Wild West Train Ride

We purchased a Groupon for the Heber Valley Railroad in April, and decided to use it on Memorial Day.  It was a themed ride - Wild West!  We all did our best to dress the part, and Collin got tons of compliments.  We drove up to Heber and grabbed lunch.  Then while waiting to board, we ate our lunch on the grass.  Then we wandered around.  Tate and I hoped in line for a train car while Greg and Collin went to get Collin a mustache.

The first seat I found that was open, didn't have an open window, so we waited until a family all moved to sit together and then moved to one with a window.  So glad we did because it was pretty warm!

There were some bad guys trying to hop on the train as we were pulling out , but we couldn't really see because we were on the other side of the train.

Little buddies

Two robbers came through the train car looking for gold!

The boys enjoying the breeze and checking out the view.

When they found it they came back through looking for a hostage, and chose me!  They asked me if I could cook; I said I could.  Then he asked me if I could sew buckskin clothes.  I was pretty sure I could, but hesitated and looked to Greg.  He said, "Absolutely she can!"  Then the robber said "You're tryin' to get rid of her?  Maybe we don't want her!"  Then he asked me if I could make moonshine.  I said no.  And finally they asked if I could skin a bear, and I said no.  They decided I wouldn't be of enough use, so they left me!  This whole thing didn't phase my boys at all!  Guess they knew Mom would be fine!

When the robbers found out the gold was chocolate they didn't want it so they shared with us.

Leaving the train

There was a gun fight!  It scared Tate, so he and I didn't get to watch.  But Collin said the good guys won!

Picture with the bad guy (left) and deputy (right).  They called Collin "Sheriff Woody".  

We all got mustaches after the gun fight.  Collin picked which mustache each of us got.

Boys with staches.

Family picture in front of the train

Collin went to check out the tee-pee.

They were tired.  We grabbed a couple pictures and then headed back home!

It was such a fun experience!  I would love to do it again, and maybe if they do it, a longer one.  Our ride was only about 40 minutes long.  We didn't really even make it our of town before they backed up to the station again.  It would be fun to do one that went out to the lake!  Maybe we'll have to go another time!

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day we took flowers to Greg's grandparents' graves on Sunday.  We'd bought two small bouquets (no vase), to take with us.  We knew where his Mom's Mom was buried, but weren't sure about his Dad's parents.  

We got to use the vase in the head stone at Grandma Helen's grave.  We pulled out a few flowers and put them on Ray's (Helen's 3rd husband) grave.

Tate slept for a bit.  And there were already a lot of flowers there! 

Then we drove to Bountiful.  We knew where the cemetery was, but not the headstone.  When we pulled up, it didn't look that big, so Greg suggested we just wander around and look for the headstone.  He and Collin started on the left, and Tate in the stroller and I did the right section.  When I finished my section (which was hard with a stroller on grass...) I looked to the right and noticed just how large the cemetery was.  That discouraged me, so I walked along the road looking a few stones in, and headed to find Greg to tell him to try and call his Dad.  When I found Greg, Collin was done walking so he rode on the stroller too.  Greg said he'd try to call, but we might as well keep looking while he tried to get a hold of him.  I walked mostly on the roads, and looked a few headstones in with both the boys and the stroller; Greg briskly started at the back of the cemetery and checked all the stones.  While heading down one road, I overheard a man say to his wife "Do you have the flowers?"  "No, they're in the car.  Why?"  "He's down here." "But my Dad said he was at the front?" "I just checked the registry and it says he's down here..."  By then they were out of earshot, but I'd heard what I needed, there's a REGISTRY!  I hurried to find Greg.  When I told him, he looked it up and we found that the headstone we were looking for was 3 rows down in the next section that I would have done had I not gotten discouraged!  Shoot!  Or as Collin would say "Swirly twirly octopus!"

The headstone vase was already being used, so we just added our flowers to it.

The sun was so bright!

It took us quite a while, but it was worth it.  It was a great way to spend Memorial Day!

A bunch of stuff in May

For my 30th, Greg planned a BBQ for the Saturday before Mother's Day.  We had burgers, hot dogs, sausage, chips, and desserts.  We had a great turn out, and besides the rain it was an amazing evening!  I feel so blessed to have such great family and friends!  Love you all!

The dessert I made - Smore's sticks.  They were super yummy!

Dad decorated Collin's head.

My first Mother's Day flowers!  I loved them!  The boys got them at Costco, and then I got to arrange them!

Tate had a super crappy night (woke up a ton of times, and ended up sleeping in our bed), but then just after waking in the morning was all smiles!

For my birthday, Greg gave me a girls night out!  We went to dinner and then to Color Me Mine.  It was so much fun!  Love these girls!

Tracey and Katrina working on their pieces (a cup and toothbrush holder).

My piece all painted.

Katrina, Tracey & Jennifer.  Jennifer and I did the same piece, but she did her's with a lace treatment.

I went to get the pieces a few days later.  They ALL turned out so awesome, but Jennifer's was amazing!  Greg said it looks totally professional and like something you'd purchase at a store.  If I ever go back, I'm totally doing something with the lace.  It was so cool!

One Saturday we had a ward BBQ and party at the park across the street.  Collin and Greg went over earlier, and Tate and I showed up at the end.  I think everyone had fun.  Tate got hungry, so he and I headed back before Greg and Collin.  When they came back, Collin was COVERED in dirt.  We took him out back, snapped some pictures and then wiped him down.  Greg said he was playing on this dirt "slide" on the hill there and all the kids that were playing on it were super dirty.  Oh kids!

Collin and I built lots of towers.  "Can I knock it down now?"

Tate likes when I do laundry, because he loves pulling all the clothes out of the basket and then putting the basket on his head.  Silly boy!

Another Collin tower.  This one he built all by himself.  Then he would take turns knocking it down with Tate.

These boys.  They adore each other!  I can already tell Tate looks up to Collin, and Collin loves having a  buddy to play with and show how to do things.  He says all the time "Awe!  Tate, you're so cute!" 

They were watching Little Einsteins on the computer and holding hands!

And Tate wants to do everything big brother does!

Soccer

I heard about a soccer class through Riverton City and thought that would be a great way to introduce Collin to sports.  He's somewhat of a perfectionist and likes to be in control.  So we thought throwing him into a sport on a team might be an extra challenge.  Plus this way he can learn some soccer skills before just playing the game!  It started in April and for 6 weeks there was a class every Wednesday evening.  They asked parents to attend to help the kids practice the skills, so Greg went every week.  Tate and I went one week in May to take pictures.  I was surprised how quickly Collin had picked up the skills they worked on!

He was really good at dribbling.  

And he kept an eye on the goal so he knew when to kick it in!

Then they practiced shooting at the goal.  The two girls are friends of ours, Hailey and Lindsay.  

Again, Collin was pretty good!  He could get his ball to go in the direction of the goal and most times it went in.  Sometimes he didn't kick it hard enough so it wouldn't make it to the goal, but almost all the times it was heading there!

It was really windy.  Made Tate's eyes water.  

The two men in blue and green were his coaches.  They were SO patient with all the kids!

Then they practiced throwing into hula hoop targets.  Again, Collin surprised me!  He wasn't even too upset when he'd miss a hoop!

Need to work on keeping a foot down...

After class the kids get a snack, then we played on the playground.

Collin loves soccer!  He excited to play on a team this summer!