When you have kids things change

Well I never imagined myself being an ATV girl...I have always been more of an outdoor purist if you will, but I must admit having an ATV rocks with kids. The last two weekends Erich and I have gone out exploring the mountains on the ATV an no one in the family enjoys the trips more than Jake. It's a great way to explore lots of country and to get up into the trees. We had a great little fire in a pretty meadow. It's fun to watch Jake discover new things. The marshmellow roasting was quite interesting...he preferred using the marshmellow to draw in the dirt as opposed to roasting and eating!

Freedom, Family and Friends

Memorial Day was very fun this year. We headed down to UT to see friends and family, and to enjoy three days of beautiful sunshine. On Saturday we went to Capital Reef, a national park with red rocks and big canyons. We had lots of fun hiking around and bbqing. We found out Jake loves bratworsts and cheetohs! Jakes was very excited about the hiking too, the only problem is he gets easily distracted with all the dirt, rocks, and sticks. I don't think we went more than 3 minutes straight without him detouring off to discover some new puddle rock or plant. As you can see though, he's a pretty good little climber (scary I know!)

Monday was special, we went to a Pancake breakfast and presentation at the cemetary and learned all sorts of interesting facts about Memorial Day; it's good to remember and appreciate the meaning of the holiday.

All in all the weekend flew by way to fast. It was a very needed break and a great time.

Getting out and exploring

We had a gorgeous weekend last weekend so we took the ATV out to the mountains. Jake was a trooper; we went for a four hour drive and he loved it the whole time. It was so good to get back up into the trees. We saw lots of elk (my favorite animal) and a few deer.
The rest of the weekend we did some landscaping. Erich spoiled me for mother's day and bought me a bunch of new flowers and plants for the yard (that way they'd last longer) During the process Jake discovered how much fun a hose can be. I just love watching him explore and discover things. It ended up being a win-win: we taught him how to water the plants.

Real is always better

As much as Jake loves his little four wheeler, what he really loves is Dad's big ATV. As soon as we say the word "Ride", Jake starts giggling and wiggling in excitement. Take close look at his smile in the pics...I would say he is one happy little fella whenever on dad's ATV.

This last week was lots of fun. My mom and dad spoiled us for a little visit. It was so wonderful having them around. My dad let me lose again and the again at cards, my mom made all sorts of decorations for Jakes play room (I'll post some pics when I get it all done), and admist the 20-50 mph winds we managed to make it outside for a few walks and afternoons in the park. There's just nothing like having parents around helping out. I was sad to say goodbye.

Love the Weather, Not the TIcks

It's been so beautiful and sunny here laterly. We've had a great time out hiking, biking, and playing at the park. It was over 70 the past weekend so we headed down for our first camping trip at City of Rocks. It's a unique place a little less than 2 hour from here. It's renowned for rock climbing but Erich, Jake and I just hiked around. There are massive granite boulders everywhere, randomly conglomerated in central Idaho. Everything was fabulous until we were falling asleep and Erich found a tick on him. Pesky little buggers ruin all the fun.

Anyhow you might notice something different with Jake, like how you can see his smile! Erich got brave (and I went along) we took Jake's binky away cold turkey. I've been dreading this task for 20 months now but it actually went relatively well. I'm so glad we just took away it completely, out of sight out of mind.

He Speaks!

Jake was feeling pretty talkative tonight. We were outside and it's hard to hear the video with all the wind and it's blurry, but it's fun nonetheless.

Easter

Holidays are definitely much more fun with a little one around...And a whole lot more interesting. We tried dying eggs but Jake was clearly more interested in drinking the cool looking water than dipping the eggs. We finally had to put Jake to bed and finish the eggs for him :)
We took Jake to the City Park easter egg hunt and he did great. He got a whole basket full of eggs and had fun opening them up, although the City of Twin Falls must have been on a tight budget this year because half the eggs didn't have candy in them--fun nonetheless. I'm glad we did the that egg hunt because Easter morning Jake was so excited about his new toys he didn't care much about the eggs. The highlight was his new ATV. When we visited cousin Rhone Jake fell in love with Rhone's ATV so the Easter bunny thought a little ATV would be the perfect gift.

Other than that life has been good. We squeezed in another cross-country skiing trip. Sadly there was only a few inches of snow so it looks like the ski season is wrapping up for the year. On the bright side we're back to hiking. Last Sunday we went for a pretty mild hike. Jake didn't want to get in the backpack so we thought we would let him walk for a bit. A mile and half later the kid was still going and showing no signs of tiring. We were such proud parents. It was a blast until we found a tick on Jake. Once I saw a tick I was done. We packed Jake up and hightailed it out of there.