Look Ma! No training wheels!

I arrived at home after work tonight to find the following in my driveway:
Despite the poor cell phone video quality, you get the idea. He's pretty pleased with himself.

Okay, I'm pretty pleased with him, too.

How about a celebratory cupcake?

Anyone Need a Friend?

How about a New Era?
Bryn loves reading books but magazines seem to hold her interest even better. It has become a common sight to find her sitting on the floor slowly turning pages and excitedly pointing out all of the animals she finds.

The Idaho Trip - Bryn's Take:

First of all, let me tell you about Lava Hot Springs. Ahhhhhhh.

And after mom annoyed us all to death with reminders to pack our swim suits, naturally, she forgot hers.
Thanks for taking us, Grandma and Grandpa!
Then off to see the baby goats at McKee's Feed and Petting Zoo. One of these times, we're pretty sure mom will end up bringing a couple of these goats home with us.
The South Jordan Temple in Utah was spectacular - especially the part where our cousin Nathan came out with a wife!
Grandpa kept the boys occupied with pounding competitions.
And last of all, Grandma's food was.........
well..........
finger lickin' GOOD!!!!!!!

Marinating

Other verbs that come to mind:
irrigating
germinating
hydrating
dissolving

Spring Sabbath

"My baby and I are looking for my brothers."

"It's time for church and I know they're hiding around here somewhere. Ooo! Here are some pretty flowers. Baby, don't get all dirty before church!"

"Of course, where else would you expect to find monkeys?"

"Come on boys, primary isn't that bad."

Sweet Tones of the Heart

For family home evening this week I asked the boys to draw a picture of our family. Here is Cole's picture:

And here is Grant's:

In both pictures I am on the left and Sue is on the right.

As Grant was drawing he kept adding more and more hair. We then had the following exchange.

Grant: I'm drawing you, dad. You have kind of a lot of hair.
Me: Thank you.
Sue: I think he's talking about after the resurrection.

Hmmm, for the closing song I think we need to sing "Let us oft speak kind words".

Our lesson next week will be on the prophet Elisha.

FHE: On Location

Leaving the house for Family "Home" Evening (and picnic dinner) is a great idea:
1. Spill all you want, I don't have to clean it up.
2. Ready-made lessons abound, with lots of visual aids

3. The activity portion is always a huge hit!
We did have to touch on the "modesty" topic towards the end, for Brynnie's sake (I'm pretty sure streaking is not condoned in "For the Strength of the Youth.")
And even though we brought a couple donuts for dessert, some of us just ate dirt. Mmmmmm.

Location: Salmon Creek (across the street and down the hill from our house.)

The Blustery Day

The boys got kites for Easter and today was the first day with sufficient wind to fly them. Due to a sudden "potty issue" we didn't keep at it long but we got both of them aloft for a few minutes.

North West Easter

Let's go look for eggs outside the Zabriskie's house!

The Easter Gnome? Whatever. As long as there's eggs hidden we don't care who hid them.

Nor do we care where they are hidden. Trees are fair game.

That basket is starting to get pretty full.

Peek-a-boo Buzz Lightyear! Someone get that boy a belt.

I think we found them all... I hope.

To the toddler goes the spoils.

They all look pretty spoiled to me.

Eggscellent!

I know you'll find this hard to believe.

Two four year olds. Twenty raw eggs. Five colors.

On some of them we even applied eye and mouth stickers.

Not a single breakage.

Another Easter miracle.

Walking on Water

I love to overhear the deep philosophical discussions the boys have while building their tracks. This morning's topic:

Grant: "Miracles are what Jesus can do."
Cole: "Yes, but we can't walk on the water until we're 8 years old."
Grant: "Yeah - and we can go on a mission when we're 16."

Essence of Bryn

A bunny on one hand, dirt clod in the other, hair somewhat askew, pink Crocs.

That's my girl!

Choir Boys

Guess who sang in front of everyone at church today?

It was a miracle that they were persuaded to join the other kids at the front and another miracle that they actually sang along.

Here's an excerpt:

A Lovely Bouquet of ...

... Amphibians.

Any takers?

Here's Mud in Your Eye

We hit the creek early one Saturday morning - everyone still in jammies. Hey, they offer high comfort, warmth, and flexibility (as shown by Brynnie - scaling up the hill).
This girl will soon be calling the boys wimps, and leaving them in the dust (or mud, I guess?) "Outta my way, slowpokes!"
She knows no fear, fears no cold, and seriously loves dirt.
She's got to be in the middle of everything, especially when water is involved.
But she still doesn't appreciate the occasional (inevitable) face plant.

Finally Four!

The Crunchers finally have 4 adventure filled years behind them! Congrats, boys! We love you!! Still no broken bones - amazing. Wish we could say the same about stitches.
Their little boy gang came to celebrate, and we all ate too much of that delicious Costco cake. Why do they have to make it so yummy?! It's completely robbed me of any desire to make a homemade birthday cake - now that's sad. Costco is ruining family traditions! (with it's vanilla cream cheese filling!)
And Bryn - she's a shameless show stealer. She started off just eating cake all sweet and innocent, then digressed....
into applying it like make-up and hair gel, and.....
TA - DA! The finished product.
Real sweet.