I Know that My Redeemer Lives....

Backhoe with Papa

On Monday, when we came through Logan, we had to stop up at the Logan Cemetary to visit Papa Douglas. Papa had been digging graves for many years up at the cemetary. He has amazing skills when it comes to using a backhoe!

Clayton loves tractors and trucks right now. A few weeks ago, he saw my Uncle Clair driving a tractor down the street and ever since then, he gets so excited when he sees anything that resembles a tractor. He lets off this cute little squeal and then points to it.

Well, when we got up to the cemetary, Papa was nice enough to take the time to pull the backhoe out of the garage and take the boys for a spin around the cemetary. They both thought it was pretty amazing! He also let the boys pull the gears back and forth to make the scoop move up and down.

After that, he took the boys into the shop where they got to sit on the riding lawn mowers and pretend they were driving them. They also got to play with the snow plows. They had a great time playing in the garage with Papa. Thanks Papa for taking the time out of your day to show the boys what you do each day! They love you very much and are lucky to have you as their Papa!

Look Who's 6 Years Old

On April 11, Cooper turned 6 years old. He is growing up way to quickly. It seems like he was just born not too long ago. Bryce told me that the other day he was looking at pictures of Cooper when he was Clayton's age and it made him sad bc Cooper is already 6 now. Cooper had been so excited for his birthday to come. He has been asking me everday, "how many days till my birthday".

Last year we did a big party, so this year we just kept it nice and simple (which he didnt' understand or appreciate). We woke up at the Condos on his birthday. He unwrapped some of the presents that Bryce and I got for him. He was most excited about a "How To Train A Dragon" egg and dragon volcano set. When we got home, we made the egg hatch and the volcano explode. The boys liked that.

When we got into Logan, Bryce took him to the movie, "Rango". We had heard that it was really NOT a kids show and that there were a couple of bad words in it. Cooper had been so excited to see it, so we let him decide. He went to Rango and he loved it. Bryce said he sat on the edge of his seat the whole movie. When he got in the car, he said, "mom, it was awesome and I didn't hear any bad words". I thought in my head, "that's because you don't know what the bad words are yet." I guess thats a good thing!

We also bought Cooper a "kids meal" for lunch. He loves kids meals because he likes to play with the toys. Most kids throw the toys away, but not Cooper. He will play with them for a long time.

When we finally arrived home, Bryce went out to our shed to work on a "surprise" for Cooper. When he got all finished, we brought Cooper out to see his brand new bike. Bryce actually got this bike from Discount Tire before Cooper was even born, but we kept in the box for the last 6 years, waiting for the perfect time to open it up. I know Cooper is 6, but he is just now becoming interested in riding a bike. The last few days, we have been out riding his bike. I have been running by the side of him, while he peddles and learns to balance, turn, and slow down. Clayton, in the mean time, wants to get on it when he can get the chance. He thinks he is just as big as Cooper. But, Cooper is good to let him sit on it!

Cooper received lots of birthday wishes from family and friends, but he told me that he loves it when people sing him happy birthday. He said, "It makes me happy and it makes me smile."

We invited Reese, Jaxson and Landon over to help Cooper celebrate his 6th birthday. I baked a cake and then I let the kids decorated the cake with "icing markers". They had a great time coloring the cake and then eating it. We had tacos for dinner, which is one of Coopers favorite foods (crunchy tacos that is).

On Tuesday, when Cooper went back to school, I brought in some donuts for his class to celebrate his birthday. He was really excited because I kind of surprised him. His class sang to him and then told him thanks for the donuts. It made him happy! Here is a picture of Cooper and Ms. Clark.

I hope Cooper had a fun time on his big day, even though we didnt' have a "real" party. Bryce and I really enjoyed spending the day with him. Bryce took work off that day and it was nice to just spend the day all together. We are so thankful for Cooper. He has such a sweet spirit about him, and he blesses our home everyday. He is such a great example to Clayton and to us. We love you Cooper.

Spring Break

It's kind of weird because I finally have a child old enough to be in school. They past few years, Spring Break has meant nothing to us, but now we get to actually have a family vacation for Spring Break. Cooper had Thurs thru Monday off this year, so we decided to go over to Bear Lake and stay in the WorldMark Condos.

Even though Ogden Condos are an hour and a half closer, we chose Bear Lake because of the nice indoor pool and hot tub. Well, Jacqu and her family stayed at Bear Lake on Thursday night. On Friday morning, they went swimming before they had to leave. While they were at the pool, the pool guy accidently mixed muratic acid with chlorine and it created a toxic gas that went through the vents and water. To make a long story short, Jared and the kids had to be taken over to the Logan hospital in an ambulance because they were exposed to the gases. They ended up being fine after they wore oxygen mask for a while. The fire department closed the pools down on Friday.

Well, we got there on Saturday evening. We kept wondering what we were going to do for 3 days without going swimming. We ended up being able to go down to the city hall where they had an indoor pool and hot tub. It was really nice and the kids had a great time playing in the water. Cooper enjoys swimming and Clayton found a ball that he kept throwing around.

The next day, we spent the day doing different activities. Cooper slept till 10 am, so he must have enjoyed his queen size bed all by himself! We went on a walk down to the clubhouse, where we chose a couple of movies to watch.

Bryce pulled off some icicles from the condo and the boys chomped on them while we walked. The weather was a little chilly but clayton loved it. We even saw a few deer come down and graze on the hill right in front of our rooms.

There was another family that was leaving on Sunday morning. We were outside in the front when they came out to pack their van. There were 4 boys and 1 baby girl. Cooper had a good time climbing on the hills with them. Bryce had a good time throwing snowballs at them. He even hit the four year old right on top of the head! I have never seen Bryce move so quickly as he did up that hill to make sure the boy was OK! Good thing mom and dad werent' outside when it happened!Later that day, we read a few books with the kids and then put Clayton down for a nap. Bryce, Cooper and I watched Marmaduke. After the movie, we went on a ride to pick up some vinegar so we could dye some eggs. We stopped by the Hodges Cabin to visit with them for an hour and the boys had a great time playing with their toys!

When we got back to the Condo, we mixed the colors and the boys dyed the boiled eggs. Clayton wanted his egg to just sit in the yellow dye and if I tried to move it to a different bowl, he would get upset. Cooper and dad made tie-dyed eggs that turned out really cool. I have been enjoying egg salad sandwiches since then and they have been yummy!

Sunday afternoon, Bryce and I watched New Moon while the boys played around the condo. Bryce grilled us some tasty chicken and we had a wonderful meal. I took the boys on another walk down to some bridges. They had fun walking through the snow and Cooper kept pointing out the deer "droppings" along the way!

Monday morning, we sang Happy Birthday to Cooper and then Dad cooked us bacon and eggs for breakfast. We got things packed up as quickly as possible so we could get into Logan to celebrate Coopers Birthday!

It was such a fun weekend to just spend time with our family. Its not very often that we get opportunities like that, but it was so worth it! Hope we will try to this more often through out the year!