One Year Older and Wiser Too!

Creed is 3 years old! Woooo Hoooo! He is so fun to watch grow. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed every single day with this boy. I feel so privileged-- in a deep and literal sense of the word--  to be his Mother. For a long time, before Creed was born, we didn't know if we were going to ever be able to have another baby.  After the miscarriages we experienced, my heart was fragile, and didn't feel whole. I NEEDED Creed to heal my heart. The instant I held that sweet little boy, my heart was fixed. I cant fully express how deeply I needed him, and how profoundly thankful I am for his presence in my life. Each stage, new experience, smile, laugh, milestone and sweet little phrase is something I treasure. Oh how I love him!

He has been so excited for his birthday, and has been asking for MONTHS if it is June yet? This morning, upon hearing that it was his birthday, he popped up and eagerly ran into the front room to find his gifts. He was so cute. My favorite was in the middle of gift opening when he stopped and in grateful awe said, "Thanks Dad!" and "Thank you Mom."

Creed played with his new Cars toys and rode his new bike in the morning. After lunch, we had planned on going to the carousel for the main birthday activity. Unfortunately, Rexburg had a major power outage (which occurred on our drive from our home to the park). The carousel was out-- but they did allow Creed to sit on a horse or two. As a plan B, we decided to go to McDonald's for some Ice Cream. We drove across town-- which was more treacherous than expected due to some traffic lights that were out (Seriously! some people had no idea what to do with no green light to tell them when to go. I think there is a poor girl who might still be waiting there for all I know.) When we got to McDonald's, they were closed... no power.  We drove home feeling a tad discouraged, until we remembered Creed's new sprinkler toy that he got. The children had lots of fun playing in the yard.

 Creed had a lot of visions of grandeur as to what type of cake he wanted. It was actually becoming a source of stress for me as I wondered how I was going to satisfy his grand designs. We finally decided on a monster cake. It didn't turn out exactly how I had imagined it (it never does), but Creed seemed thrilled with the results-- so I was happy with it.

Just a little taste testing.

The whole day was filled with so many glimpses of pure joy on this little fella's face. 

Happy 3rd birthday, my sweet little joke-cracking, tag-a-long, cuddle in the morning, cuddle in the night, movie-loving, high-five giving buddy boy! I love you so much.

Cabin/Yellowstone Trip 2013

We decided to kick off summer break with a fun trip to the cabin. We kind of invited ourselves to tag-a-long with my Mother and Father-- so I'm grateful they let us invade their vacation. It really was such a fabulous time!

Our first full day there was a Sunday-- so we headed to church a 1/2 hour away. It was PACKED. My boys (including Ryan) all passed the sacrament. It took 27 minutes from start to finish. I wish they would have announced the count, because the 2 church houses were packed. I had to take Creed out and was blown away to see, not only all the rooms completely full of people, but also people lining the walls on both sides in every hallway. It was a testimony-strengthening sight. My boys both told me they were grateful for the chance to experience something like that.  After church, we went over to Big Springs. There were no fish, but it was still a lot of fun.

On Monday, we went into Yellowstone. We saw SO MANY buffalo and their babies. We also saw a couple of elk, a lot of geese and ducks, and a bald eagle. We went to see Old Faithful, and the girls embarked on the Junior Ranger program. We saw some paint pots, had a great picnic, and saw a bunch of geysers. It was a successful trip.

On Monday night, we had a hot dog roast, and some smores. YUMMERS!

On Tuesday, we went back into the Park, and went up to Mammoth, and through Lamar Valley. We visited the biggest ant pile EVER! It seems silly to have to stop every year to see the ant hill-- but I am grateful that we do, because it is really fascinating. The girls earned the Junior Ranger patches (it was quite a ceremony), we saw some more elk, a lot more Buffalo, an owl, a mountain sheep, and 3 BEARS!!!!!! We were so thrilled with our luck. I was really hoping that Ryan and my children would get to see a bear. They were only 30-40 yards away. It was spectacular.

Ants

Ant hill

Mammoth

The rest of the week was filled with a lot of playing, eating, watching movies (some of them multiple times) and working. I love the cabin. I love the fresh air and privacy and beauty of it all. Ivy loved the space to run. It was so fun to practically see a little doggy smile on her little doggy face.

This was the best way imaginable to start our summer par-tay!