A Much Delayed Update

As most have noticed the boys and I have been out and about having some little adventures while James stayed home and worked. It is amazing how much more time one has when they don't have their children to take care of. But he did get our indoor garden started and kept the house clean. My hero! And the indoor garden is flourishing which is always exciting!

So, what have we been up to? Well, we went to Utah, of course. Now to be honest, I have never made the drive to Utah alone before but wasn't worried. So, we stayed for the boys basketball game and headed out right after. Amazingly we only had to go home for two quick items after the game, then drive over to the college to say good bye to James who was hosting a piano competition and head out. We made it to our hotel in Cheyenne around 10 PM MDT and crashed pretty quickly after I did a quick e-mail check. The boys were really tired and a little crabby, but I came up with a brilliant idea. I told Joshua to count how many times Michael touched him, breathed on him, or whatever it was that was bothering him so much. So, instead of whining and squirming and complaining he counted, and that was the last I heard of him. Score! The next day we arrived and spent time with my family and then headed to Justin and Jodi's where we were staying. Of course, I-15 was closed that evening for construction (has anyone ever seen I-15 not under construction), so that was a pain but we made it!

The week was full of family events and, of course, my sister's wedding. The wedding was one of the highlights of the week. It was just beautiful, though, I must admit it is still hard for me to think of my baby sister as a grown up. :) I guess I'll have to work on that. It was fun to see siblings and let the boys play with cousins. They even got to stop in and see their great grandparents which is always neat. This time Jacob didn't even head butt (for lack of a better term) his great grandpa. Though, he did jump on his back. We'll work on that.

It was interesting to see my siblings and their new families that they have formed. And fun to see cousins play. I do feel bad for Michael that he only has one cousin as old as him, but she lives in Florida, but he found games to play with and other things to do to entertain himself. We decided to stay an extra day to see Michelle and her family, who had to go to Colorado for the rest of the time we were there. But to make up for that extra day I decided to try and drive home in one day. I realized that if I left early and stopped around 10 (my usual stopping time) that I would be 3 hours from home. Hmmm. . . so driving til 1 would let me sleep in my own bed. So, we got up and were out by 4:30 AM, yes, I know I am crazy. We got out of Salt Lake before rush hour started-thank goodness! But then we found some lovely snow in the Wyoming mountains. They even lowered the speed limit for me, very kind of them-argh. Other than that we just drove, ate, went to the bathroom and drove some more. It was a long drive, but we made it! So, now at least I know it can be done, but I must admit that I will not be volunteering to do it again anytime soon.

After returning home it took a few days to settle back in but we are now back in the groove and loving this amazing weather! The boys have been playing outside and have even started soccer, which they LOVE!

Between our trip and other things I have had a few observations that I thought I would share.

1. Michael is very difficult to punish. He does something wrong, so I take something away and he says, ok, I'll just wait until tomorrow. Hmmm. . . We'll have to work on that.

2. Jacob hates going off the diving board. The first time he did it he went under and wouldn't go again. But what I really learned was that he is a worrier. He didn't want to go to swimming lessons because he was so worried about it. Fortunately, I listened today and told his teacher that he doesn't want to go off the diving board. The moment I told her Jacob perked up and had the best lesson he has had yet. He was happier, more active and had more fun jumping off the side. Now I know that if there is something bugging him we need to deal with it, so it doesn't affect everything else in his life.

3. Joshua just needs a hug. Joshua has been getting more extreme in his emotions and starting hitting things, so I talked to him about just giving me a hug when he gets upset. It is amazing what difference a hug can make to him. He just calms back down and then we can talk about it.

4. Good friends are great! While in Utah we were able to visit with some of my high school/college friends and it was really neat that after so many years we were able to get together and talk for hours while our kids play. I've learned that good friends become family and I love that!

5. I am not very good at taking photos while traveling. So, here are a few that I took on my ipod. The quality isn't great but they were taken at my friend Bryce's house and at Cabella's (I love free fun places).