Henry Doorly Zoo

We went up to Omaha again this weekend. Here is Cole and the kids Friday night while I was at the temple. They had a picnic at a park and then walked the grounds.

 

This is Cade heaving himself from bed to bed at the hotel. He was a little excited.

Then on Saturday Cole went with this singles branch to the temple while I took the kids to the Henry Doorly Zoo. It was a fantastic zoo! So naturally Cade's favorite thing was....the train. He even did a little happy dance while we waited for it to pull up.

We did see lots of animals that they really enjoyed. And the kids were so perfect! I was a little nervous since it was a big outing with just me and the kids but I could not of asked for more perfect kids.

 But they had some huge inclines there-I was quite the sight trudging up those hills with my skinny arms and massive double stroller. The kids both loved the aquarium. Fish are bound to move a lots so that helps. Here are both kids patiently making a fish face for me although I think Cade has a pretty good modeling pose going on.

Cade was really looking forward to seeing some snakes. I know this one is blurry but he has the cutest smile and is pointing at a not so cute snake. MOM-YOU CAN LOOK!! YOU CANNOT SEE THE SNAKE IN THE PICTURE :)

My camera died so I did not get as many pictures as I wanted but here is the three of us. Look close-there is a giraffe coming out of Rylee's head!

Thursday

It seemed like on Thursday there were a few things in a row that I just thought were so funny and wanted to record somewhere. So here ya go.

Rylee needed to go to her 15 month appointment (I know seriously!! When did she get to be 15 months!) Cade was not really acting tired and did not want to be napping. ( I think it is almost time to give up my, I mean his, naptime ;) ) But I pushed the issue and he finally went to sleep. This meant that I needed to wake him up in order to get to the appointment on time. Rylee and I went in there to wake him up. I put Rylee in his bed which usually he loves. At first he was understandably confused and annoyed. I thought it would wear off. Nope. He then insisted that we leave because he was not done napping. So I left the room with the lights off and the door open thinking we would just get up in a minute. He then insisted that I shut the door. I really thought he would take a few minutes to wake up then come out. I went back in and he and totally gone back to sleep. My 3 year old was wanting to sleep more. I thought it was so funny and so out of character for him. And a little early don't you think?

I think I need to subscribe to a car magazine. Seriously. At her check up and we had to wait a little longer than usual for her shots (double fun-waiting and shots). Cade saw the pile of magazines in the little room. He saw one with cars on the cover and asked to look through it. He looked through every single page and narrated it as he went along with wows and oooohhhhhs. If he accidentally turned a couple pages at a time he would go back and make sure he saw those pages too. And then when he finished that one he asked for another one. And did the same thing with a second car magazine. He was totally content. And no smutty advertisements! I was a little worried but it really was all car stuff. How boring. But he was totally into it. Loved seeing the race cars, convertibles, the engines, racetracks etc. So if grandparents need a Christmas idea.....

You know how as a mom you doing silly/embarrassing/out of character things sometimes just to keep your kids happy or to get through a situation? In this same appointment (remember we had lots if waiting) Rylee was putting her mouth up to the wall and making a funny noise. Then she would look to me so I would do the same thing. She would squeal and giggle. Then we would do it again-her, me, lots of squealing. As we were doing this Cade looks up from his car magazine and said, "Mom stop it. It is only funny when Rylee does it." Thanks Cade for pointing out the obvious. If only he knew all the times I did random funny things just to keep him happy.

Those were my thoughts for Thursday :)

Gone Fishing

This morning Cole took Cade fishing. They started out getting donuts for breakfast and then went and got some gear (totally a guys morning)! He was most fascinated with the worms. By far. He wanted to bury them in their little cup, play with them, and poke them. But he wouldn't touch them. Cole told him to watch the pole for any movement. Then while they would wait Cade would come up behind Cole and poke him (so that the pole would wiggle) and then say all surprised, "What was that?!" It was a little hard for him to be patient and he kept wanting to throw rocks into the water. But he did catch a little 4.5 inch bass. Cade was very worried that they were hurting the fish so they let the fish back into the water. I guess we will have to have the 'circle of life' lesson soon.

The first thing Cade said to me when he got home was that the big fish ate the pole. And then he said that he did not tangle the line. Very believable. Cole clarified saying one of their bigger fish did get away with a hook in its mouth and they decided to come home when the line was too tangled to go on-presumably by Cade. 

And can I just say these are the cutest pictures ever!! I love them. I usually try to pick a few best pictures whenever I post but I just had to include several of these. Maybe it is because he is in the phase where as soon as I pull out the camera he decides that it is the best time to be super difficult. Smiling turns into pulling teeth. But these look cute and he is caught in action. And I think that me not being there had something to do with it. I like seeing what I missed  Love my little guy. 

I like how he is giving a kind of 'cool guy' stance here. Can't you just see this same look in like 16 years?! But hopefully with a much bigger fish! ;)

Purple vs Blue

Since we are unexpectedly staying in Kansas longer (rather than doing the PhD somewhere else) I guess we might as well become full fledged fans.

Here we are decked out in purple. K-State had a big kick off to start the football year. It was very family friendly and we had lots of fun. I am actually pretty impressed at the number of family friendly activities there are considering this is quite the college town, partying and all.

 He is helping the fire fighter spray water on a house that has pretend fire.

But don't be too fooled by all the purple. We are true to our blue! BYU's first game was tonight and we were happy to watch them win. I love that Cade already loves BYU (despite what the picture shows).  He loves getting his shirt on and  yells "BYU Cougars!"

Update

Here is a quick update on everyone.
Cole is starting the PhD program and will stay very busy. He just came back from a conference put on by BYU about how to be competitive in his field come job time. He will be doing lots of research as well as teaching a undergraduate class, Human Development. Here he is on the first day of school (well for him. He missed the first real day while he was as the conference).

Here is a picture of Cole and I that we took ourselves after our anniversary date. We had so much fun. He had just gotten back in town so we had lots to talk about. He went to Harry's for dinner (nicest place in Manhattan so we got to dress up!) and then went somewhere else for dessert.

Cade is getting so much older. He can go to the bathroom, get dressed, get undressed, wash his hands, brush his teeth, get shoes on, and take dishes to the sink all by himself. Not that he does all the time. Or even if he does it may not be done well. But he is capable of it and that is progress. It is so nice to be able to tell him to go do something and not have to help him-especially Sunday mornings!! He loves to play with Rylee. He loves to ask questions. He loves Legos and cars. He is really good at pushing my buttons. He stole something from the store the other day and was so proud of himself for being sneaky. I would talk to him about it and he would say, "I know but I was sneaky!" and giggle with pride. He also wanted to put his hand in the fish tanks at the pet store (I know-what was I doing in a pet store) so he could eat them. He wanted to feel them wiggle in his mouth. We had just had fish for dinner the other night. Confusing huh? Overall, a very sweet boy.

Rylee is on the verge of walking. Maybe not verge but she is getting more and more gutsy. She can go from sitting to standing by herself. She is starting to cruise along furniture. She balances standing up for little bits at a time. She can walk with a fair amount of support. She loves her brother. She is getting to be a very picky eater. But you would never know it by lookin at her! She is very rolly and squishy. She loves animals which serves me right since I am not a big fan. New words she can say are car and ball. She is so sweet and overall a happy girl. These pictures are from her first visit to the zoo. She loved it.

And for me just normal mom stuff. I did get haircut-a pixie cut. Who are we kidding? Just a trim. But it was like a 4 inch trim so I am feeling like my hair is chopped to my chin. I also ran my first 10K last week. And it was a positive experience which I never thought was possible. I am doing a booth at a craft fair in November. Other than that just trying to make sure Cole does not die of stress. We are looking forward to another school year.

5 Years!

Happy 5 Years to us today!!

Then:

Now:

5 years
4 moves
3 degrees (between the 2 of us)
2 kids and
1 more degree to get...

Lookin forward to what the future brings!!
I love you Cole!

Cousins!

This past week Cole's 3 nephews came to visit. They have never been outside of Utah. So this was a real treat for them! Cole told the boys that if they would each cut their hair then they could come to Kansas for a week. And they did. So Cole met his dad in Denver to pick up the boys. We did lots of fun things and had a good time having them here. Cade loved having other boys around. One of his favorite things was to wake them up in the morning with the spray bottle. (They were a little unprepared for how early Cade wakes up!)

 The day they drove out was Tristin's 9th birthday. (16 hours in the car on his birthday!) So we had cake and celebrated the next day.

 Pillow fights

 Reading to Cade

 At the way awesome new City Pool

 At our tiny Sunset Zoo. 

 Evening scripture study. Look at all those boys. Good thing I had Rylee around.

I made Gage and Tristin hold hands on the couch because they just couldn't keep their hands off each other ;) I had to get a picture so they are trying to look tough. 

 We made homemade pizza one night. Cole told everyone to look at the camera and smile like they were smiling at a cute girl-nice Gage.

 

 Cole took them to a place called Pillsbury Crossing where they tried to catch frogs. 

Cole pinning all 3 boys

Not pictured is the one-on-one activities Cole did with each of them and the fun times they had at the Institute building. It is not really being used right now so they had the whole place to themselves. They played capture the flag, hide and seek, sardines, as well as some of the games there like ping pong and air hockey. They also experienced Blue Bell Ice Cream (because it is an experience) and loved it.

It was funny how having pre-teens aroundPo is so different than toddlers and infants. It was so nice on Sunday morning when trying to get all 5 kids ready-they could eat, dress and go to the bathroom all by themselves!
Amazing! They were great helpers in taking the trash out and helping out with things like that.

Thanks Hayden, Gage, and Tristin for spending the week with us!