Dino date

I had a hot date last week with this guy:

I'd been wanting to give him some undivided attention. He's a really good, patient brother, and I wanted to do something where he felt like the spotlight was on him. We had tickets for the IMAX theatre at the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point and came up with the idea of a dinosaur date!

Our first stop was lunch. He chose Rumbi (to my pleasant surprise!). He felt pretty cool getting his own orange soda in a glass bottle.

Next up was the dinosaur movie. They have three movies and we saw the Pangea one because I was told it was the best one for kids.

Waiting for the movie to start-- he was so excited!

We ended up having the whole theatre to ourselves! Jackson was pretty amazed by the IMAX screen and thought it was cool wearing the 3D glasses. He held my hand during the ENTIRE movie. :)

I'm not going to lie, the movie was pretty strange--weird animation and dialog. Fortunately, Jackson thought it was cool. It had dinosaurs and "ball-canos" (volcanos), so he was happy. 

After the movie it was on to the dinosaur museum.

His favorite part!

And his favorite dinosaur (the T-Rex, of course!)

Digging for bones

And finally, we finished our date with ice cream.  

I am so happy we did this! I loved being able to focus on just him for a few hours. He and I are already planning our future dates. I want to do the same thing with Bode when he gets a little older. Thanks to Keisha and Sean for making the dino date possible!

Geode hunting

We took a little day trip last weekend to the Dugway Geode Beds. Sean and I have been wanting to go for a long time and Jackson is at the age where rocks and digging in the dirt are about his favorite things on earth.

Where are the Dugway Geode Beds? 

Pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

It was a little less than a two-hour drive from our house. The drive actually went by really fast. Kids fell asleep in the car, I read a magazine, and Sean enjoyed the off-roading.

We told Jackson we were digging for dinosaur eggs and he was way excited about it. He even had his own little shovel. It felt like a treasure hunt!

Bode got in on the action, too :)

Check out those sweet safety glasses!

Brought the Pack 'n Play last minute and it proved to be a wise decision.

Examining some of the "dinosaur eggs"

 

Our treasure!

As you can see, we found a ton of geodes and we were only there for about two hours (with a lunch break). We cracked a few of them as we found them, but left most of them whole so we could take them to  a rock shop to cut when we got home. 

We found a pretty big range as far as size goes. The biggest is about the size of a softball and the smallest about the size of a ping pong ball. One guy we met out there said he's found some as big as basketballs!

Here are a few we've cracked open

They are so pretty!

Dorky as it may be, we had such a fun day and the kids had a blast. I have a feeling we will be back!

Perspective

It's been an interesting couple of weeks.

Sean and I put money down on a spec home a few weeks ago. It is in the neighborhood we love and being built by a builder we really like. Our original plan was to build on the opposite side of the street, but then this spec home popped up and we decided to go for it instead. The house was already framed and our plan was to move in at the end of June. We have spent the last few weeks working on things like the roof color, kitchen appliances, paint colors, lighting, etc. It was stressful. I have a really hard time picturing how things will turn out. I felt like there was added pressure to make decisions quickly because this was a spec home and the builder had a timeline he was trying to stick to.

I felt uneasy about this house the entire time. I loved the house… how it looked, the style, the floor plan, the location, etc. But for some reason I couldn't quite get behind it. I attributed my anxiousness to nerves. I thought it was probably just normal feelings associated with change and the pressure I was feeling to make correct decisions. I confided in Sean and told him about this feeling I couldn't shake. We prayed for guidance and continued to make decisions on the house as if it were ours. I never felt like I was getting a clear answer on whether this house was where our family was meant to be. We both felt kind of up in the air.

But then…

our good friend Sam (who we were hoping to use for our cabinets) showed us a 3D computer rendering of the kitchen. When he showed us the rendering, we about died. The kitchen was SO small. So much smaller than it appears to be on the house plans. House plans are misleading! We thought we had done our homework and had even measured the other rooms, but somehow we overlooked the kitchen. Here's the funny thing-- what we have said from the beginning is we need a house with a decent kitchen and garage. The kitchen in this house was so small, it was questionable whether an island would even fit in the center. The layout wouldn't work with the appliances we wanted, and overall, it just was not a functional space.

We were sick about it. It felt like the rug was being pulled out from under us and we were losing the house we thought was going to be our home. I felt guilty somehow for wanting a bigger kitchen. Sean was convinced fairly quickly that this kitchen was a deal-breaker.

We thought of every possible way we could try to make the space work. Moving walls, losing the island, switching appliances, etc. The bottom line was that it was simply just too small.

I did a lot of thinking about why I needed a bigger space. I need space because I enjoy cooking and cook for our family at least 5 days a week. I feel the constraints of our small kitchen now. I need space because I have a three-year-old who loves to pull up a chair and help me make cookies and Jello Jigglers (in this kitchen, the space was so tight, stools were not possible with the island). I need space because I don't want to be the only person who can fit in the kitchen-- I want it to be welcoming to family and friends and the hearth of our home. I want the space to make sense and be functional.

I am lucky I have a husband who sees the bigger picture. I told him we could make it work and he immediately replied 'no.' He told me it is important to him that we have a kitchen where all of the things I listed were possible. We are not looking for anything grandiose by any means. Overall, we just want our future home to be a place where our family can spend time together and be happy.

So, it was not our house.

It took awhile to get the answer to our prayers, but we did get it. And we learned a heck of a lot in the process. Luckily, we are able to get our deposit back. While I was very sad the day we made the decision, I feel like a weight has been lifted and know it was correct.

As I said, our original plan was to build on the opposite side of the street. My sister and I walked over to those lots the other day, and I felt so much better-- like that is where we should have focused our attention in the first place. For now, we're reserving a lot on that side of the street and taking a small break before diving back in.

Though many days I feel like we are at capacity with our town home, I know I have much to be grateful for. Even if it is small, we have a roof over our heads and a safe place for our family to reside. Even though our current kitchen is cramped, our pantry is full and we have food to eat. Even though we are outgrowing our townhouse and each closet and drawer seems to be overflowing, I am grateful to have a family big enough to fill the space. And though we live in close quarters with many other families, we are lucky to be able to call many of them friends.

It's all about perspective. We'll have our house in time, but we are lucky to have a place to call home.

One

I can't believe this guy is one. 

  This picture kills me every time I look at it.

His birthday was Friday and we started the day with pancakes-- one of his favorites!

We decided to head to Idaho Falls for the weekend and throw a little birthday party. We had a new niece and nephew to meet and Sean's mom was in town, so it was a win-win.

We kept it low-key and had a pizza party. It was a lot of fun and exactly what I was hoping for!

We weren't sure what to get Bode for his birthday that Jackson didn't already have, but we did find this:

It is an elephant toy that blows little plastic balls through its trunk. I'll tell you what-- that thing is a hit and worth every penny! Kids old and young couldn't get enough of it. I didn't get pictures of the rest of his gifts, but he also got a really cute lion stuffed animal, a big blue ball, a cool ladybug toy, and a toy that you pound shapes with a hammer. I made him a new hooded towel since he is starting to outgrow his piggy one.

I thought it turned out really cute!

 His cake:

Bode usually shoves food in his mouth in giant handfuls, but we weren't sure how he would react to his own cake.  It went something like this:

What is this?

Not sure if I am interested...

Alright, I will try a little bit.

Woah, that's good!

MUST EAT CAKE!!!

Still going strong...

Nailed it!

The kid ate an unreal amount of cake. There were crumbs on the floor and in the high chair, but seriously, I kept thinking I needed to stop him. He pretty much ate through the entire giant cupcake and was overjoyed about it. It was highly entertaining. 

 Time for a bath 

Trying out the new towel

Bode's new cousin, Phoebe, was born on his birthday and we were able to go see her in the hospital the next day.

Almost exactly one year age difference (within an hour!) Amazing to me to see how much babies change in one short year.

We also got a chance to meet this handsome guy-- another new cousin, Miles! 

Cute kids all around!

Happy birthday to you, Bode! We're so grateful for you. You've brought so much joy to our family with your laughter and huge, dimpled smile. We love you!

A few notes on Bode at 1 year:

-Crawling, pulling himself up, and always on the move

-Two naps each day. In bed around 8:30pm and awake around 7:15am

-Loves balloons and balls

-Loves playing on the bed (especially in the buff!)

-Favorite foods: cereal, noodles, fruit, yogurt, scrambled eggs, carrots, pancakes, anything sweet

-Eight teeth

-Loves bath time

-Likes blowing bubbles, opening drawers and cupboards, jumping in his jumper, and dropping things off his high chair

-Wears 12-18 month clothing

-Loves his brother Jackson and wrestling and playing with him

-Doesn't like being rocked to sleep much

-Doesn't like having his face wiped or having to sit still to get dressed

-Very vocal and likes to scream to get our attention

-Wants to eat whatever anyone else is eating

-Nicknames: Bozer, Bode boy, Bode bear, Bo diggity

-Says "mama" and "dada"and knows what they mean