Sun and Sand (April 26)

We had another nice and sunny day, which is heaven for me. The boys have a great time playing outside. Here are some fun shots I took of them in the sand box.

I think it's hilarious that they like to get out every sand toy they have. They almost don't have any more room to dig because they have so many toys in there!

I was also excited because of the fruit that is popping out on our apricot tree. We haven't gotten very many apricots since we have lived here, so I am hoping that this is our year!

This afternoon I was pretty busy while Ephraim was asleep. After a while I looked at the clock and realized that he should probably be awake by now. So I finally peeked my head in his room and guess what I found?

What a cute little stinker! He was in his bed, just reading a book! He gave me a big smile and I just had to grab my camera and take his picture.

Jacob's Quilt

I finally finished the top for Jacob's quilt! Hooray!

I can't remember when exactly I started this quilt, but I do know that I intended to have it finished so that Jacob could use it this past winter. Well, obviously that didn't happen! So now my goal is to get it done before this coming winter. Then he will have it all warm and snuggly on his bed. Isn't it cute?

I picked up fabric this week for the back of his quilt, which is going to be red (which is Jacob's favorite color). We also got enough fabric to make a turtle quilt like this one for Ephraim. Here are all the fabric quarters that I got.

They are going to look so great and will make a nice quilt! Ephraim's quilt will have green fabric on the back and blue for the top border. It would be awesome if I could have both quilts done by the time winter gets here, but we'll see how it goes.

Jacob is so excited about his new quilt! He wants to put it on his bed right now! I have had a hard time convincing him to be patient so that mommy can get it all finished.

Weekend With the Randall Girls

Since Melinda and Jason were kind enough to watch the boys so we could have a fun bike ride for Joe's birthday, we watched their girls on Saturday so they could have some alone time as well.

We played inside for a while since it had been a bit cold and wet earlier in the week. Then when the grass was finally dry we headed out to the sand box.

Jacob and Ephraim get along so well with Laura and Sara. They all had a blast playing in the sand together. I love that our sandbox is big enough to accommodate a lot of kids at once!

Laura was our little play director. She and Jacob would decide on what they were going to do or build and then Laura would help everyone figure out what to do.

Sara just had a great time digging. Check out the double scoop action she's got going on!

Ephraim was our heavy equipment operator. He loved driving around the big trucks.

Jacob had a fun time showing everyone all the different sand toys. He and Laura would even bury items in the sand so they could have little treasure hunts.

I was having a great time taking pictures of Sara. She was so cute in her little pink top, all covered with sand. One thing's for sure, this girl is not afraid of getting dirty!

The kids all had so much fun playing outside! We even got baby Eliza to take a nice nap while the other kids played. Check out Ephraim on the rope... what a little monkey!

The kids were playing beautifully outside together. Unfortunately Eliza was not interested in staying outside. So we ended up going inside while Ephraim took a nap and went downstairs and watched a movie. Before we knew it, the Randalls were back to pick up their girls!

It was a fun morning, but now I definitely know why I don't have 5 kids under the age 6! That would be so crazy!

Later in the afternoon I went on a bike ride with Andrea Brown while Joe watched the boys for me. He was a real trooper to spend the morning with a whole bunch of kids and then still be willing to watch the boys so I could go out and ride! Thanks love!

In other news, we have discovered that we are going to have to replace the shingles on our roof this summer. What a bummer! Especially since this is going to take a lot of money (and quite a bit of time). Here are some pictures that Joe took this afternoon that show some of the worst spots on our roof:

See how the shingles are starting to peel up and flake off all over? Even I know that this is not a good sign! Our entire roof doesn't look like this, but the sections that do are long enough that we would definitely have to do the whole roof.

So we are not too excited about our summer project this year, but at least once we have it done it should last quite a while. The other good thing is that we have had plenty of great friends offer to come over and help us out with the labor on our roof. It is so nice to know that we have people who are willing to give us a hand!

Love that Still Blooms

 One of the best parts about being married is having a spouse who recognizes when you are having a hard day (or week). When I got home from work tonight after a particularly frustrating day, there were some lovely roses waiting for me.

Thanks Love!

Flat Out Rescued

This evening as I left to go on my evening bike ride, I had the feeling that I should check my pocket to see if I had my cell phone. I was already a few blocks from our house and discovered that my phone was not with me.  I thought to myself... "I really should go back and get it". So what did I do? I ignored that feeling. I thought... "I won't really need my phone anyway, right?!"

So you can probably guess what happened. My bike ride was going smoothly.... I was only a few miles from home as the sun was starting to set.. and I GOT A FLAT.

I can change a flat tire. It's not a big deal. But it was starting to get dark and I didn't plan to be out past dark (so I didn't have a headlight). To make matters worse, I knew couldn't call Joe and tell him I would be delayed because I did not bother to go back and get my phone!

So as I walked my bike towards a nearby parking lot to change my tire I was thinking about how silly it was that I didn't just take that extra minute to listen and go get my cell phone. Just then a nice woman and her van load of kids asked if they could give me a ride home.

I was grateful for the offer and loaded my bike into the back of her van. It was also somewhat humbling to realize that I was being taken care of even though I hadn't done my part earlier.

So here's a note to myself (and to you): Next time you are prompted to do something... just do it! Also, watch out for those opportunities to help others. You never know how much they may need it and how much it might teach them.

I got to have a little lesson from Joe that evening too. We had a little refresher course on how to change a rear flat tire. So now I am prepared for riding all spring and especially when I do my 100 mile ride for Little Red Riding Hood in June. Last year I got two flats and couldn't really fix them myself. This year I am ready!

The Games We Play on Sunday

Sunday afternoons while Ephraim is napping, Jacob often asks me to play games with him. So today while we were playing Candy Land I gave my camera to Joe to take a couple of pictures.

We had a fun time playing Candy Land. There may even have been a bit of goofing off going on.

Have you ever noticed that kids like to play games... as long as they are winning? Jacob won the first round and beat me pretty soundly (notice that I am blue above and he is moving his red man). Then on the second game I actually dared to win.

This turn of events was not well received, and SOMEBODY didn't want to play with me anymore. I guess winning is kind of important when you are only three years old.

Oh well. At least there is always Daddy to smooth things over. Especially when he cheats, but not in his own behalf. What a great Daddy!

Later in the afternoon when Ephraim was awake we decided to go outside and play with Bubbles for a little while to help work off some energy. The boys had a great time popping the bubbles that Mommy and Daddy were blowing.

It can be kind of hard to get pictures of little boys when they are moving SO fast!

I guess getting them moving was the whole point, right?

Ah well, at least they were having fun... and the bubbles never had a chance!

Big Boys Want BIG Toys

I grew up in a house full of girls, so as I raise my boys I have been gaining an education about all things masculine. My boys love trucks, trains and all kinds of construction equipment. As a matter of fact, for his upcoming birthday Jacob has been telling us for months that he wants a garbage truck! I think garbage trucks are disgusting, but apparently for boys they are completely fascinating.

Not surprisingly, one of the boys' favorite books is one that shows all kinds of "rescue equipment". They love to look at the pictures and have me read about the tow trucks, ambulances, police cars, etc.

One morning while Jacob was looking at this book he says to me "Mommy, we need one of these!"

Me: Wow Buddy, that snow-blower is as big as our house and probably costs just as much.

Jacob: But we need one!

Me: Why?

Jacob: We need the snow-blower to shovel the snow off our driveway.

Yeah, right! Off our driveway onto the houses a few streets over! Dream on Bubby. Our driveway is big, but not THAT big.
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In other random news, I went for a bike ride this evening down by the lake. Since I had not taken a picture for my daily picture, I took my camera with me. It is very pretty down by the lake in the evening and I wanted to capture that.

I also discovered that it is very awkward to take my camera bag with me on my bike. Next time I decide to take my camera with me I will definitely have to put it in a backpack. That way the bag won't keep trying to swing around in front of me and interfere with my pedaling!

April 14

We finally had a nice, sunny day! I got to hang my sheets outside and the boys got to play outside in the sandbox. They were wearing jackets/long sleeves, but they were still SO happy to be outside.

They even requested some otter pops as a treat. So I got some out of the freezer and enjoyed watching the boys attempt to figure out how to get the frozen parts up to their lips.

They both did a pretty good job. (Mommy only had to help a little bit).

In other news we also saw our first butterfly of the season. He was hanging out on the apricot blossoms, and I managed a couple of nice shots.

I am very excited for warmer weather and sunshine to stay around for a while!

Rainy Day Croquet (April 13)

Spring this year has been really cold and wet! Today was no exception. There were huge thunderstorms lurking around Utah county. While I was out running errands I took this picture of the valley:

Friendly skies, huh?

So there have been quite a few days that we have been stuck inside, watching as the rain comes down.

So this means that we have to find some fun things to do to keep these handsome boys busy!

Luckily Grandma Devereaux has sent us some fun things to play with. On this particular day we decided to play croquet inside with the fun set that we have.

Both of the boys thought that using the mallets to hit the balls around was pretty fun. The concept of taking turns was a little hard for Ephraim, but he got the hang of it after a little while.

I think that next time we will have to play downstairs, where the carpet is not so thick. Jacob and Ephraim had a hard time getting the balls rolling, but they sure had fun trying! Jacob got pretty good and could even get his ball to roll through the gate sometimes.

Before long it got to be naptime. You can always tell when naptimes comes at our house because a certain little person starts to look an awful lot like this:

While Ephraim was napping I went outside and took some picture of my pretty, wet flowers. Not too shabby, huh?

Quiet isn't always bad

Usually when the boys are being quiet it is not a good sign because it means that they are up to something they probably shouldn't be. This particular morning it was really quiet as I was cleaning up the kitchen. So I thought I should check on the boys.

When I walked into the living room I found them just like this.

So I guess this just goes to show that quiet isn't always bad! Sometimes it is very, very good!

Joe's Birthday

This year was Joe's 30th birthday! I wanted to do something monumental and exciting, but sometimes things just don't quite work out that way. I couldn't really think of anything great to get him for his birthday that didn't cost oodles of money, and Joe didn't really want a big party or anything.

So I did the best thing I could think of. For an early birthday present for my Joe, I arranged to leave the boys at the Randall's house and the two of us went for a LONG bike ride together. We drove down to the Cracker Barrel near Springville and rode around West Mountain.

It is really nice to ride down there because the roads aren't crowded. Plus we even get to drive through Benjamin and Lakeshore and past the home where Joe's Grandpa Sabey lived when he was a boy. We had a great time together, even though the weather was a little colder than we would have liked. We managed to ride about 56 miles!

After we picked up the boys we went out to dinner together too.

Then Sunday was the actual birthday. We had some yummy chocolate pie to celebrate, and Joe got to open his presents.

I got him cycling gloves and a cover for his bike chain. I also earmarked some money for Joe to spend on the nice cycling seat that he wants for his bike. My parents sent Joe a little statue of a cycling man, and his parents sent a package which included a card with $30 all in ones. It was pretty funny.

It was a pretty low-key birthday, but I think that Joe still had a good one! Happy Birthday Honey! We love you tons and bunches... even if you aren't a young man any more. :o)

SLC Trip and the Backwards Pants (April 9)

Friday morning the boys and I decided to go an do something fun. So we drove to Sandy to visit my college friend Cari. We hadn't seen each other in a while, so it was nice to visit. We went to the park for a while, but it was a bit cold and breezy. So we ended up at Cari's house.

Cari works for a vinyl company, so she gets good deals on their products. One of the coolest things I have seen was the chalkboard vinyl that she had covering one entire wall of her house. The boys thought it was the greatest thing!

Jacob loved to write on the walls and then erase them.

Ephraim had a good time writing on the walls too! After his crayon incident the other day, I was just hoping that he wouldn't get confused about it being o.k. to write on Cari's walls, but not on ours!

Then Jacob decided that he needed to color his hands too. He didn't do this by erasing the walls with his hands... no! He actually used the chalk to color his hands blue. What a nut!

We actually had an ulterior motive for going to SLC. We actually wanted to go to REI to get a birthday present for Daddy. So we stopped there on the way home.

It was a pretty good day. Later we were playing around and I took this cute picture of Ephraim. I just laughed at the way he held up the school bus for me to take a picture of it!

Then after Ephraim woke up from his afternoon nap I noticed a little something amiss with the way he was dressed.

You got it... Ephraim's pants are on backwards! Since he is only two, still in diapers, and can't exactly dress himself, I think we all know who is to blame!

Seeing Ephraim running around with his pants on wrong totally cracked me up so I had to get out my camera. I was laughing even harder when he totally didn't understand that I wanted to take a picture of his rear end, so he kept looking right at me and saying "cheese!". My kids are too well-trained!