"The Prophet said to plant a garden

...so that's what we'll do. For God has given rich brown soil, the rain and sunshine too. And if we plant the seeds just right and tend them carefully, before we know good things will grow to feed our family." (Children's Songbook pg 237) This last Saturday (before the blizzard!) we thought we would plant our seeds for our garden starts. Rachel enjoyed helping me place the seeds and "squishing them" down into the soil. If all goes to plan we will have many wonderful things to eat, can, and share!

Messy, messy, messy

After feeding Benjamin yesterday he was still crabby but he didn't want anything else to eat. SO I gave him his bowl and spoon, as it turned out that is exactly what he wanted. He sure had a blast playing and making a huge mess. You can be sure he went straight into the tub after dinner.

Spring!!?

After temps in the upper 50's, low 60's for the last week or so yesterday we had a blizzard come through. And now this is what our yard looks like. The ironic thing is I just washed all of our winter coats, hats, and mittens then put them into storage. Looks like I'll be digging those out, urg!

Wakey, Wakey!!

Rachel DID NOT want to get out of her bed after her nap today, so I sent Benjamin in to get her.

Projects 1,2,3,4

So having my mom out here has been great! I even got to have her an extra week because she missed her flight home. So great in fact I was finally able to finish 4 projects that I started A LONG time ago.

Project #1: (I don't have a picture of it) I FINALLY got a locking hinge for the toy box. Now there is no danger of the lid smashing down on one of my children's heads. I've been meaning to do this ever since Rachel was born...took me long enough huh? Project #2: Pillow cases for spring, I was finally able to get the Valentines ones put away.

Project #3: A chore chart. There are still a few finishing touches to put on it but we can use it now. Rachel loves doing her chores and has a lot of fun moving the magnets when she is done.

Project #4: A picnic blanket/quilt. I made this using our old warn out jeans, t-shirts from college (okay a few of the shirts are from HS), an old flat sheet and a couple old fleece blankets for the batting to make it comfy. I love it! It's big and it holds many memories.

'Spring Break'

What did you do for spring break? We went back in time...sort of. This weekend is Marc's 'spring break' (or in other words we get him all day Saturday!! Hurray, hurray!!!) so we took a little trip to This is the Place Monument and Deseret Village. Rachel had a blast just wondering around and doing what little kids do best.
For example: Checking out the 'potty'

Making Friends with cows...

And Goats named Ollie,

(Benjamin DID NOT like that part)

Driving trains,

And sleeping with Dinosaurs.

Potty Training Diaries: Day whatever

So at what point do you say your child is potty trained? Is it: 1. when they are finally staying dry during the day and taking themselves to the potty? Or: 2. when they are staying dry during the day, taking themselves to the potty AND staying dry at night? If it is the first option then Rachel has been accident free (and therefore potty trained) for the past 3 1/2 weeks (if you don't count the accident she had at Grandma's house this last weekend). She loves going to the potty all by herself, she even wipes herself, empties the cup in her potty chair and washes her hands when she is done. She has grown up so fast the last month and a half and I am so proud of her. Learning to control those bodily functions is hard thing.

Big Red

Bumpin up and down in my little red wagon, bumpin up and own in my little red wagon, bumpin up and down in my little red wagon, we can ride all day!

Fashion Sense?

I let Rachel pick out what outfit she wanted to wear today and this is what she came up with. Pink shoes, purple socks, crazy capri's, her favorite elephant shirt, pink sunglasses and a pink cow girl hat. I only hope that this is not a reflection of my fashion sense.

We took Grandma to the Zoo!

For grandma's last day in Utah (until next time) we decided to go to the Zoo. She has never been to our Zoo and the weather was perfect for a little outing. The first thing we saw were these two HUGE turkeys. Rachel was a little scared of them (they are as big as she is, so I can totally understand) but grandma thought they were 'so cool!' We spent quite a bit of time at the elephant and rhino exhibits. Rachel and Benjamin got a kick out of watching the elephants and rhinos eat.

Of course we went for a ride on the merry-go-round. It was Benjamin's first time on one and this was his face before... (he seems really excited huh?)

And here is his face during and for a little while after. He was Terrified!! The poor little boy was holding on to me so tightly, I'm surprised my shirt didn't rip. I think we will wait a little while until his next ride.

Rachel loved riding it, and of course she had to ride on the baby elephant.

After our little ride we enjoyed a yummy picnic. Rachel thought it would be fun to take her PB&J and roll it into a big wad before eating it. According to her this kept her "sandwich from blowing away." I think I will take her word on that one.

Look what he can do!

Besides getting VERY fast at crawling, Benjamin loves to pull himself up on anything, cruise along it to the next object to hold on to and tonight he showed off this new skill. (That I didn't even know about until tonight!!)

Bugs anyone?

My mom got me this cupcake pan only instead of your regular old cupcake shape they are bugs. How cute is that?! We tried it out today but instead of making a cake batter I made a banana bread batter. I was thinking what a neat way to share a mini 'loaf' of bread with neighbors and friends, or for cake for a birthday party, or just for fun!

I love to see the Temple

Last night we went to the Draper Temple open house with Grandma and Grandpa Anson, Aunt Amy, Sariah and Ally. Opportunities like this don't come around very often so just had to take advantage of it. There were sooo many people (1,400 an hour!) there to see this BeAuTiFuL new Temple in the Salt Lake valley. It was a long wait, which is kind of expected with that many people, but all of the little girls (and Benjamin) behaved quite well considering it took us 3 hours and they were all STARVING! YES, we gave them snacks before hand but we were not expecting it to take THAT long. Rachel was super excited to go inside and see where mommy and daddy 'disappear' to on their dates. The inside was just gorgeous (as all temples are) but to a 2 year old it only held it's appeal for a short while. She sure had A LOT of fun riding on the bus though!! I'm not sure how much she will remember from this trip but I'm pretty sure she will always remember riding on the 'red bus up to the temple.'

Rachel's battle wound

The other day we went for a walk because it was in the upper 60's!! Yes you read that right upper 60's in March, so we just HAD TO take advantage of it. Before we left I had Rachel put on her shoes, I didn't bother to tell her to put on socks because the plan was that she would ride in the stroller the entire time so there wouldn't be any need for them AND it didn't really matter that they were on the WRONG FEET either. Well we were almost done with our walk when we saw a friend and her two little girls and Rachel just HAD TO get down to play. We visited for about 20 minutes while the girls RAN around all over the place having a good old time. When we got home Rachel was bawling and having a fit because she "got hurted"!! Her poor little feet had been rubbed raw in 2 TINY spots but by the way that she was carrying on you would think it was this huge, gaping wound. And I haven't heard the end of it since...

So much trouble already!

He's only been crawling for what a day or two but he is getting sooo fast already! I had an entire routine figured out in the morning so I could take a shower and get dressed...well after what happened this morning it looks like I'll have to re-figure that out. I put him in his swing and this is how I found him. He tried to crawl out of it, yes he was buckled in and couldn't go anywhere but I'm sure if he had enough determination he could do something REALLY scary!

Then while I was upstairs helping Rachel go potty after her nap (which by the way is going splendidly) Benjamin was enjoying the Nintendo cords and movies in the T.V. cabinet. Nothing was plugged in so he was okay, but I guess I need to re-baby proof a few things around the house!

Not even 10 minutes later...(see previous post)

I think this speaks for itself.

Battle wound

Benjamin has been working so hard at learning to crawl that he has his first 'battle wound'...a rug burn on his knee! The funny thing, he was wearing pants when he got this so would you call it a 'pant burn'? Anyway he is getting super close, I figure it will be any day now. When he is sitting on the floor he can turn himself around in a circle, when he is on his hands and knees he rocks back and forth as well as 'walk' his hands out and he even moves his knees. He just can't seem to get them to all work together and ends up on his tummy army crawling, rolling or pushing himself forward with his toes. He wants to get moving sooo badly that he gets frustrated so I've been dealing with a crabby kid the last few weeks. There have even been a few occasions where we will leave the room for a minute and when come back we find him a good 2 feet from where he was and he will have pulled himself up into a standing position, holding on to what ever is closest to him. I know that once he finally figures out how to crawl, there will be NO stopping him! And I just know that he is going to be one of those kids you see in Sacrament meeting booking it up the isle toward the podium...