Boredom Buster

We have had SUCH a busy month!! Our June picture folder has over 300 pictures and is over 1 GB!!! On that note, if you haven't checked our blog, I've been back dating our posts because we have so many! I think I'm finally caught up and can go back to normal blogging. But, this month has flown by, which has been wonderful while waiting for the baby to come. Anything to help the time pass, I guess!

Since we've been SO busy, our kids are starting to think its normal. Yesterday, I stayed home from church (we're in the middle of our fireworks seasons - more to come on that). I had so much laundry to catch up on, I didn't think it would ever get done since I'll be gone all week again. I thought the kids would enjoy the down time and get some much needed rest. Instead, I had two terribly bored kids on my hands!

Max is so funny. He is as tough as nails physically. He can get hit, punched, pushed, fall off the trampoline, bonk his head - it doesn't matter. He just gets back up and keeps going. But, watch out if you call him a name - all tears break loose!! He is so sensitive with words. Dave had him crying the other day because he said "Hi Messy Face!" after dinner. Today, as Max was whining about wanting to go somewhere (anywhere!), I said "You're just bored!" That's all it took to turn on the leaky faucet. Poor kid! I had to explain that I wasn't calling him a name, just putting words to how he felt!

Well, anyway, today is just one day. We have a lot more summer fun to go, so I'm sure he won't have to deal with all the boredom for very long!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We seriously don't post enough about Dave - which is ironic considering he's the one that keeps things running around here. He's been SO busy lately! He works at one of the school districts in Idaho Falls during the day. After work, he works on one of our many, many businesses. If there is any time in between, he does homework for his master's degree. Poor guy! It seems like all he ever gets to do anymore is work! After he gets his degree, it should mellow out though, so if we can just hold on until April.

The sad thing about his birthday is that it falls a day before our fireworks selling season. Every year he ends up spending the majority of the day setting up for that! This year, the kids and I thought that maybe - just maybe - if we get him something fun for his birthday, he would take at least a few minutes and play.

I took Bria with me to Radio Shack to find something. She was convinced that he really, really wanted the princess laptop. I guess he does use a computer a lot, but I tried to explain that he probable doesn't really need a princess laptop. "But mom! He would really LOVE this!" "Bria - are you sure he would love this and it's not you that would love this?" In the end, we decided to get him a remote control airplane.

He was pretty excited and immediately charged the batteries. It was a little tricky to get working, but he eventually got a good flight going. What you can't see in the picture is the 6 or so neighbor kids that were following him all around. It was pretty funny! Hopefully now he can take even just a few minutes of down time every now and then!

Happy birthday Dave!! We love you so much!!!!

Trip to the Zoo

We went to the Idaho Falls Zoo. My good friend Melissa and I tried several times to go last fall, but it never seemed to work right. Every time we got it scheduled, either one of the moms, or one of the kids were sick. This year, Melissa got a season pass and very generously invited us to tag along!

Max, Grant, Emma and Bria looking at the monkey. Definitely a fun thing to watch!

Our kids definitely don't measure up to a Golden Eagle! (Not yet anyway!) Cute little Max ran up to check even before being told to. I guess it was just so tempting to pretend play.

They have a fun little petting zoo. Bria LOVED it! She ran right in, found a brush, brushed and brushed and brushed and was finally the last to leave. Her approach to a lot of things is to just jump right in and go for it. Max on the other hand is a little more cautious. He watched from outside the gate for quite a while, decided it was okay to go in, went in, decided he didn't really like it, came out, watched some more, and finally went back in. When he worked up enough courage to touch one of the goats, it layed right down, which startled Max and little bit and he came right back out. After all that work, he was done with the petting zoo.

Bria, Max, Grant and Emma on the tiger.

We had such a fun day! We don't have a huge zoo here, but it is just about the right size for young kids. It has plenty of animals, but only takes an hour or two to walk through. After the zoo, we headed over to the park for a picnic and the kids burned off the rest of their energy on the playground.

Thanks, Melissa for such a fun day!

Blessing Babies

While we were in Albuquerque, my sister Macy had her cute twin babies blessed. Our kids fell in LOVE with them both. Max would talk to them and tell them that they needed to come home with us - I don't think he can wait to have our own little baby here. When Bria heard one of the babies talk, she would ask what they were saying. When I told her that babies don't really say anything, they just like to make noise, she would come up with her own interpretations - Payson needs his bottle, or Addibelle wants her mom. Something like that. Since we've been home, Bria and Max constantly talk about how cute and fun their twin cousins were.

Macy holding Payson and Addison (but we all call her Addibelle).

The babies with Grandma and Grandpa Martin.

The whole group - Sam, Macy, Grandma, Grandpa, Addison, Payson, Shatzi, Dave, Orion, Bria and Max.

My good friend Emily, her husband Camron and their little boy Shiloh also came. It was so fun to visit everyone!

Rudy's and Explora!

When Dave got to Albuquerque, we had a whole day planned. We each have our favorite restaurants that we like to go to every time we visit. Dave's is Rudy's. We found it on our honeymoon (it was right behind our hotel). So, we went to lunch at Rudy's. YUM!

After lunch, I really wanted to go to Explora!, the children's museum. My friend Emily took me and the kids last year, but Dave was in Colorado with his master's program. It is such a cool museum - way different than any other children's museum I have ever seen. It's more like a science and discovery museum. Everywhere you look, there are so many interactive things to do. The hard part is choosing which thing to try. The other thing I LOVE is the cost. Being that it's a children's museum, I can't believe that kids get in for only $3! Amazing. So, here are a few highlights from our visit this time:

Bria, Max and Dave playing with the distorted mirrors. Bria like the one that made her look tall and skinny. Where's mom? Definitely NOT in front of the make-yourself-fatter mirror! No need to enhance in that department!

They have a fun playground outside. The kids could probably stay there ALL day, but we only let them play for a few minutes. I love the roller slide they have - so did Max. We got several pictures of him going down.

Here are the kids riding on the elevator. It is huge inside and made up to be a very comfortable living room. Why take the stairs with this kind of luxury?!?

The room of mirrors was definitely very popular. There are mirrors all around - even above and below.

Bubbles are also always a hit. These hoops can really make some gigantic bubbles!! Even Max did great making his own rather large bubbles.

Bria is playing with aerodynamics. She made her own little floater. The gray circle is actually a vent that blows air and the little cups will float if you put them on there just right. Her little cup floater spun around and around. She was very proud of her little creation.

I don't think Max would have ever let us pass the train set by. Our kids liked the already built one but they had all kinds of little parts that you could use to build your own.

The kids are playing with water flow. You can move the little white barriers around and then watch which direction the balls flow down to the bottom. I secretly think that they were more interested in playing with the water than actually learning about water flow, but hey - that's okay!

These pictures are a little hard to see, but they are SO cool. This was kind of like a bubble mirror. The idea was to learn about the color spectrum that shows in bubbles, but the kids reflections were so good, we thought it would be fun to take a picture.

Seriously, if you are ever in Albuquerque, Explora! is a must!!!

Cliffs!

Our kids got SERIOUSLY spoiled on this trip! As if what we had already done wasn't enough, Grandpa decided to take all of us to Cliffs. (I think it's his secret plot to be the favorite - shhh!). Cliff's is an amusement park in Albuquerque. Until this point, our kids have been pretty happy with 25¢ rides outside of Walmart. I'm afraid they've been ruined for good! When I ask them what their favorite part of our trip was, they both very enthusiastically say "THE RIDES!!!"

Max's favorite was without a doubt the Frog Hopper. When he got on that ride, it was like all the other rides were just little kid rides - this was where the real fun started!! He laughed and laughed the whole time (every time). Bria on the other hand wasn't so sure she liked that ride. When it stopped the first time, Bria said "Get me off!!" while at the same time Max was shouting "Let's go again!!" Bria finally mustered up the courage and got in line a second time. (I think she was bored of just watching). Before she went on, she made sure to ask the operator to not make it go so high. The poor teenage employee didn't quite know what to tell her since all he does is push the STOP and GO buttons!

Bria, Orion and Max riding the Frog Hopper

After all the Frog Hopper drama, I was very proud of Bria for trying the log ride. Max would have gotten on in a heart beat. I probably would have let him, too, if I wasn't stuck on the sidelines and had been able to go with him. Bria wasn't sure after the first time if she liked the log ride very much - somehow she got put in the very front. But, she mustered up all her courage went again. Afterward, she decided it was pretty fun after all.

Reina, Bria, Jerry and Orion on the log ride.

The other fun part of Cliff's is the water park. It's a little bit like the Rexburg spray park, but about 5 times bigger. Bria and Orion made a mad dash towards the water and we hardly saw them for a minute longer. Max on the other hand is a very cautious little guy. After all the bravery with the Frog Hopper, I would have thought that he would jump right in the water, but I don't think he likes to be splashed. (Showers are a no go with him - he's much more of a bath kind of fellow). So, after carefully edging the sides of the water and cautiously backing up, he decided that he liked the view better from far away. All that work getting in a swimsuit, and he didn't even get wet!

After all the excitement, we brought home a pretty tired little guy!

The Albuquerque Aquarium and Botanical Gardens

While we were in Albuquerque, we got to go to the Albuquerque Aquarium. The kids love it - especially Max. He is a HUGE Nemo fan, so all fish really fascinated him. We had lunch at the Aquarium restaurant, and the table we sat at was right next to a small corner of the huge tank. Sharks, turtles and tons of other fish swam right by as we enjoyed our food. I couldn't believe how well the kids ate with such a fun distraction!

Bria, Max and Orion inside the Aquarium.


After going through the Aquarium, we headed over the Rio Grande Botanical Gardens. It was fun for me - the only other time I've been was right after it opened. It's amazing what 14 or 15 years worth of growth can do! The kids FAVORITE part was definitely the children's garden. There were life size bugs and vegetation that they could play on. It really was cool! The other favorite part was the butterfly pavilion. There were literally hundreds of butterflies flying all around us. It was so hard for Bria not to try to catch them all! They also had a whole outdoor train city set up. It was amazing! I think watching that train has been a bit of an inspiration for Max - he's played quite a lot with his own Thomas train set since we've been home.

Can you tell our kids love their Grandpa?

ITZ versus Chuck E. Cheese's

Okay - to prelude this post, I have to explain something. Chuck E. Cheese's is very effective at advertising. Too effective. They have several commercials that seem to come on every time we watch TV. As a 5 year old, you can only conclude that it is in fact the greatest place on earth and you MUST go there as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we live in southeastern Idaho. A place that brags of many wonderful things - Chuck E. Cheese's not being one of them. So, our little Bria has been waiting all year to try Chuck E. Cheese's while we visited Grandma's house.

When we got to Albuquerque, the great debate started. ITZ versus Chuck E. Cheese's. ITZ is a place similar to Chuck E. Cheese's, but at the same time quite different. Grandpa likes ITZ better, but Grandma thinks the food at Chuck E. Cheese's is better. So, since our kids have such a fun Grandpa, he thought our kids had better try both - just so they could decide for themselves.

ITZ is quite a lot bigger than Chuck E. Cheese's. The food is served kid buffet style - so hot dogs, pizza, pasta and baked potatoes. Something like that. The food part is completely separated from the game part, so it's really easy to get the kids to eat before wanting to play. They had quite a few different dining rooms - a cartoon room, a sports room, a drive-in movie room. It was fun to pick the place to eat. Of course, the kids picked the cartoon room where they had cartoons playing on huge screens for the kiddos to watch while eating.The play area is HUGE and all the games are targeted to both the young and old. I could have spent plenty of time playing myself, but of course, we were really there for the kids.

Max, Orion and Bria eating in the "Cartoon" room. It was hard to get any of them to look since they were so enthralled with the huge TVs. This is pretty much the only picture we took. I made the kids use some of their tickets in the photo booth. They had SOOOO much fun!

Chuck E. Cheese on the other hand really serves much superior pizza. It is smaller, and so are the games. But, for a little 3-year old boy, the rides were perfect. By the time we went to Chuck E. Cheese's, Bria had caught on the the whole "ticket" idea and was disappointed that most of the games were just to ride and didn't spit out tickets.

Bria found out that the Sponge Bob game gave the most tickets, so she pretty much spent her whole time trying to win more tickets.

Max LOVED the Bob the Builder ride, and took several turns until the line got so long behind him, I finally had to turn his attention somewhere else!

All in all, I think the kids got pretty spoiled going to both. It was so fun to watch their little eyes light up at all the fun going on around them. Thanks, grandpa, for being such a trooper and letting our kids have so much fun!

10 Reasons we LOVE Grandma & Grandpa Martin's House

Albuquerque is fun to visit for a lot of reasons. But, our favorite reason is visiting Grandma and Grandpa. So, here are our favorite things about visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house (in no particular order):

1. The Bouncy House

Max was so fun to watch with the bouncy house. He couldn't decide if it was safe to get in or not, so he spent a good hour running around the outside, teasing the kids on the inside. No matter how hard we tried to get him to go in, he wanted nothing to do with it. Then, after an hour of investigation, he finally decided that it was safe, got in, and we couldn't get him out until it was time to go in for the day. It was SO CUTE!!

2. Feeding the Turtles

Grandma and Grandpa have 3 small turtles that live in their backyard. Every day, the turtles come to the back door looking for something to eat. The kids LOVE giving them bites of bread. I didn't get any pictures this year, but this is Max feeding one of the turtles last year. Bria loves the turtles so much, she talks about them at home all year long!

3. The Slip-n-slide

Yet another fun thing to do at Grandma & Grandpa's. The kids LOVE it!! They played for hours one afternoon with Bion and Orion. Thank you Grandpa for all the work putting up the bouncy house and the slip-n-slide!!

I didn't take any pictures!! DARN! Dave took our camera to Colorado thinking that he would want to take a million pictures, but in the end he only ended up with 13 total. Meanwhile, I was borrowing my mom's camera and ended up with over 200!! Maybe we should have re-thought the camera situation. But, really, I think we got plenty of pictures....just missed a few things like the kids playing on the slip-n-slide.

4. Sleeping Over

Bria, Max and I shared a room. But, I didn't particularly want to share a bed with TWO wiggly sleepers, so I had Max sleep on the floor. The only problem is that he's such a mover, he kept getting caught under the bed in the middle of the night. So, Grandpa got out a cot and we set it up next to the bed. Max thought he had the COOLEST bed EVER!! He was just about ready to take the thing home!

Bria, on the other hand, thought that sharing a bed with mom was an extra special treat. She had been looking forward for months to having a sleepover with mom. She sleeps a lot more still, but likes to cuddle, so often ends up in the middle of the bed.

Probably my favorite part of sharing a room with Bria and Max is discovering that Max talks in his sleep. I don't normally spend a lot of time around him in the middle of the night, but he apparently has very vivid dreams and talks about them while he's sleeping. My favorite was hearing him shout "Nemo!! NO! NEMO!!"

5. Visiting the family

Nothing gets better than spending time visiting everyone we haven't seen in such a long time. We had an extra special treat this time because my sister is living there with her twins. Addison(but everyone calls her Addibelle) and Payson are 3 months old - and they are DARLING! It was so much fun to watch Bria and Max around the babies. It'll be fun to see how they are with our new baby in a couple of months.

Chamron holding Addibelle and me holding Payson. Grandpa's taking a break from grilling some burgers.

Grandpa with Payson. You can see just a little bit of Addibelle in the background with me. I couldn't get enough of holding those cute, cute babies!!

6. The backyard playground

7. Orion's toys

Orion has probably every book and toy you can imagine. He is also very generous and doesn't mind sharing his toys with our kids. I can't even remember the number of hours the three of them spent playing in his bedroom. Thanks, Orion!!

8. Playing with cousins

Bria hasn't ever played baseball before, but she did AWESOME!! She didn't hit the ball every time, but quite a few considering she hasn't ever played before. Orion is a pro! He hit the ball into the neighbor's yard several times. It was so fun to watch them play!

9. The hot tub

To our kids, the hot tub is just like a kid-size swimming pool. Bria probably would have gotten in every day if we would have let her. Max on the other hand was a little more reserved. He didn't ever actually get in, but we did convince him to soak his feet. So much for all the $$ on Little Swimmers! Hopefully he'll get over his water anxiety by the time swimming lessons start in a couple of weeks!

Max, Orion and Bria.

Max and Bion.

10. Of course, because Grandma and Grandpa are there!!!