Boys and Dinosaurs

So with this being the last week before Ashton starts pre school again next week I decided we needed to make the most of it.  I took the boys to the Dinosaur Park up in Ogden today, they have been begging me to take them for a couple of weeks now so off we went.  I have to say I loved the fact that the place was practically deserted, it was awesome.  although the day didn't start out that way. 

We got in the car and all was good, I stopped to get a soda then we were on our way, so we were leaving the parking lot, Noah started throwing a fit, I was going the wrong way he wanted me to go in the opposite direction.  I figured I had two options I could yell at him to stop or I could pull out my phone and record him screaming so that is what I did.  I have almost 10 mins of him screaming, it started about the fact I wasn't going the way he wanted me to, then he was mad because he took off his shoes and he couldn't put them back on and he wanted me to stop the car and put them back on, then he was mad because he didn't want the shoes he had he wanted me to go home and get his flip flops.  It was awesome, let me tell you, I won't punish anyone and put the video on here even though I am seriously tempted.  I would feel bad for the damage it would do to your ears for listening to it. 

Finally he was done and we made it to the dinosaur park, we headed into the museum and saw the animatronic dinosaurs they have inside, the boys were a little scared at first.  I think that they seriously thought that they were real.  I told them they were actually robots that look like dinosaurs and suddenly they weren't scared anymore and they loved to watch them.  There was a t- rex and a triceratops and her two babies.  We sat and watched them for about 15 mins They had a bunch of rocks and other bones that the boys weren't super interested in.  Once we headed outside they had fun again. 

I had been warned that the dinosaurs outside didn't move so that was a little boring but the boys still had fun asking the names of all of them then we headed to the education building and did some puzzles and a few games before we left.  Overall the boys had fun and other than the melt down in the car they were really good. 

I thought that this one was too funny.  Poor little Noah his ears are big just like this, maybe not this big but still it put a smile on my face.

When we were done we had to leave through the gift shop, and me being me I let the boys each pick out a prize, Ashton of course went for a cute little stuffed animal, Noah all he wanted was a drink which I bought for both of them, but I could get him to decide on anything else, but I knew if we left and he didn't have anything to play with there would be lots of drama.  So we finally found something he wanted this head thing that chomps, and he seemed happy.  At least until we got in the car and all night they have been arguing over stuffed dino Ash got, of course they both want it.  By the time we left it was almost 2:00 which is past nap time so I was thrilled that Noah stayed awake the whole ride home which was about 40 mins so he still was able to have a nap. 

Wedding

So Leslie got married on Friday and I made the cupcakes for the reception that night.  I made 300 cupcakes, half of them were key lime with key lime buttercream, and the other half were white almond sour cream with buttercream icing.  The baking part kind of sucked, I went and baked them at winegars so that I could use the ovens and get them baked much quicker.  I ended up only having 2 hours to get the batters made and baked and cooled enough to package.  I finished boxing up the last box when the store was closing, I was on a dead run for a solid two hours.  I made the cupcakes Thursday night and then decorated them Friday.  The decorating went really quickly, and I would of had them done even quicker if I hadn't run out of icing and had to go get some more. 

Mom came and got the boys so I didn't have to worry about them and getting the cupcakes to the reception too.  It was a nice little brake from them, Jason and I got the the reception and got the table all set up and I was pretty happy with how they turned out.  We had fun hanging out and spending time with family.

The boys are both very interested in babies right now so they had fun with their cousin Gage, it won't be long and he will be running around with my boys.  I just thought that these series of photos were cute of the cousins together.

I made an attempt to get all 3 of them to look at me but after over 20 shots, no such luck,

The boys love love love their uncles, I would even say they have the best uncles ever.  They are so awesome to my boys, they will play with them, wrestle with them, and basically do whatever they want, well at least until they get tired then they pass them off on the other uncle.  My boys love the attention that they get from them.

Of course not activity would be complete without me wanting to at least attempt to get a family picture.  I don't love the picture of me, but then I usually don't like any pics of me anyways but as far as family pictures goes, we are all looking at the camera and no one is screaming so success!

Finished playroom

So last week I was a little bored one afternoon and thought that it would be a good idea to put the boys in the same room and make a playroom.  So I dragged up the toddler bed and put it together and took the crib apart and stored it away.  It took a few tries to get the beds arranged in a way that I liked.  I am happy with how their room turned out for now.  I really want bunk beds but until then this is a good arrangement.  I needed a blanket for Noah's bed to go with Ashton's so I decided to make one, I went to the fabric store and was able to find fabric almost exactly like same.  I am quite happy with how it turned out.  It's not perfect and anyone who looks to closely will see that but oh well I don't care.  So the boys have been having fun sleeping in the same room, although Noah has kept headed to the playroom when he wants to get dressed so I think it will take just a little time to totally get use to the new arrangement.  I need to do something different on the walls, but I am waiting  because I know if I do then I will just have to change it again when we get bunk beds so for now it stays as it is.

The playroom so far has been totally awesome, the boys played in it for the whole day as soon as it was finished.  They have even been getting up in the morning and heading in there to play.  I love the fact that all the toys are in one place and if needs be I can totally shut the door on the mess.  I can say go to the playroom and play and they do, it is awesome.  I do want to paint the room and do some fun things on the walls but for now it can wait.  My only regret so far is that I didn't do this sooner.

changes around the house

So last week the boys decided that they needed to really break the entertainment center.  It has been hanging in there and was a little broken for quite a while now, well they finally broke the door all the way.  I guess in a way it is my fault, they broke it with a shopping cart I had found on ksl and brought for them and Noah kept ramming it into things.  The joys of having boys!! (not)  So Jason decied to just take the doors off so it wouldn't look so bad.

When Jason came home he immediately got onto KSL to see what we could find.  We ended up finding a guy locally who makes furniture here locally and he had a TV stand that was perfect, it had everything that Jason was looking for and it should be nice a sturdy.  So we ended up buying one.  The next choice that needed to be made was what color we wanted to have it painted, there were about 10 different choices, and we could even have it a custom color if we wanted.  We decided to branch out a little bit and go a little bolder, with our color choice. 

We ended up picking mustard, I have been wanting to change somethings in there for a while now, but I haven't found my inspiration yet.  Now I have it, I am going to paint my walls a light grey and we are going to rearrange the furniture and then make a focal wall for the TV to be on.  I am going to have pops of yellow and aqua and another color which I haven't decided yet.  I am pretty excited about making some simple yet fun changes to the family room.  I found this room online and it is my inspiration for the colors I want to use, with a few tweaks.

When ever I get the itch to do home projects I tend to want to do multiple things at once, so while I need to get going on the family room, we have a couple of weeks till the TV stand is done and I would like to have the room at least painted by then.  Today I decided to put the boys in the same room and make a play room.  I have been thinking about this for a while now, I really want to get the boys bunk beds but we need to save for them so we pay cash.  I was going to wait for the bunk beds before I made some changes but today I decided I wasn't going to wait, we have a toddler bed that was Ashton's so I put that up and took down the crib.  I did some rearranging of the closet and got all the boys clothes in the closet.  For now the boys are pretty thrilled to be in the same room and they are also stoked to have a play room.

The play room is still a disaster and needs a bunch of work, but I am thrilled that I will be able to have one room that all the toys will be in, that means that all the toys will be out of the family room and I am so happy about that.  We found the boys a train table on ksl this last weekend for an awesome price so we needed to find a home for it, right now it is in the middle of the living room.  This is also one of the reasons I decided to make a playroom right now.  I am not going to paint the walls right now, for now we will live with the way it is. 

What were we thinking, and random updates

So two weekends ago, we needed to get out of the house so I thought we should go on a hike.  I packed lunches for us and some water and off we headed to go hike Stewart Falls up above Sundance.  The boys had had so much fun on our little hike over the 4th of July I thought that they would do great, well that was just wishful thinking.  We didn't even get out of the parking lot before Noah was throwing a fit and not wanting to go, we finally managed to get him under control and we were on our way.  The hike is 3 miles round trip so I wasn't really sure how the boys would do, once we got going things were okay and they did alright.  I did have to stop and give Noah a little snack to keep him going and he wanted to be carried for a while, Ashton kept complaining that he legs hurt but we just kept going.  This was almost an awesome family picture, but I figure three out of the four isn't bad, Noah doesn't cooperate much for pictures anyways.  I had brought the big camera with me but left it on the car because I decided I didn't want to carry it, so all I had was my phone, but it does take decent pictures at least.
 

We finally made it to the falls and we all sat and ate our lunch and rested for a while, the boys wanted to get in the water but I didn't think that was a very good idea, I didn't want them to be all muddy on the way back to the car.  The way back they were not as cooperative as I had hoped Noah was stopping about every 5 mins to sit down and throw rocks, and Ashton kept complaining about his legs hurting.  Finally Jason put Noah on his shoulders and I held Ashton's hand and practically dragged him down the hill.  I let him walk on his own for a while, but he kept going slower and slower we would of never got done.  I am glad that we took them and went but I think it might of been a little too much for a first hike.  We made it back to the car just in time for it to start raining.  We decided to drive the Alpine Loop home since we had to pay to go hiking we decided to make the most of our pass we had just paid for.  It was a beautiful drive I just wish it hadn't been raining so we could of seen more. 

So in the end I think we are going to call this outing a success, yes there was some screaming and crying and some attitude but that is pretty normal for our family, and the boys did say when we got home that they had fun so that is what matters.

This last weekend Ashton got to go with my dad and val to Arizona to visit family.  My dad had called and asked if the boys and I wanted to go but I had a wedding cake that I was making on Friday so I couldn't go.  He called me back a day later and said he wanted to take Ashton with him, I asked Ash if he wanted to go and he thought about it for a minute and said he did.  So I got him all packed up and dad came and got him Wed night and they left Thursday morning.  Dad sent me a picture Friday and he looked so happy on that horse.  When we went and got him Sunday, both Dad and Val said how good he was and how much fun they had with him.  I remember getting to spend one on one time with my grandparents when I was growing up so I am thrilled that my boys are getting the same thing.

So while Ashton was gone Noah was getting his own one on one attention first with mom and dad and also with grandma and grandpa.  My mom came and got Noah on Friday while I was making the wedding cake and I picked him up after I got it delivered.  He had so much fun playing and being the center of attention.  He was missing Ash though you could tell and we definitely had to play with him more but it was sure nice to have one child for the weekend.  I just hope that one day my boys are going to know how lucky they are to have two sets of grandparents who love them so much and are so willing to take them and spend so much time with them.