Quick Trip to Utah

In April Tommy and I had the chance to go to Utah for a few days. Tommy loved playing with his cousins and Grammy's doggies and I loved being able to relax and see the people I love.
Tommy called Sammy "Black" and he called Kodex "White". He had no problem getting right down with the doggies, letting them lick his hands, and giving them loves. It's a good thing he has Grammy's dogs to visit because he won't have a dog of his own for a very long time:)
I love this picture of my mom playing with her grandkids. I can't imagine her being happier than she is when she is surrounded by those little ones.
Grammy and Tommy had lots of good times at the park together while I took some much needed me-time (went for a run, attended the temple, met my girls for lunch). Tommy showed off a little and and climbed up and went down everything at the park. I guess they spent several hours playing together. He was one tired little boy! Thanks to my mom for watching him all day, although I know she is thanking me for the same thing.
It's hard to get three active kiddos to look at the camera at the same time!
Tommy loved playing with his cousins, Jarom and Makayla. He is finally old enough that he plays with other kids rather than just next to them, so it was really fun to see the kids interact with each other. Jarom is about 2 1/2 years older than Tommy, but the two of them got along so well. They both love to play ball, and Jarom is really gentle with little kids, so they had lots of good times playing together. Below are a couple of videos of the kids playing ball together.

Here are some pictures of the family. Aren't we cute?

From left to right: Jarom, Jamie, Wes, Makayla, Ricky, Sadie, Carson, Crystal, Tommy. We missed you, Ben!
Do you see what I had to put up with growing up?
Me with my sisters-in-law, Jamie and Sadie.
Here is a video of Tommy doing his nightly ritual of beating up the largest man in the house. It wasn't quite as good as jumping on his daddy, but throwing pillows at Carson was pretty fun.
The weather was great the first couple of days we were in Utah, but then it got REALLY cold and snowy. I'm talking like 30 degrees cold. I was planning to run a half marathon at Thanksgiving Point that weekend, but when I woke up to this, I chickened out. I run because it's fun, but running in snow, wind, and 30 degrees? Not fun. So I didn't do it:) Maybe we'll try for a half marathon again this summer.

April in Review

Wow, April 2011 seems like the longest month in the history of mankind. Maybe it's because it followed March 2011, the worst month the world has ever known. April didn't seem extremely long as we went through it, but now that I am looking back at how much happened in the span of 30 days it doesn't even seem possible to cram so much into such a short period of time. Let's look back on the month, shall we? After our trip to San Diego we celebrated Easter, and then we went to Utah for a few days. We did a lot of hanging out at home in between the big things.

We went to the zoo a couple of times before the really hot summer days set in. The day we went when I took these pictures was a perfect zoo day: overcast and cool, not crowded at all. Tommy and I had a great time getting up close and personal with the animals.
We went on a family hike in Estrella Park (again, before it gets too hot). We only hiked for about 15 minutes because it was windy and chilly and Tommy wasn't really in the mood to walk. We ended up carrying Tommy on our shoulders pretty much the whole time, but it was still really fun to get out and see nature.
It actually rained in April! That's not something we see very often in Arizona, so we relish it whenever it comes. The weekend it rained was actually very cold. I think we even turned our heat back on for a night or two. The best part of the rain was the double rainbow that arched all the way across the sky. That kind of thing is so rare it even made it onto the front page of the newspaper here. I am always amazed at how things like rainbows bring people together. We were at Wal Mart when it first appeared. It literally brought people together in the parking lot. Complete strangers started talking and pointing and laughing as we all enjoyed the beautiful sight together. It was pretty spectacular.
Here is a picture of Tommy just hanging out with Wrinkles, eating a sucker, looking cool.
Easter was awesome this year. I think I was more excited than Tommy was about it! We dyed eggs together Saturday night. Tommy had so much fun "painting" eggs that he threw a bit of a tantrum when we ran out of eggs and dumped out the colors. He had a blast the next morning looking for the eggs and the baskets that the Easter Bunny hid. He needed a bit of help, but he caught onto the idea really quickly. Easter morning was so beautiful. We made a huge breakfast, complete with delicious cinnamon rolls, and shared it with some friends. We ate a ton of food and talked a lot about Jesus, so I would count this Easter as a raging success. We even made it to the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple which was a great experience for us this year. Tommy even watched a little bit of it!

And last, but not least, here is my favorite video of all time: Tommy and Daddy washing my dirty floor. Here is the story behind this video: We were outside and Ben was using a rake to do some yard work. Tommy wanted to help so badly, but it was getting close to bedtime and I didn't really want him handling a rake, so we all came inside. Tommy was about to throw a royal tantrum when I asked him if it would make him feel better to help Daddy wash the floor. He nodded his head, so Ben and Tommy got down on all fours and washed my floor. Then Tommy kept slipping so I took him upstairs, where he threw another fit until I promised he could help me do more housework. What an amazing little boy! I've got to put him to work more often:)