New Bikes

Zac's bike has been too small for him for quite a while. And while trying to go on a family bike ride, the poor kid is pedaling his 12 inch tires like crazy to keep up! So over memorial weekend, we shopped around for a bike that would fit him and that he could grow into.

In addition to that, Max has been rockin' the trike. He is really good at pedaling and figured it out all by himself-something Zac was never motivated to do. Anyway, it was also time for Max to get a big boy bike. So, we drew up a bill of sale, and Zac gave his bike to Max :) They thought it was great. But we thought it was important to make it official in their eyes so Zac and Max would both understand that the bike is no longer Zac's and Max needs to take care of it and Zac cannot just ride it whenever he wants.

They brought the bike in and got it all cleaned up and put the training wheels back on. Max is learning how to pedal the new bike.

Assembling Zac's bike

Zac loves it and makes better speed and time with less effort!

Now if I could just fix the bike I use, then we could do real bike rides...

A Lesson on Littering

It is surprising to me how windy it is here. But I guess it makes sense, living between 3 canyon areas. Its not conducive to many summer outdoor activities, but it also makes littering a bigger problem. We were on our way home from one of Zac's soccer games on a Saturday morning and they got fruit snacks for their treat. Max always gets to have a treat too. The windows were down in the car, and Max threw his empty bag out the window. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and we stopped to try and find it but we couldn't. Then we talked about littering and since we could find the trash to throw it away, we came home and helped Max to clean up litter that was caught in the bushes and gravelly side of the house.  It was a positive experience and I think he learned his lesson.

 What a cutie!

Random Pictures from Spring

Playing soccer in the family room

Spiderwebs ALL OVER the ENTIRE lawn!!! Disguisting!! The babies were also hatching and web strands were all over the porch and the car, if I left it in the driveway. I couldn't walk outside without getting a web on me. There were even a couple instances where a baby spider hitched a ride on me when I left the house....eewww!!

Deer creek was so high last month. It has dropped a little. This is always a pretty time of year before everything gets hot and loses its green color.

While reading the war chapters in the Book of Mormon we often try to help the boys visualize the plot by using near by objects. Last night each of us represented a different parts of the Nephite and Lamanite armies.

I can't remember which story this is exactly. This particular night we had just finished eating dinner. Its one of the times when the Nephites (the jelly beans) are trying to take back one of their cities (the bowl) from the Lamanites (the m&ms). The Nephites lead the Lamanite army out while a hidden Nephite army pursues the Lamanites in the rear, and another portion of the Nephite army goes to take the city while the Lamanites are pursuing the Nephites.

This night Zac's soccer game got "rained out", but it was actually sunny the whole time during the game. And he was pretty bummed since the last game was canceled because of weather too. So we decided to head over to the rec center. They have some nice AstroTurf soccer fields in doors. It was great for the boys to get to play with their Dad, while I watched a movie on my phone ;) I had eaten terrible that day and I was starving and exhausted, and it was 7:30 by the time the boys were done playing. So we decided to go to a Mexican restaurant in Midway, Tarahumara. There was a clown there painting faces for free. The boys loved it!

May 19--more snow

Over Memorial weekend, we decided to do the first hike of the summer. We went up to Wasatch State Park. We probably only hike 30 mins in. But the boys did great! Zac didn't complain the whole time. And Max did pretty good too. We just had to stop for a snack every 10-15 mins. We are working them up to be better hikers :)

My growing boys!

House

So, we're moving........yes, again. Its a twin home in our neighborhood. It is more than two times bigger than the house we are currently in, it has air conditioner, its better quality and in better condition and has a back door!!! I knew not having a back door at the house we are currently in would be annoying, but I didn't know how much I really would miss it! We are really excitedWe are also excited to for it to take 30 mins to mow the lawn instead of 105 mins! We are moving in the next month.

When we first moved in here, I posted some pictures, and was planning to post more as we finished unpacking...but I never took more pics. And we didn't really decorate either. We put a few things up but that was it.

Craft room/playroom

Master

Boys Room

From the top of the stairs

Backyard to the right

Backyard to the left

Front room bay window

Front room view from the front door

The reason I post these, even though we are moving, is because I like to look back and see and remember how what previous places I lived as a kid looked like. And see the difference between how I remembered things and how they really looked.

Preschool Graduation

Three days after I posted about Costa Rica, Zac finished his third year of preschool. Zac was pretty shy about "performing". He did the motions in very small gestures and sang quietly. His head was tipped low most of the time. But still I think he had a good time and we enjoyed watching!

I love that he's pointing right at me!!

Ms. Nichole-we miss her already!

Now on to Kindergarten!

Blogging seems to be going out the window for me. I just don't get excited about it like I used to. I also feel like we don't have much going on. Perhaps, its being in this small town where I feel like, really, there's nothing to do. But when I upload pics I can see that we have been somewhat busy. Even though I mostly likely will keep in this back posting mode, I am going to keep blogging because this is the easiest way to keep a record for my family. Standby.....

Going Home

Post 10 of 10- finally
It was pretty sad to leave. We were really not ready. The buses left at 7:00a. I just watched the country side pass by, hoping someday we could come back. Jon was able to get some rest on the way home.

This is the control tower

The front of the airport. We didn't come this way when we arrived.

The continental check in, again everything open to the outside!

Here's the terminal. They had a snack bar that was priced even worse than the airports here! The gift shop was air conditioned though!

Jon playing beanie babies with some of the little girls who came

Drinking coconut water.

It was a joke trying to get on the plane. We went through security where our bags were scanned. But then they were going to do a physical check right before getting on the plane. And we had to get rid of all liquids more than 3 oz...even the ones we just bought for 5x retail price! We had to chug a gatorade. Then they picked a few people and went through all their bags and opened everything up and took everything out! I'm so glad that wasn't me! And we had to stay on the right side of the yellow line on the way to the plane or they would have to process all the passengers all over again!

Once on the plane we had to wait an hour and a half because we had problems with customs! I guess the computer system that communicates with the US was down and they had to input everything manually! Another concern was getting to the US in time. Customs in SLC closes at 6 or 6:30 and if we didn't make it we'd have to go to Dallas to go through customs and then fly into SLC. It all worked out and we made it with an hour to spare. We were on the plane for seven and a half hours on the way back. But I'm sure glad I had my Hunger Games book to keep me company while Jon slept on and off.

I'm sure this isn't Costa Rican coastline, but goodbye to Central America!