A fun date.

We always go out on a Valentine's date, but NEVER on the 14th! We figure if we are going to pay for a babysitter we are going to enjoy our night out and not fight crowds. So I came up with a fun date that we got to go on yesterday. We invited Ryan and Alex to come with us too. Gage got off work early and we headed to iRock. We really enjoyed outdoor rock climbing and I decided it would be fun to try it indoors. They also have bouldering which is short climbs with out ropes (just crash pads for safety). I thought it would be fun to give it a try.

So this is what it looked like, but I didn't take pictures. We had so much fun. After a few climbs to the top my arms were exhausted. Gage definitely showed me up and was able to climb much harder routes than I could. It was fun to challenge ourselves and get excited about climbing again. After we were all too tired to to climb and our hand hurt from belaying and climbing we called it quits and headed to Olive Garden for dinner! Yum! Next we went to the Crabby's to check out their apartment and play some games. It was a very not typical Valentine's Date, but I would do it again in a heartbeat! I love you Gage.

A lesson learned

I can't remember how long ago this was... I'm guessing Trevin was about 2 1/2 years old.
One day we heard Trevin say " Oh My _ _ _." I kind of blew it off cause I wasn't sure if that was really what he said. Well later that night it came out again. So we sat down and talked about how that was a bad thing to say, Heavenly Father doesn't like it when we use his name a bad way, etc. Trying to tell him in a way that he would understand. (We thought our kids would be a lot older when we had to cross this bridge.) We didn't hear it for a few days, then it happened again while Gage was around, and Trevin was scolded a little more strictly than the previous time, which resulted in the same thing a few days of it not being said and then it returned. So we decided that during Trevin's night prayer we would help him pray "to not use bad words." So we did that for a few nights and things were better. It was a nice gentle reminder at the end of the day to not say the bad words. Well a few nights later Trevin wanted to pray without help... Awesome right!  Well his prayer went something like this...
"Dear Heavenly Father, we thank thee for this day. and our bed. and our toys. Please help us remember not to say "Oh my..." because saying "Oh my..." is bad words and it makes you sad when we say "Oh my ..."  so we won't say "Oh my .." any more. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
I guess he learned the lesson, kind of...

THE CIRCUS

A past weekend the circus was in town. The kids and I had seen a poster while we were out shopping and they were both supper excited (about the clowns mostly). I thought it would be fun, so I got online to see how much tickets cost. I about died and immediately decided we wouldn't be attending the circus until the kids were older. A few days before the circus came I found a coupon in the paper for a much better ticket price. That morning at breakfast I started telling the kids about the circus and asked if they wanted to go. The obvious answer... YES! We talked about the circus everyday with everybody! Friday finally came and Trevin woke up asking about the circus. I told him we have to eat breakfast, play, then eat lunch and take a nap, then go shopping, get dad, and then we can go to the circus! Trevin responded with "Really!" and cheyenne yelled "Yay, a circus!" It was like that all day listing off what happens before the circus. When we finally made it to the end of the day we pulled into the shop and Trevin and Cheyenne couldn't wait to get their dad. When we got to the circus they had so much fun watching the camel, elephant and pony rides.
The show started and the kids were super excited. We had lots of acts to watch. the tight rope walkers were fun, The fell and caught themselves a couple of times, so when they went two high I was nervous. Cheyenne's favorite was when the little mermaid music started (Chey loves to sing like mermaid) and 5 mermaids came out and swung on ropes. Chey was in heaven. There was a man that stacked chairs and then did a hand stand on them. and you can't have a circus without a plate spinner and clowns.
The elephants were my favorite. Then ran around the arena while spinning circles, stood on platforms on their hind legs, fell asleep to a lullabye, and one even stood on its HEAD! The tigers were fun too. A couple were uncooperative, Trevin was excited when they lit the ring on fire. Sugar had been telling them all week someone was gunna jump through fire and they did.
Trevin's favorite was probably the motorcycles. They had one drive out and get into the ball and drive around. Trevin was so excited to see this. Then two more joined in. Then a total of four were in the ball and then they drove around inside. Trevin loved every minute.

Gage liked the big wheel that men run inside, then outside, then jump rope and run on the outside, then run on it blindfolded! I was pretty impressed too. And we can't forget the jugglers who always are impressive!
The circus was great. It was fun to see the kids so excited, Chey loved getting to go down during intermission and watch the elephant up close. Trevin couldn't stop talking about it all the way home. I'm so glad we got to go!

WINTERFEST

We went to Winter fest again this year. We had so much fun. I love getting to be together all day on a Saturday. Trevin was way excited about all the snowmobiles. Cheyenne on the other hand couldn't get enough of the horses. Home depot put on a fun workshop for the kids. The had birdhouse kits and hamers and screwdrivers to put them together. Trevin always loves working with dad so this was a dream come true. The two of them worked really hard.

Trevin was so proud of his bird house!

Next up was Cheyenne, she usually gets stuck with mom when the boys are working, so she was excited to work with dad and even stayed interested the whole time, she loved using the hammer, I think dad's thumb only got hit once.

Look at my little handy girl!

When Gage and the kids got home (I went straight to work.) They decided to write their names on their birdhouses so the didn't get mixed up. Chey was first, dad wrote her name then let her draw a little. Then dad wrote Trevin's name and let trein have the marker. Trevin asked dad what the letters were and this was the outcome.
I was so impressed when Gage showed me. I think it is great for his very first time, with no practice or guidance on how to write the letters. The "R" isn't quite attached and the "V" is upside down. (The angled line at the end Gage said was an accident when Trevin moved the pen away.) But GREAT for a barely 3 year old!!!