Tender Moments

I've been meaning to add a couple more posts, but of course, life gets in the way. But it is LIFE that I want to capture here, the memories, the joys, the little moments. The tender moments.

 My children are my life. And they are joy wrapped up in cuteness, sprinkled with mischief and smiles stuck on that could melt hearts of ice. I LOVE THEM!

  And I love the little moments that make me want to eat them up. Seriously. There are times I just have the instinct to eat them. I never thought I would literally feel that. Do you mothers know what I'm talking about?! It's like I don't know how to express how much they make me smile, and feel warm and gooey inside and a hug just isn't going to cut it. Sigh. Kids. Even when they're cute they make life complicated. Just kidding. It's most definitely the part of parenting I love the most.

But anywho, I wanted to hop here on my blog at practically midnight because despite being exhausted (I've been postponing sleep because I'm reading me some Harry Potter...again) I kind of got a little second wind because I had to help the hubby submit a school assignment online before midnight. Yes, he called as he was heading home from work to help me help him over the phone. Nice. I am sooooo looking forward to the end of this. (LIGHT IS AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL, HURRAH!). And in this second wind, I decided to post really quick a little tidbit about my little Cailen (I did think about going back to Harry Potter...I need to resist) before I forget all about it. So here in Utah we get to celebrate with fireworks for two separate holidays, 4th of July and Pioneer Day (the 24th of July). It's fantastic. It's a whole month of fireworks, awesome. But we had a lot of fireworks to set off one of the last nights possible and had lots of family to do it with. Luckily, Utah passed a law for this year letting us do some aerials, yipee! It was a ton of fun. So we shot off some of those babies and watched with glee. Cailen LOVED it and proceeded to proclaim to EVERYONE that they were going up to Jesus. Oh how I love you Cailen. It was adorable. He liked that everyone laughed and thought was cute so he said it over and over for the next twenty fireworks, but it was still adorable. I looove when he gets so excited about stuff, especially spiritual stuff. I looove seeing that stuff is sinking in.

   We were talking over dinner the other night, a late night dinner of ravioli, and Cailen had me telling him stories. I don't remember what made me think of this particular story (probably related to little boys' love of fire), but I decided to tell him the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (spelling? I think I'm close). For those of you unfamiliar with the Bible story, these three guys get thrown in a big furnace because they refuse to pray to an idol. Cailen thought it was the coolest story ever and was amazed that they didn't get burned. And lo and behold, his Sunbeam class at church today brought up that story and he was so excited that he knew it! He told everyone that they got thrown in the fire by the bad king. And he gave an amazing prayer all by himself.

Sigh, ok, bragging is done. But it's not just bragging, it's that I am just simply amazed at what little kids can do, what they can know and what they can grasp. I love it. I love the daily reminders. They are my sweet tender moments. I LOVE them and they are the things that I want to capture so that I can look back on them and feel that love, that intense joy that only little munchkins can give! And Jex does it for me too. These past few days he has gotten very excited by a picture of Jesus we have in the boys' room. LOVING IT! I thank my Heavenly Father every night for these little boys. XOXO

U2!!!!!!!!!!

As many of you know, my dad had surgery a few years ago because he had colon cancer. Well, he had a follow up surgery a little while ago and was still recuperating when the U2 concert came to town. They were supposed to come about a year ago, but then Bono hurt his back and they had to reschedule. Mark and some other people were planning on going, but I had opted out (tickets are PRICEY!). However, my dad was still feeling under the weather so he GRACIOUSLY let me take his ticket and go with my mom! HOW AWESOME (for me, definitely not him). So I didn't have to rush to the stadium and stand around for hours trying to get in early in GA and score a good spot. Mark did. I got to take care of my kids, get them fed and to bed before my mom and I headed out to sit in our SEATS to watch the amazing U2. Now Genereal Admission is definitely awesome in its own way, but so are the seats. It worked out REALLY well for me. And it was a lot of fun to go to a concert with my mom! Girl time!! It was a GREAT show of course and I much preferred the opening band The Fray to the original opening band for last year - Lenny Kravitz. Uck. So it was a really great time, enjoyed my me and my mom!! I even bought Mark a tshirt for fathers day while I was there (he thought that was pretty cool on Fathers Day)

Mark is in the crowd below...somewhere!

 The Fray

 Me with the HUGE stage!

 Bono!

 The Edge!!

 Bono! (again)

 They had some awesome light effects!

Annual Buckhorn Draw Camping Trip

Every year we go camping with Mark's family to a place called Buckhorn Draw. It's a place near Price,  Utah and the kids have a BLAST! This year was no exception and it was Jex's first time camping! We had lots of fun with all the traditional activities: rock climbing, marshmellow roasting, family meals, sitting and talking, and paintballing. Ok, I was a little lame this year and opted out of the paintballing but it ended up being a good thing because Jex was a little stinker during it (I had to sit on the rocks and nurse him..ugh).  But it was lots of fun to watch everyone else and it was lots of fun to spend time with family! Until next year!



Cailen with his cousin Becca

Jex was a trooper sleeping in his bassinet in the tent...it was a little snug.

Cousins!!! Becca, Cailen, Logan and Braxton

Since he couldn't be in the capture the flag paintball game, Cailen had Daddy help him shoot some rocks

Watching the paintballing game

Climbing rocks with Landen

Jex liked Landen's bb gun :)

And his great grandma Case was helping encourage that interest, haha!

I LOVE big brothers

 Cailen is the BEST big brother. Well, there are times he could help ME out a bit more with Jex. But on the whole, he LOVES to be a big brothe to Jex and I just LOVE it too! This past Sunday, Jex was just enthralled with Cailen's ear. It was funny. But Cailen just let him grab on like there was no tomorrow. And just now, he was playing peekaboo and letting Jex go nuts smacking him in the face and grabbing onto his cheeks and mouth. Adorable. Nothing says I love you then letting your baby brother maul YOU. And here I was worried Cailen would do the mauling (ok, he did his fair share of over-hugging newborn Jex, but that has evolved quite nicely). Oh I do love my little boys so. MUAH!

Hanging out at Duck Park

The nearby city park is where we like to go to feed the ducks. Hence, Cailen calls it the Duck Park. He could throw a whole loaf of bread to these ducks if I let him! This trip, Grandma came with us! Jex and I hung out on the grass while Cailen went galivanting off with Gma Davis. She even went with him to play on the playground. Aren't grandma's awesome! Since I was hanging out with the babe, that is what I took pictures of mostly. Buuut, he's so adorable, so all's well :)

Little Friends

I love watching my kids play and what is so amazing to see is them growing up! Cailen is a little BOY now, no baby anymore. And it is hilarious to see what crazy things kids come up with to do together. One of his BEST friends is his cousin Becca. Lately, they love to dig for worms....and feed it to my mother-in-laws turtle. Oh kids. Another one of his friends is Camden! Our good friends Brynna and Dustin Morrison have an adorable boy that invited Cailen to his bday party not long ago and it was just GREAT. I could watch Cailen allll day and just thoroughly enjoy his antics.

P.S. Does anyone else have issues uploading videos? Again with the technology. Yeesh. But I have tried multiple times on multiple blogs and it just simple doesn't work for me. Any tips? THANKS!

Another Reason Why I Love My Kids

They are just adorable!! And I loooooove how much they love each other! It is fabulous!