Utah!

Long post...so bear with me.  When we first got to Utah, we realized a few things.  Like:

Grandmas houses needed to be child proofed.

This boy has missed cuddling with his Grandpa Curtis.

More child proofing needed to go on...

We have also been able to do a few fun things, like have a birthday party for this guy!

Have some real livestock to try out Will's new toy gun on.

Feed the "lonely horse" as Will calls him.

Make friends with some kitties.

Cora is checking out her Aunt Shelby's lunch before she goes to work.

Another birthday party.

Go on a cool hike with Mom and try out his new backpack from Uncle Brent.  He carried all of my stuff, it was awesome.

Went to the zoo, Will is pointing to the polar bear under the water.

Almost get eaten by the leopard.

Will and I got smoked at bowling by my mom.

Maybe that huge scar on her leg from her bone graft is fake, she sure doesn't look like a gimp in this picture!

We have had so much fun visiting with friends and family for the past couple of weeks.  But I have missed my better half who is studying for his boards.  Can't wait to see him in 12 days.  I am lucky to have such good parents to crash with while we give Jeremy time to study, and lucky to have great kids who just go with Mom's crazy adventures.

Flying Solo...

My husband is awesome, he passed his COMSAE test (like a pretest for boards for med school) and is now studying for boards all the time.  That means we (the kids and I) got to fly to Utah for a month to let him study without us interrupting all the time.  That means I got to fly solo with two kids for the first time ever.  It turned out all right, but I think I need to say some thank yous to the people who helped me make it to Utah sane.

First, thank you to my sweet husband for getting us to the airport and getting our bags checked in.
Next, thank you to the people who brought me napkins and helped me find someone to wipe up the chocolate milk that Will spilt in the middle of the airport.
Then, thank you to the sweet person that found Cora's pink shoe that we didn't notice was missing until we were on the plane.
Thank you to Southwest people for A. tagging my stroller with the gate check thing and getting it to Utah safely and B. for saving a seat for Will and I next to each other when I missed the family boarding time (Southwest boarding is so weird!).
Thank you to the people sitting around us for being understanding when my kids threw books, kicked chairs and when I had to get up to change Cora's diaper that wet through onto my pants
And last but not least...
Thank you to Jeremy's Mom, Dad, Emily and Peyton for meeting us at the airport with balloons to make the crazy trip all worth it.

5 year old Will

On Monday, my sweet Will turned 5.  It made me a little teary eyed when I went to pick him up from preschool for the last time because it has been so much fun having him home and being able to just go do whatever we wanted each day.  Whether it was a pajama day, slurpee day or play at the park day, we always have fun.  Some of my favorite things about this boy are:

How he worries about our poor old pup and makes sure Festus is taken care of.

The entertaining big brother that he is.  He is pushing Cora around the house in this picture.  She adores him and loves to imitate everything he does.  

His love for animals.  Jeremy found this baby bunny in Festus' mouth, Will kissed it better (then Jeremy pulled a tick off of it, yuck!) and made sure we found its way home under our deck with its family.

How much like his dad he is.  They are such good buddies, Will will even go downstairs and draw or play on his skateboard in the basement just to be by Dad while he studies.

How excited he gets about everything.  The palpable excitement makes life so much fun.

I love his imagination.  He comes up with the best stories and we always are on some sort of mission.

Happy birthday buddy, I sure love you.