Matchy Matchy~!

Tonight as I was getting Mason ready for bed Ethan helped! He insisted that they have matching PJ's! Thanks to the Grandma Reg (my mom) they could! At least they match each other, right?

Saturday hike!

Last Saturday Spen decided that it was finally cool enough for us to hike to the Timpanogus caves.

We knew that we couldn't push Mase up the trail because of the rule of no strollers or wheelchairs, so Spencer happily carried Mase up on his back!

If you haven't hiked this trail before, it is a 1.5 mile paved trail that climbs 1100 feet in elevation. It's not bad, but it's sure not easy. Actually, it is pretty tough! Ethan had some rough patches and I kind of had to pull him along for parts of it, but he made it! Every step of the way!! :)

It was a gorgeous hike. If you've never done it, it should be on your list of something to do in the summers. Ethan sure liked the tunnels along the trail.


Mason only complained when we would stop for a break. He did not like to stop! He would pout and cry until we started up again. He was having such a good time riding on his dad's back! The only problem was that to go through the caves we couldn't bring the backpack, we had to carry him. He's heavy. He wanted me to hold him for most of the cave tour, but once there were wet stairs and I was too unsure he went back to his dad.

Ethan brought his walking stick that he and Spen made from one of our tree limbs. I did not like hiking with him hiking with a hiking stick!!! We had to leave it in a hiding place along the trail and pick it up on our way back down. It was driving me crazy being tripped and hit and having Ethan fall to his face! I always thought that walking sticks were supposed to be helpful for a hike. Not this one so much!~

Every corner you turned you got an even prettier view to enjoy. I kept making us stop to take pictures.

For those of you who don't know this about Ethan -- he LOVES rocks. He always has. He is an avid rock collector. We keep a marker in our car so that we can write on the rocks that he finds so he doesn't forget where he found it. We have rocks from Best Buy, from Taco Bell, from the Dr.'s office parking lot, places like that. He also has rocks from pretty cool spots like hikes at Lake Powell, or Florida, or California. He always is picking up rocks and putting them in his pockets. This hike was no different! We tried to convince him to not bring his own backpack, but he REALLY wanted to. When we got back to the car we discovered why. It was SO heavy with all of the rocks he had picked up along the way! I felt so bad that he had hauled that heavy pack up and down the mountain! Of course he had to have his picture taken by 'Rock Mountain!'

Here is our picture proof that all of us made it to the top! It was a really nice day. We are already planning on going again next year! We hope that Mase still fits in the backpack for at least one more trip up!

California Summer Vacation 2008

We always seem to make it to California once or twice a year for something or other! This time we actually went out for a friend's wedding. It worked out perfectly to make it into a family trip though. Ethan has been working all Spring and Summer collecting aluminum and steel cans to recycle to earn his own money. He has been saving to buy himself a ticket to Disneyland! I know what you're thinking . . . that is a ton of cans! The only response I can come up with to that is, yes that is a ton of cans!! He has all of our neighbors saving for him and he goes door to door around the neighborhood 'can hunting!' He also has all of Spencer's office saving for him.

We started at my brother's house to visit him and his adorable 2 girls, Violet and Marley. They were so much fun. It was hard to spend so little time with them. We then left to visit Spencer's sister and husband, and their 2 darling little girls, Cora and Ellie. Again, not enough time in the trip to stay nearly long enough!

We met Spencer's best friend growing up and his family after that. We spent two very hot days in Disneyland and California Adventure. Mason makes the lines tolerable with the wheelchair and all. He LOVED the Thunder mountain Railroad train ride. Ethan's favorite was of course, Space Mountain. Ethan did the Tower of Terror ride 6 times. I was surprised he like that one so much! It was a very fun time. Disneyland is definitely a favorite place of Ethan's! Our friends stayed at the big Grand California Hotel that is amazing. We did get to spend some time at the pool there. It is hands down the best hotel pool we have ever been to!

The wedding part of the trip was great. It was neat to get to go to the Los Angeles temple for that. They were adorable. By the end of the reception Ethan was so covered in chocolate that I had older ladies giving me laundry tips for his shirt and local cleaners' names for the tie! He had a great time!

I am so thankful that we can do trips like this so frequently! They make such great memories for us to have as a family! Spencer is just hoping that our next trip doesn't bring us back to Disneyland! He is more than ready for a bit of variety!!

Soccer Star!

Ethan started Soccer this week. His dad is on cloud nine with Ethan finally old enough to start city sports, especially soccer!

It's really more like cluster ball. I didn't expect much more but when it was E's turn to kick the ball off and he kicked it all the way to the goal, I was so excited! I cheered so loud that Mason could not compose himself for quite a while he was laughing so hard! It's a lot of fun. Best of all -- he loves it!

1st day of School!

I never thought the day would come when I have a kindergartener!~ Really, I have a son who is old enough for school! REAL School!

I was more than expecting to get sad and emotional for them to be gone, but I was more excited for them to get to start together. Ethan didn't want anything to do with me or with pictures, he just wanted to get going. He even asked me when I was going to leave!~

Ethan was so excited to get to go to the same school as Mason finally.

Because they are at the same time the bus is allowing Ethan to ride with Mase! Lucky me. I don't even have to car pool or drive any more.

Things getting back to normal!

Isn't it great when life finally starts to get back to normal?!! We have had, what seems like the busiest summer of all time! We are finally home and I can tell you it feels good to be here. Like a true beginner I assumed Ethan would be starting school yesterday, but luckily before I took him I found out that he still has another week! We are just getting home from another trip and I am still in the winding down process. I'm excited to get to finally have the time to post some pictures of all of our summer adventures and to get back to reading about all of my friends' adventures.

Date with Ethan

I think I've mentioned before that Spencer and I have really made a big deal about me getting to spend some alone time with Ethan. He gets to share a lot of time with Mase, but we have some fun things that we have always done together.

We go out on dates a lot... almost as often as Spencer and I get to go out!~ He's never been one for casual dates, he prefers us to get all dressed up and to go out in style! Spencer gives him money to surprise me when the check comes at dinner, he'll pull out his little wallet and pay for dinner and giggle at how shocked I get! This time was extra special. My sister has front row center season tickets to capital theater. She couldn't make the performance of High School Musical. I know that you are shocked that Spencer had Ethan take me rather than go himself, but we had a great time together.

He is always the perfect gentleman and gets my door for me and holds my hand. It was a night I will never forget!

We sat on the front row and Ethan was absolutely fascinated by the orchestra. He stood and hovered over watching the conductor most of the first act. At intermission a few of the musicians wanted to talk to him. The drummer gave him one of his sticks and autographed it for him. Ethan thought that was pretty cool. It was all I could do to keep him from 'drumming' on the divider in front of us!