened much sooner than we anticipated and Chad will be starting this Fall, as in a week from now. It truly has been a blessing and we have had several miracles happen in order to start so soon. I'm feeling a little stressed about the prospect of becoming a single mommy again to 2 1/2 kids, but know that it will be worth it. Let's just hope I don't lose my mind in the next year and a half. :)

In celebration of Chad getting into his Master's program we burned his GMAT books. Chad was all too happy to do so and got some weird satisfaction out of it.