Idaho: The Balloon Launch

We got up nice and early so we could be in Driggs to see the balloon launch on the morning of July 3rd. We wanted to be there by 5:30am so we could see them fill the balloons. There were several balloons and getting up before the sun was worth it.

Idaho: The Zoo

We went to the Tautphas Park Zoo while in Idaho. I wish I had taken more pictures with Mason. I have a lot of pictures of animals but there were only a few with Mason the turned out good. He liked petting a couple of the animals. Next time we'll make sure he pets the other end.

Our Trip To Idaho: The Fence

We were able to go to Idaho for a few weeks this summer and we had a blast. Mason's Grandma Smith was having a fence put up in her backyard and Mason thought it was pretty cool to be able to "help" put it up. His cousin has a toy power drill that we borrowed so Mason could help his Grandpa Smith and Travis with the fence and he thought it was the greatest thing.

While the fence was going up Mason was also learning about dirt. I got the impression that he wasn't sure if it was okay to get dirty. I guess I need to get him out more.

This was also in Grandma Smith's backyard and Mason loved it. He played in it for quite a while. He even made Grandma Smith go in with him several times.

I loved this picture of him playing peek-a-boo with his grandma.

This was just the first couple of days in Idaho. More to come...

The Mom Song.flv

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

I heard this in the car the other day and thought I would share it for Mother's Day. I'm sure some of you mom's have heard it before but I thought it was kind of funny and appropriate for all the moms out there.

The Party

The birthday party was a success. I was a little worried having never thrown a party before and I've only been to one but it was recent enough that I kind of had an idea of what to expect. We invited most of the kids from nursery and five of the six were able to come so we had a good turnout. It was great because the kids just played with the toys while the adults visited. I felt like this was a big step for me because it's hard for me to put myself out there and get to know people. I usually stay home with M. We don't get out to socialize much and I'm in the nursery at church so I don't get a lot of adult interaction there either. Anyway this was our party.

Yes, I staged the toys. Travis teased me for this but I had fun doing it.Of course, it was Thomas themed. The balloons were a big hit with the kids.

The cake was marble flavor. Super yummy. The train from the cake goes on outings with us so M will have something to keep him happy and Mommy sane.

He needed a little help blowing out the candles. I guess we didn't practice enough during the week. I think he'll be able to do it on his own next year.
This is after all the kids left. I think it looks like M leaves it on a daily basis. Travis thought it would be messier so he was pleasantly suprised.

Of course Travis was in the living room on the computer so he wasn't the one to clean up the kitchen and this was only the table. The counters were just as bad if not worse.
All said and done, the party was great, the food was good, the kids had fun and I hope to do it all over next year.

The Birthday

I think that when we got up on M's birthday Travis and I were more excited than the birthday boy. But only because we knew what he was getting and that he would LOVE it. Travis had to work the morning of and he didn't want to miss out on the Thomas Time so we had M open all of his non-Thomas presents in the morning and the rest after his nap when Travis was home. As soon as all the presents were open I think he played with them for about two hours.
We went to Taco Bell for dinner. You can probably guess who picked where to eat. Yes, I'm a sucker for Taco Bell.
M didn't just get train stuff for presents. He also got clothes, matchbox construction trucks, a motorcycle, and some books. He also got a little bit of cash from grandparents and I think I know what we're going to get for him with it. Sometimes we have a hard time getting him to part with his beloved wooden trains at bedtime so we got on amazon and looked for plush Thomas toys and found one that I think will make bedtime much easier. Lets hope so.

From Mom and Dad

Matchbox trucks from G'pa Smith

Motorcycle from G'ma and G'pa Turner

G'pa Smith also gave him expansion sets for his tracks. They are a lot of fun.

And that was the birthday. My baby is two years old now. It's weird to say that but I'll get used to it. Probably in time for his next birthday.

Easter/Conference Weekend

M got this little train for Easter and it's part of the Thomas set. He has been obsessed with train for a while now and he was so excited to find this in his basket this year. Travis got up with him that morning and as soon as he changed his diaper M took off for the living room and ran back to the bedroom to show mommy what he found. I don't think he even noticed that there was candy in his basket.

We had some yummy crepes with fresh strawberries and blueberries or eggs and bacon for breakfast. In the past we've had leftovers and ended up throwing them out later in the week but this time around we ran out and I was kind of wanting more. Oh well. There is another conference in a few months as well as another round of crepes. I think I can wait that long unless someone wants to feed us crepes while we are in Idaho visiting family. *wink, wink*

We weren't sure what we were going to do to keep M quiet for conference and Travis came up with this idea. I don't know where it came from but we have this big roll of butcher paper and we took some of it and drew and colored some train tracks for M so he would have some tracks to play with his new train on. It worked out really well. We had fun making it and M was more than excited to get to use it. It kept him busy for almost all of conference.

Overall, we had a great weekend. It was really nice to just spend it at home as a family.