Our trip to the Bean Museum

Braiden and Cortlynn in front of the tiger.

Braiden took this picture! Pretty good:)

Braiden feeling the Zebra fur?!

Getting ready to pet the turtle.

Four of the five ready for adventure!(Kyson slept) That was a big moose!

Instead of going to one of our houses for our weekly get together, we rewarded the kids for showing love in February and took them to the Bean Museum. It was so so much fun. The kids loved it. We actually didn't even see very much that the museum has to offer, so we will probably be making a trip back. The kids saw lions, tigers, and (polar) bears, oh my! We went in to the Discovery reading time. It was so great. The kids were read three different stories about GREEN animals. (It was St. Patty's Day) They then got to pet and meet these animals. They saw a gecko, a frog and a turtle. I was really awesome. The boys didn't really mind petting the animals. Cortlynn wasn't so fond of this, but she tried it anyway. What a brave girl:) We then wandered for a few more minutes and then headed to the park for a picnic. The sun was out and it was beautiful. The kids loved the playground. It felt so good to be outside and enjoying the fresh air. We let them play for a while and then took them home for rest time. We had such a fun fun day. We are so excited for next week! Thanks everyone for coming with us. We had a blast!

St. Patty's Day Cookies

For St. Patrick's Day this year we made shamrock cookies. Braiden helped with the sprinkles. Each of the boys had to try one. Braiden is definitely not as messy as Gavin. Gavin really enjoyed it if you can't tell. It was really fun making, decorating and eating the cookies with the boys.

Cousin Olympics

Almost every week we get together with Ashley and Analisha and kids to let all of the cousins play. We have been rotating houses and doing fun little projects. While the Olympics were going, it was my turn to have play group. All of our kids were sick at this time. We rescheduled about a month later and all came over to play. I decided to still do the Olympics and let the kids have fun. We did the same games we did for FHE except we added a ring toss game. All of the kids had a good time. They all received GOLD medals. It is so fun to watch the kids interact with one another. Sometimes it is good, sometimes not so good, but they all love each other so much! I am so grateful to have one niece and nephews around my boys ages. It has been so much fun!

Sleeping and Dinosaurs

I just had to write this down because it still makes me laugh to think about it. Braiden has not been our best sleeper. He will start out in his bed and then when Gavin starts to cry, he will get up, use the bathroom and then proceed to go and sleep by JT while I get Gavin to sleep. Sometimes I will come in and move him back into his bed. Sometimes, I am just too tired. I kept doing all I could think of to get him to stay in his own bed. I finally decided to bribe. I know, I shouldn't, but guess what, it has worked!!! Every night Braiden stayed in his bed all night long, he got to put a frog up on his chart. When he slept in his bed for 7 straight nights, he got to go to Macey's and choose this dinosaur he has been wanting. He finally did it. Seven straight nights of not being kicked and hit! I have loved it. We went to Macey's the other day to pick out the dinosaur. He of course chose a T-Rex. On our way out to the car I proceeded to tell Braiden that even though he has his dinosaur, that means he still has to sleep in his bed. If he doesn't, the dino will be taken away. Braiden looked at me and said, "How long do I have to sleep in my own bed, for the REST OF MY LIFE!?!" I cracked up. I have no idea where he heard this. I then said, "Yes Braiden, for the rest of your life!" I love my little three year old.

Digital Scrapbooking!

I love love love digital scrapbooking. I don't know much and enjoy learning more each day. I love finding free stuff to use. I especially love quick pages. These are pages which the scrapbook designer has already designed for you. You just add pictures. I also usually add titles and text to help tell the story. A lot of scrapbook pages these days have a few small pictures and a lot of room left on the page. If I find one of these, I try to fill it in. I love having lots on the page. I have taken a few minutes the past few days to finish these scrapbook pages. Now I just need to get them printed. All of them are quick pages which I downloaded and can use for personal use. If you like what you see, I have links to Kelly-Jo's and Scrappy-Bug down on my digital scrapbook links. These are where I got most of my current QP's. I hope you enjoy them. I have loved making (adding stuff to) them.

Gavin's Manners

I was so excited to get this on video. He is saying new words everyday. It is so fun to watch him learn and grow. I love this little boy!

Super Heros

My sister-in-law Katie made Braiden an awesome SuperMan cape. He loves it and loves being a super hero. I decided we had some extra fabric and I wanted to add to our dress-up box. I made Super Braiden and Super Gavin capes. They were made really quick and don't look as good as I would like, but the boys love them. OK, Braiden loves them. Gavin runs around crying trying to pull it off. One day he will appreciate his super cape. Now we have multiples and can have more boys or girls play super heros. It is so fun to see Braiden use his imagination:)

Ready or not.....

...here we go again! It is that time of year again. Time to start the garden. I know it is just peas and onions, but we are off to another year of gardening. I have really loved doing a garden. Last year we got a lot of veggies and were able to enjoy them fresh as well as freeze and bottle them for throughout the year. I hope this year's garden will be even more successful. We are trying some new things and hopefully are being more organized as well. Brooks and Analisha are going to help with the garden again this year. It will be an adventure for sure! As you can see, I drew a picture of what our garden area will look like this year. Completely different from last years garden. I found this awesome website about how and when to plant your crops. We are going to try his advice and see how it works. Next year we will rotate the crops and hopefully have a great garden. If you want to check out the website click here. JT's sister Katie has also helped us and given us great advice. Hopefully we can retain it all and work wonders in the garden. Thanks Katie! Braiden and JT did most of the work planting the peas and onions last night. Gavin wanted to be such a big helper! He stepped on the rows of peas after I had just watered them. He had mud everywhere. Needless to say, we had to come in and get him cleaned up. I am so excited for garden 2010! Happy gardening!

Happy Birthday Dad Collett!

The other night we had a birthday party for JT's dad. We had so much fun. It is so good to be able to get together and enjoy visiting with each other. Everyone but Trisha and family were there. We missed them, but we will get to see them soon. We enjoyed a yummy meal and then had the party. We had cake, ice cream, sang Happy Birthday and then he opened presents. We gave him a gift card with some of the other siblings for a helmet to go 4-wheeling and snowmobiling. I will post a picture of him wearing the helmet when he gets it. We hope he had a wonderful birthday. We love you Dad and Grandpa Collett! Happy Happy Birthday!

Root Beer Float cupcakes

I tried making a new cupcake for the Blue and Gold Banquet the other night. I know I should never do this, but I did it anyway. I made three, yes three batches of the cupcakes. I know they are heavier than regular cupcakes, but I just could not get them right. I think I saw my friend Becky has made them. Becky, what is the secret for the cupcake? The frosting turned out fabulous, but I ended up not taking them to the banquet. I just frosting the sunken treasures and we enjoyed them at home. They really were yummy. I will try and get it figured out. In the meantime, I will just make white cupcakes and frost them with the root beer frosting!

Announcing King Braiden and King Gavin

A few weeks ago we tried to learn a little about the letter K. We decided to make King crowns. The boys put the stickers on to spell out their names. They had so much fun. Braiden loved wearing his and Gavin wasn't so sure. We were able to keep it on long enough to get a picture. How fun these boys are!

My little Sunbeam

I never posted about Braiden becoming a Sunbeam in Primary this year! How crazy to think he is old enough to go to primary. I was so excited as was he, but since I am in the Primary Presidency, he thinks I need to sit by him and be with him at all times. January was crazy. February, he missed almost every week since it was our month to be sick. I was not looking forward to last Sunday because I didn't know how he would be since we had missed so many weeks. He surprised me! He sat with his class the entire time. He went to the classroom without even looking at me. He sang the songs during singing time and even folded his arms and tried to be really reverent during sharing time so he could get picked to help. He was an angel! It is amazing how things can change in just a matter of weeks. I am so glad. He loves Primary and I think I will love it even more with Braiden behaving. I am so proud of my little Sunbeam. He even said the opening prayer for the first time on Sunday. He got up and just starting saying the prayer. I wasn't sure what was going to come out of his mouth, so I whispered a few words and then had him end it. He would have done just fine on his own. I love this little boy!