Pilot Mountain

Last Saturday was beautiful so we decided to take a little hike. We didn't actually get out there until the afternoon because we had to get our garden planted.

On the car ride up to Pilot Mountain I put Denzil's sunglasses on him (the right way) and he likes to play with them a lot. When it got quiet in the back, this is what we saw. He is sleeping if you can't tell and it was so cute!

We took a hike that started at the park office because there was no room at the top and it is one of the longer hikes in the park. It was about 6 miles round trip and Denzil did great. He loves riding in the backpack but I could tell that 6 miles is probably close to his limit. We took him out for a few minutes at the top and he wasn't too excited to be put back in but that only lasted for a minute and then he got back in the groove.
The view from the top. It was a wonderful hike and we are looking forward to more this summer.

Lazy5Ranch

So I am a member of the Disney movie club and often there are stickers that come in the stuff they send in the mail. Denzil loves stickers so we finished off the stickers by putting some on his face. He was so cute that I left them on him for a trip to Costco!

Now on to the Lazy5Ranch. A bunch of friends got together and made the trek. By having a bigger group it made the cost a lot cheaper and who doesn't like being with friends?! This is a cute little baby pig. The only thing that boggled our minds was how they could care for so many little pigs because every single one of the mama pigs looked like she was prego with her belly dragging on the ground!

We did a wagon ride through the ranch and had a bucket with pellets to feed to the animals. We fed an Emu, some llama's, a cow elk, some deer, some type of cow with a really long tongue that would open its mouth and you just drop the food in there, and some others that I don't remember right now. We also saw Zebra's which they said bite so we didn't feed them anything.
The brown one on the right is the one that we fed I think. I couldn't get a picture while we were doing it because Denzil would have been out of that wagon in a jiffy trying to pet the animals.
We also got to feed Giraffes! This one is a baby one and it wasn't too fond of Denzil's jumpy movements but I got to give it a few handfuls of that pellets.
Then there was a petting zoo after the wagon ride that Denzil loved! We would start to walk away and he'd run back to touch and see the sheep and goats one more time.
There were some birds too that he loved to look at and watch them fly in the cage and climb it too.

And of course, let's not forget the swings. He could and would sit in a swing all day if I let him. he had such a great time being with friends and playing outside and seeing animals. Then next thing I'd like to do with him is take him to the zoo. Maybe next week.

Easter camping

Since we live in the south, Good Friday was a day off for Kris. So, we decided to go camping with some of our friends. I bought this sweet Mickey Mouse (Mickemee Mouse according to Denzil) for our little guy so he could have a seat at the campfire. We had a great time just hanging out with friends and being out in the woods of Virginia.

We did our Easter baskets up there. Good thing we have friends that are so creative. Here is Denzil looking for his basket. I hid one for Kris too but I didn't take any pictures of it.

Friday the weather wasn't too great with lots of cold and periods of rain so we took a little car ride to check out a mine museum but it was closed so we went to the Settlers Museum. It was a small farm with an old school house and such. The kids had fun running around and getting a bit wet.
Since I knew it was going to rain while we were there I bought Denzil some rain boots. Too bad the store didn't think that little little kids wanted them in their size so I got some that are a little too big. Kris came up with the duct tape idea to help keep them on his feet while he ran around. It worked out great, except when Denzil needed a diaper change.
Saturday turned out to be a wonderful day. We were able to take a short hike through the woods by the campsite.
We decorated Easter eggs. A few of the kids even liked the taste of the dye...yuck!

And then it was time for the egg hunt! These are the hunters. I think they had a blast!

Denzil was a great finder and what made him the most happy was finding the eggs that were filled with his favorite...jelly beans! He popped them all in his mouth like they were going to get taken away before they would make it there. Good thing he found enough eggs to share the goods with Mom and Dad! Thanks Jackson's and Kimsey's for helping us to have a fabulous Easter this year.
This was the only picture we could get with him looking at the camera. The basket handle makes a nice mustache eh!

Houston, TX

My sister and her family invited us to come stay with them for a little over a week. Kris is in the middle of his surgery rotation so Denzil and I jumped on the opportunity. We had a great time with them and enjoying the wonderful spring weather in TX. We spent a couple of days about an hour north of Austin and so we made our way to a train museum in Temple. It was pretty fun and nice that they had a little room just for kids to play with toy trains and such. Denzil really liked that idea.

You can go inside the cab of his engine and ring the bell and move a few levers and such. It was a bit of a challenge to get all the kids to look at the camera but they had a great time.

On our drive back to Houston we made a stop for lunch with Anita, Kris' sister, and surprisingly Denzil let her hold him long enough to get a picture taken without crying. He is for sure in the "I love mom" stage and would cry while I was taking a shower at my sisters, even with the other kids around to distract him.
Denzil had just woken up and had this sweet hairdo going for him and I couldn't resist the awesome sleeping position of Kate as well.
There is a place near Houston that has a bunch of small trains and tracks set up and on one Saturday a month they do free rides for the public. As we were standing in line I thought that it would be a quick ride because of how frequently the trains were coming in but it ended up being about 10 minutes or so. We had a great time and it was so pleasant out there.

Denzil really had fun with Kate and Sam. They loved playing together most of the time. Denzil started to learn what it is to wrestle.
They have some pretty sweet dress up stuff and this is the dragon suit. I tried to get a better pic of it but I also wanted to get his cute face.

Thanks for a lovely trip Laura, Adam, Kate and Sam. Can't wait until we can do it again!

What we have been up to lately...

A few days before Valentine's Day I took Denzil to Barnes and Noble for their story time and craft time and this is the card Denzil made for Kris.

I know, my kid is so smart already! He did help me write this by holding the crayon with me;)

He is still in love with the park and especially the swings. We have Victoria over one or more times a week and she seemed to love the swings as well. I went to the park with Denzil the other day and I'm pretty sure he spent at least 1/2 hr on the swing. I'm surprised that he didn't get bored. I had to keep switching arms to make sure one muscle didn't get bigger than the other.
He is also in love with bikes. I guess that is why I decided that I should buy him a tricycle today and yes I did cave and get the one with the adult push handle because my back can't take the bending over for that long. He cried at the store when I made him get back in the cart so we could purchase the bike. He wanted to keep riding the "test" bike.

For one of our playgroup times we went to a bounce house that has little kid hours (6 and under) and we had a blast! We went down this slide at least 10 times because I was having so much fun on it.

This was taken a few weeks ago. I have pulled out the maternity clothes and bought a few more because last time I didn't buy much because a girl at work let me borrow hers. Hopefully I can find a couple more pairs of shorts so that I can be cool and comfortable for the summer. No names have been picked yet for this little girl but we are getting more and more excited to welcome her to our family in a few more months.

It's official. It's a GIRL!

Christmas Break

Christmas break was another fun chance to make it back out west. We were able to stay in Utah for a week and in Washington for a week. It is always great to be able to see family and friends. Mostly everyone just wants to see Denzil though :). We sure wish we were a little closer.

Christmas lights at Temple Square with Jenny's family. It snowed a little but we stayed warm.

This is a great little toy store called Blickenstaff's in Provo. Here's the little guy making the rodeo look easy.

Denzil loves playing with balls, especially like this at the Children's Museum. He had a fun time with all the little exhibits they have to play on there.

Picking out some good fruits and veggies from the Farmer's Market at the Children's Museum.

Hiking up Millcreek Canyon on Christmas Eve.

Hayride and caroling in the neighborhood with the all the families.

This shirt was Denzil's gift from us. It's tough to read, but it says "I'm going to be a Big Brother." It's true, starting in July.

The weather was a bit wet for the week in SLC, but Christmas Day was beautiful. We headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon and went snowshoeing up to Willow Lake near Brighton. It wasn't too long, the weather was great, and the snow was wonderful. Jenny's dad came with us.

Found a soft spot when we were pulling out. Had to dig for a few minutes then we were able to drive right out.

Multnomah Falls, OR. The tallest waterfall in Oregon (620 ft combined) and the 3rd tallest year-round waterfall in the US. We went for a drive to see the Columbia River Gorge.

This is the Portland Children's Museum. Denzil loves the water and couldn't get enough of the water area that they have.

Jenny and Jaxon (our nephew) on our first geocaching adventure.

We were driving in the mountains near home and Jaxon asked if we could stop and have a snowball fight. We accepted the invitation. What a fun day.