Warren turns 5!

I cannot believe that my little boy is 5! He is not a little boy anymore. We had so much fun celebrating his birthday and him. We started some new traditions this year that we will be carrying on from here on out. I was having a hard time thinking about my little boy turning 5, so I decided to celebrate his last day of being 4 to reminisce about all the great things that happened when he was four, and all the wonderful things he was able to learn and accomplish  when he was four. We sang a song I made up, Happy Last Day of Being ___ which we sung to the tone of Happy Birthday, we let Warren blow out four candles and have some cookies. It was a blast and the pictures are down below. We also took some pictures of his last day being four and then sent him off to bed. 

I had to work the day of his actual birthday and Zack had school  and work, but he got off early so we let Warren choose where he wanted to go for dinner, Buffalo Wild Wings  it was, because he got to play with an iPad. We were going to go home and have cake, with a special secret cake, but this little guy fell asleep on the way home, so we had his special donut cake for breakfast. Well we all did and then still had plenty left over. 

A little over a week later we had a birthday party for him with all our family, a Wild Kratts themed party. He loves animals and we decorated with animal print balloons, ate food animals might eat and played some animal themed games. He really enjoyed himself and we appreciated all the family that came and helped. This was the day he also got his big  boy bike. He had outgrown the 12 inch bike and we had been sitting on his new 16 inch bike since Thanksgiving. 

A special donut cake for my donut loving 5 year old. We used two big donuts from Macey's and a sugar donut on top to complete it. He loved it! The idea came from his preschool teacher.

 

Our 5 year old.....

Make a wish.

Happy Last Day of Being 4, there were four cookies but he snuck one early.

I love this happy boy, his smile, laugh and the faces he makes.

Best buddies

Dinner for the birthday boy, he did not want to be sung to, but they gave him a treat and this cool hat.

Even though these pictures are blurry I love how excited they both are.

All tuckered out from a long day of playing.

Bekah, and Grandpa and Grandma Lore at Warren's party.

More family. 

Warren we are so grateful you are party of our family. We thank our Heavenly Father each and every day that we get to be your earthly parents. You teach us so much and we love you more than we can express.

Five things I love about you are;

1. You love to learn and ask questions about everything and anything.

2. You say hello to anyone, especially people who others might not think to say hello to, like the people who are taking care of our lawn, or the man who was weed eating while you were at tennis lessons.  You make people feel special Warren, never lose that. 

3.  You love animals, all kinds of animals bugs included.

4. You love your Savior, Jesus Christ. Even at a young age you loved him and continue to. Sometimes you tell me that you miss him. 

5. Your laugh is the best. I love hearing you laugh because it is contagious, youthful, energetic, and adorable. 

Warren we love you so much and think you are the best thing since sliced bread.

That's a BIG OLE' TRACTOR

One of the perks to being a teacher and having Warren so close to the school is that I can bring him back for some fun events we offer very quickly. I am good friends with the kindergarten teachers at my school and they let me know that our other colleague and friend's husband was bringing his big tractor to the school parking lot to let the kindergarten kids look at and climb all over. They said hey bring Warren over so I ran and grabbed him and brought him back. It took him a while to warm up to the idea but when all the other kids lined up to get a picture he decided it was okay to climb inside the tractor not just outside and all around it. The tractor was really cool and could be programed to drive itself in the field, and several computer monitors to help and all sorts of gadgets. Definitely not your grandpa's tractor.

I'll Stand Back Up

Today I have been feeling battered, bruised, broken, not physically but emotionally, spiritually. I had a hard week and felt like a failure as a parent, lacking patience, creativity, and good homemaking skills. I have been lacking in my personal scripture study and prayer, and was not connected to the Spirit like I would like, and should be. Today as I was driving home from a primary presidency meeting where we had some great discussions about how we were doing, and my sweet sisters listened to me pour out my aching, frustrated heart to them, I received inspiration I needed. It did not come to me through a scripture, or hymn but the lyrics of a song from one of my favorite bands.  As I was driving with tears streaming down my face,  I knew Satan was working on getting me down. He wants me to notice ALL my faults, every little thing I do wrong and remind me that I am not as pretty, not as organized, not as patient as so and so, that I am not good enough, that my Heavenly  Father is denying me blessings, denying me the righteous desires of my heart because I am not enough, that I have not been good enough. Deep down I know these thought are not true, but I have allowed myself to entertain  those thoughts, not really quite believe them but entertain them. Well today I am here to say, I'll stand back up! I may have had a bad few days, maybe longer but this trial won't  keep me down. I will learn from it, move forward, doing my best to trust in the Lord, His timing, knowing that He loves me, and that those thoughts do not come from Him.  So...
"Go ahead and take your best shot,
Let 'er rip, give it all you've got,
I'm laid out on the floor, but I've been here before,
I may stumble, yeah I might fall,
Only human aren't we all?
I might lose my way, but hear me when I say,

I will stand back up,
You'll know just the moment when I've had enough,
Sometimes I'm afraid, and I don't feel that tough,
But I'll stand back up,

I've been beaten up and bruised,
I've been kicked right off my shoes,
Been down on my knees more times than you'd believe,
When the darkness tries to get me,
There's a light that just won't let me,
It might take my pride, and my tears may fill my eyes,
But I'll stand back up,

I've weathered all these storms,
But I just turn them into wind, so I can fly,
What don't kill you makes you stronger,
When I take my last breath,
That's when I'll just give up,

So, go ahead and take your best shot,
Let 'er rip, give it all you've got,
You might win this round but you can't keep me down,

'Cause I'll stand back up,
And you'll know just the moment when I've had enough,
Sometimes I'm afraid and I don't feel that tough,
But I'll stand back up,

You'll know just the moment when I've had enough,
Sometimes I'm afraid and I don't feel that tough,
But I'll stand back up. " ~Sugarland

I am so thankful for those words ringing in my ears, that I will stand back up, that I will take what's  hard and use it to learn from. I will stand back up because of  my  Savior. Because, with Him strengthing me I can be triumphant. I do not have to let trials define me, or my happiness. I can rely on Him and He will make me more than I am. He will make all things right. I can choose to  be happy though my heart longs for things that seem unreachable, I have no time line to know if my small family will expand as we desire but I know that through the dark times and the happy times I will stand back up, I won't quit, I may have dark days, I may stumble and fall but I refuse to throw in the towel and be done, I refuse to live unhappy.  I choose to find happiness in my situation. And, most days I am really happy. It's okay that things are not going according to my plan because His plan is teaching me much more. Refining me, humbling me, and brining me closer to Him, and that is a better plan. I know a few things for sure, life is tough, but it is meant to be enjoyed, we have a Savior who loves us, who has felt our joys, our sorrows, our pain, who will help is overcome and become more than we once were. I also know that I choose to be happy, and I choose to be grateful for what I do have and that in all things there is oppostion;that we may learn good from evil, experience sadness to know joy, and that everything works together for our good. Without my trials I would not have learned all that I now know. I also know that I will experience more trials, harships, sadness, but I will also experience much more joy, excitement and grow in truth and light. I will take the hard times, the good times and use them as the song says, as wind to fly high

Spring Break Mini Vacation

With Zack going to school his spring break and my spring break have never fallen at the same time, except when we were both students and I worked at the bank, but then he was working for the school district and we both had to take time off work to hang out anyway. But I digress.....  Our spring breaks once again did not line up but we each took the Friday of the other person's spring break off to hang out together and have family time. For the last weekend of my spring break which was the first weekend in April, which  also happens to be General Conference for my church and this year happened to include my birthday, we rented a cabin with Zack's parents and a few siblings in Star Valley Wyoming. The setting was gorgeous and we had a nice time relaxing and doing whatever we wanted. We left after Zack got out of class Friday and took our time making our way to Star Valley, Wyoming. The drive is so relaxing and beautiful. We were the first to get to the cabin and explored the area, set up our stuff and then played some card games on the wrap around porch while Warren played with a cat that was outside.

Friday evening was spent talking, playing games and just hanging out. Saturday we drove into Jackson Hole and wandered around  window shopping, shopping, more window shopping and then had lunch at a pizza place. We then decided we were going to go check out a park I had seen online while everyone else drove into Teton National Park. Warren loved the climbing park we went to, Phil Baux Park. He had a blast climbing, playing, and running around. Zack and I loved watching him climb and watching other people climb as well. Saturday night the adults went out and we celebrated by birthday which was the next day. We went to Dad's Bar and Steakhouse, it has awesome reviews online, and it was yummy. A hole in the wall place but so good. If we go back we will know that there is a separate entrance for the restaurant. I had a steak marinated in hot sauce, for someone who loves spice, it was a good marinade. After dinner Zack had his mom try and find somewhere that was still open that had ice cream, we forget stores close early in small towns,  but she found some ice cream at the gas station and we came back and had ice cream with the kids. Sunday morning we packed up said goodbye and all went our separate ways. We choose to drive though Soda Springs and show Warren some geysers, the carbonated water, and park I played at when I was young. My dad would often drive to or  home from Yellowstone through Soda Springs and we would stop and take a break, play on the playground, watch the geyser and maybe drink carbonated water. It was fun to pass on some of my memories from my childhood to my own child.

My boys at the antler arch in Jackson Hole.

My little family at the arch.

These cousins are so cute together and they are so good to Warren. He loves them and so do we.

Mommy and Warren having lunch at the pizza place. 

Rocking climbing at Phil Baux Park

Almost to the top.

Climbing with Daddy.  Oh and the lady in the back was there with her husband who was practicing. He would climb along the bottom, all around the base without touching the ground.

We made it to the top!

This was the view from the cabin we rented. GORGEOUS! The sunsets were amazing. We took a few walks in the evenings to soak in all the beauty. I even went running on my birthday and thought I could run if this was my view. It  was exhilarating to run in the crisp mountain air with no one around and to run on dirt roads was awesome.

Me and my eternal sweetheart enjoying the sunset. The view of the stars was describable. With little or no light pollution you could see so many stars! AHHH to live there!

 Soda Spings

We couldn't have timed arriving to see the geyser any better. We arrived started walking up and it started to go off. The information about the geyser is very fascinating. From what Zack read this geyser was messing up Old Faithful somehow so now it is regulated to only go off once every hour. There is much more to the history but too much to write here. I love seeing Warren so intrigued!

The geyser was actually really impressive and you aren't that far from it and can walk all the way around it.

Hooper Springs, it has carbonated water. We had Warren try some without telling him what it was, he did not like it. I tried it again because I had forgotten how much I disliked it (the last time I drank it I was a kid) and quickly remembered why Warren was spitting it out. There is a video I just can't upload it.