Happy Mother's Day

This is a long entry, but there are lots of pictures. :) This past week has been jam-packed with fun, great weather, laughter, traveling, and in the end exhaustion that was well worth the effort.We started the week with Family Home Evening outside. The sun has finally been shining and we try to be outside as much as possible. We had our refreshment (Oreos if you couldn't tell) outside knowing we would make a big mess. We still struggle with Family Night. Sometimes we'll actually get a little lesson in, but most of the time it's just being together. We try to get in a song and a prayer, but sometimes even that seems to test the patience of our boys. We'll keep at it though, I know that someday it will pay off and be worth it. By the way, Tragon loves Oreos.
You can hardly tell that Logan even at one. He still likes to be clean, but will get dirty if it looks like fun, he's such a boy. After we had our snack we let Logan use the camera while Morgan and I played some soccer and kicked around. He started an indoor league and is having a blast.
This is a Logan picture. I'm not sure why I like it, but I do. Maybe it's because it's actually warm enough to be outside barefoot.
He got a pretty good one of Damon too. Damon loves to be outside and follow Logan around, he had no problem being the subject of photography, maybe that's how we'll even out the pictures between the kids, let Logan have the camera for a while. :)
Morgan and I are playing soccer in the background while Logan takes pictures.
Tragon is still such a good baby. He has been teething lately though and been miserable, hopefully his 3 teeth will break through soon.
We were taking a little break from soccer while Logan snapped some shots.
Again, I don't know why I like this one and kept it, I just think it's cute. This is a self portrait of Logan's feet.
My handsome, most wonderful, one in a million husband and best daddy in the whole world.
We were all getting ready for bed, but Logan wouldn't relinquish the camera.
He definitely has his own style of photography. Just imagine these throughout the entire basement and that's basically what it looks like down there ALL the time.
Logan loves his "Cat in the Hat" books, anything Dr. Seuss he loves. He can sound out quite a few words now too, so it's more fun to have him help read the stories.
This is usually how I feel just after we have tucked the kids into bed at night. They sure wear me out during the day, but I wouldn't have it any other way. We have truly been blessed with some awesome boys. I hope that I can keep up with them and teach them all they need to learn from me.
One of our favorite meals and usually our Monday night meal is Chili and Cornbread. Tragon is old enough he can eat it with us too and he loves it once you get him going. Very messy, but at least he'll feed himself and I can actually eat dinner the same time as the family...after I get the boys' drinks....and get my drink....and pick up Tragon's cup again....and get Logan some more milk.....and Damon another bowl of chili....and another piece of cornbread.
For the most part Logan is a happy boy and polite most of the time, but he sure has his stinker moments.
Damon is really testing us right now in patience and well, mostly just patience. He has to copy everything Logan does even if I just told Logan to stop doing it. He throws a mean tantrum and can scream like a banshee which has become a habit the past couple weeks. I know he'll grow out of it, but in the meantime any patience you can loan to me would be much appreciated.
So, on to the adventures. As you can see Tragon is in the piggyback hiking carrier because we got to go on a vacation. Morgan took the 4-6 off work and we decided to head down to St. George and make a pit stop in Zion National Park. This weekend was also our 7th Anniversary and Morgan proposed at the top of Angel's Landing, so this place is pretty special to us and we've come back for several anniversaries. The boys loved it!
They absolutely loved the shuttle buses that take you through the park. Logan won't let us forget that we rode the 15 bus on the way to our hike and the 68 bus on our way back to the van to go to Grandma's house. :) They were pretty good about the harnesses too. Before I had kids, I thought those harness back packs were so inhumane, now that I have kids, they are the most brilliant invention ever!
Here's me with my boys. The Zion pictures are a little fuzzy because I forgot the camera so we had to use my phone and it's not the best quality since there is a little delay on it, and little kids don't sit very still.
When we parked by a picnic table to eat we were immediately surrounded by caterpillars. I'm not sure what the trees are really called, but I call them caterpillar trees. We used to have one at my house growing up and I thought it was the coolest thing that the caterpillars grew from the trees (at least that's what I thought back then) and would just rain down on you. The ground was pretty gross from all the squished caterpillars, but the boys loved them. We didn't end up sitting at that picnic table though, because literally the caterpillars were falling from the sky and you'd find two or three on your head if you stood in one place too long.
After the shuttle ride we got off at the Zion Lodge to get our traditional keepsake, this time I wanted a t-shirt and ended up with a 3-pack. Woohoo. Morgan got a long-sleeved t-shirt as well and the boys got some awesome hats.
Tragon just got to be carried the whole time. He was really happy as long as the pack was moving and he was able to take a couple naps up there. I think he just enjoyed being outside when it wasn't cold and windy.
We decided to hike the Emerald Pool trail. We thought we could make it all the way to the upper pools....and we did! The boys were troopers. They didn't really like walking on the paved trail, but as soon as it turned into rocks and stairs to climb, they loved it. We did end up carrying them about 30-35% of the time, which is not bad for how hot and far we went. We got a lot of support and smiles on the hike up. I think Morgan commented that he's never had so many people be so nice and smile so often. I guess that's what kids can do for you.
Here's our family at the Upper Emerald Pool. Being up here with my family was the best anniversary and Mother's Day present ever. The kids did great, the weather was great, a little hot, but so nice. I love my family so much and I feel so blessed to have them in my life. Morgan is the best husband and father and I'm grateful that 7 years ago I said yes. Our 3 boys add so much fun and excitement to our lives and I'm glad we were able to share some of this beauty with them. All throughout the hike we tried to remind the boys that Heavenly Father created all this for us and they were pretty excited in the end to point to a leaf ask, did Heavenly Father create that too? They are smart boys and I know that someday they will be able to have a testimony of their own of the truths that I know and believe. In the meantime, I'm happy to share.

That's the end of the pictures, but the not the end of the adventure. After making it back down the hike we were just barely able to catch the shuttle back to the van. I think all the boys fell asleep within about 5 minutes and slept the whole way to St. George. The boys were really excited to be at Grandma's house and to play with her cars and trains.

For our Mother's Day gift to my mom, her kids decided to give her a new room. She has been so patience and gracious to let my dad work on the house next door and to come up here for a couple weekends to help us with our basement. She has just as many projects in her own home that I'm sure she wants to get done. One we have all been aware of was her room. She wanted to put down a hardwood/laminate floor since they don't have a dog anymore and do some new paint and curtains.

Thursday we did the bulk of the painting and I have to say, it looked pretty awesome and most importantly my mom loves it. The painting took a lot longer than we thought and pretty much consumed that whole day. On Friday we did the final touch up on the paint and installed the floor and trim. It was a little challenging for me this trip because I really wanted to help with the room, but I also had my kids to look after that were not being super independent this trip and were teasing each other quite a bit. In the end I wasn't really able to give full attention to either project and ended up always in the middle and feeling a little scattered. I'm really glad that my brother and his girlfriend were there too to help out on both sides. I learned from it though, I need to either be in one place or the other because trying to be in both places was just stressful and not effective. We did get the project done and the end result really was awesome. I hope my mom knows just how much her kids love her and how wonderful she is and how much she taught us growing up and how much she still teaches us every day. We love you mom!

On Saturday we headed up to Cedar to watch my niece not play in her soccer game :) She did play for about a minute or too, it looked like fun, but she was being shy. After that we headed to my brother's house to have a little lunch BBQ before we went home. It was really windy, but it was fun to see their house.

We made it home safe and sound and finally got things un-packed and settled in. The boys slept the whole way home so we knew they would be up late. Morgan had a soccer game to go to, so me and boys watched some TV together and it was actually really nice to just sit and relax. On Sunday, Morgan made breakfast and didn't have any meetings. I think the boys were still a little wired from the trip and were being really obnoxious and I was still quite low on patience and energy. We made it to church and the boys were awful. Logan kept crying that Damon ripped his paper and Damon kept shouting "Echo" at the tops of his lungs and Tragon was still fussy from teething and a crazy allergic rash that broke out all over his body, from what I don't know, but the rash is basically gone now. Anyway, sacrament meeting was not very peaceful and I missed our friend's baby blessing because I was out in the hall with the boys. In singing time in nursery we had kid's crying in both classes basically the whole time I was there and in Relief Society, I ended up outside with Tragon the whole time. The entire relief society was there enjoying the lesson except me. It was not your ideal Mother's Day, and then Morgan had to stop at the clerk's office on the way out and that took way too long and my boys were all going crazy, I thought I was going to go crazy too, or break down, or something.

We finally made it home, I fed Tragon and put him down for a nap and went to my room and laid down. I thought I would just rest for a while, but I actually fell asleep for 2 1/2 glorious hours. I usually never take naps, but I knew I needed one. Morgan got Damon down for his nap, and then he and Logan read stories together and both fell asleep too! It was perfect. I think we all needed that nap more than we knew from our busy week. After that nap I felt much better and so did the boys. :) Morgan made spaghetti for dinner and cleaned the kitchen while I gave the kids a bath. Then we all watched Mulan together...except Tragon, he was already in bed. It was the perfect end to a hectic day. Those few good moments did make me appreciate being a mom and lucky I am to be a mom and I hope that I can remember those good moments when I going through the bad because in the end it really is all worth it.