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!!!

Just like Dad

Trevin loves his dad and always wants to be with him. A few months ago Gage called and said he had to make a run to Salt Lake. He asked if Trevin wanted to go, of coarse the answer was YES! Trevin watched out the window patiently for Gage to come home. He was more than a little excited to see dad come home in a big truck and even more excited when he got to ride in it too.
Gage said he talked non stop the whole trip. What a fun day for both of my boys.

Trevin still wants to do everything like his dad. We had an interesting "quiet time" last week. I was down stairs cleaning, when I heard, Thud... then laughing... then thud, etc. My kids had obviously come out of their rooms and were anything but quiet, so I went to investigate. As I walked up the stairs I heard Trevin say, "Climb Cheyenne, like a rock climber!" I found them climbing in and out of my bathtub. after the toys they had just thrown in. I had a good laugh then took them back to their beds, only to hear them laughing again a few minutes later, this time accompanied by a "bzzz" sound that come and went. This is what I found. Trevin shaving his whiskers and Cheyenne's.

I love that these two have so much fun together!

A new skill

A few days ago I made the kids lunch then got busy upstairs working on a project. A little while later Trevin came and found me and tole me "Cheyenne is making a mess!" I went to scope it out & I found a very happy girl that had learned how to unscrew lids!

It's a good thing she is cute!

TREVIN'S BIRTHDAY DAY

With family Christmas parties falling on Trevin's real Birthday we had the fun treat of Dad coming home in the middle of the day to celebrate. Trevin loves to see Gage in the middle of the day, or go see Gage at work, so this was lots of fun and made Trevin really excited.

Trevin was so excited to see all the present on the table when he woke up. I think it almost killed him to wait until lunch time to open them. He is at such a fun age. He was super excited about everything he got... even the socks and toothpicks (he like to eat hot dogs and pizza with a toothpick).

Trevin loves hats, in the morning he'll tell me "I wanna wear my hat like Dad." Gage has a black Nike hat, so when I found the kids version, I knew we had to get it for Trevin. He loves and wears it almost every day. He grew out of his bike this fall (Chey grew into it and she loves it!) So a new bike was needed and Trevin already flies down the driveway on it, even in the snow. The hit of the day was Trevin's car road! Trevin has probably 100 or so cars and we now have a real town for him to drive on. We've borrowed a couple here and there, but now he has his own. It has everything, His very own, Crabtree Auto with Yard and wrecked cars (Gage probably had a little to much fun crushing matchbox cars for this). Trevin loves to use his forklift to move around the wrecked cars. This map has an airport and run way for his planes, a Train station and tracks for his trains, and on off road area for the many jeeps and monster trucks he has collected.

After we finished playing we met up with Nate and Joni and kid (visiting for the Holidays) at the mall. We were there a couple of weeks ago and saw the mini express, Trevin is into trains just as much as he is his cars and so we sat and watched it for a few minutes. Gage and I decided to let him ride it on his birthday. Trevin picked the back car, and we walked behind the train as it made it's way through the mall, all the kids loved it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREVIN!

Some fun facts...

-Trevin favorite color is GREEN!

-He loves: Thomas the Train, books, Cars, going to the shop to see dad, hide and go seek, pottying on the toilet and he still loves CHOCOLATE MILK!

-He is very matter of fact about everything and very particular. He always puts his comb away on top of the rag he uses to wash the toothpaste off his face, if I put them away wrong he lets me know.

-He is very creative, lately we have had jumping frogs at our house.

-Trevin has an amazing memory, he is great at memory and loves to help Cheyenne find the matches. He loves to repeat lines from movies. "You've got to be pulling on my leg." (Despicable Me)

-He has an opinion about the clothes he wears. If it isn't a solid color shirt or plaid then you must convince him it is a team shirt or else he won't wear it. (with the exception of the Toy Story 3 shirt he got for his Birthday.)

-Trevin is very helpful. He keeps Cheyenne in line, empties garbages and today I found him at the kitchen sink (soaked) hand washing all of our breakfast dishes.

We love him so much and can't wait to see what else he comes up with this next year!