St. George Vacay

Derek had a water conference down in St. George for a few days, so we decided to take advantage of that and have a little family vacation. We booked an extra night at the hotel, and spent Saturday-Wednesday (March 19-22) down in the lovely heat of Southern Utah. Even more fun, was that Grandpa was at the same conference, so Grandma came along, too! The boys were so excited.

We headed straight to Zion's National Park on our way down, which was so fun. We hiked up to the Weeping Rock. Henry remembered coming to Zion's with the Schofield's last October, and he kept talking about riding on the bus. We rode it up to the trail head, and then walked across the bridge and up to the incredible "rain" coming from the rocks. Derek and the boys stopped to admire the moss and the lichen along the way, and Johnny was eager to run the whole way. Which was a bit terrifying for me, to be honest. Henry was a bit grumpy on this hike, but when we got back down, we went to the creek and stuck our feet in for a while. That cheered him up quickly!

After that, we rode the bus all the way up through the canyon and then headed to the hotel. We didn't get in until late, and we all collapsed into bed.

Sunday, we took our time getting ready, then headed to the St. George Temple grounds before church. It was a perfect and gorgeous day! The boys loved running around the flowers, and Johnny chased a butterfly for a while. The temple grounds were so peaceful and quiet--one of my favorite places in St. George. We met up with Grandpa and Grandma for Sacrament meeting right after. Poor Johnny was running up to meet them and biffed it on the sidewalk--a really bad one. His nose was bleeding, he scratched his legs and his face. Poor boy. But he was tough, and after a good cry cuddled with Mommy throughout Sacrament meeting.

After church we headed back to the temple for a while. We went in the visitor's center, and learned about how they built the temple. Henry was excited about all the videos in there and about the pictures that show what it looks like inside.

We had lunch at the park, and then back to the hotel to change. We decided to take a chance on Johnny getting a nap in the car (which he did) and head into Zion's. We drove all the way up to the tunnels, and Henry was awake and chatting the whole time. But we entered the tunnel, and I kept talking to him, but he didn't respond. Which isn't completely unusual. But I said "Oh Henry, did the dark tunnel make you fall asleep?" Sure enough, at the next big window, I looked back and saw him fast asleep! Poor little boys! We drove for quite a bit after that, letting them sleep and enjoying the AMAZING views of rock and trees outside our windows.

We picked a place to stop when Johnny woke up and it was the perfect place! We found a little creek running through some beautiful sand. We took off shoes and played in the water, climbed up the rocks, and collected some pretty stones. Henry especially loved climbing up the rocks. We really could have stayed there all day, it was a perfect spot to play in.

But we wanted to take the hike up to the entrance to the narrows, so we hurried in and did that. That walk was all paved trail, so we took the buggy and hurried on ahead of Grandpa and Grandma. It was a nice little walk, but I hope to go back when the boys are bigger and we go hike all the way in to the Narrows. Not in the spring though--the Virgin River was SO full and fast!

After we had a little dinner, we headed back to the hotel and took the boys swimming. We played in the pool and the two hot tubs before crashing again for the night.

Monday Derek and Grandpa had to head to the conference, so Cindy and I took the boys into town. We went to the Children's Museum which was AMAZING. The boys loved it! There favorite room was probably the little grocery store, where they picked out foods and pretended to buy it. But they also loved the room with an airplane and a car to fix, the post office, the room with instruments, and a cool room where they pretended to be DJs and put on music. They were both thrilled to learn that their favorite song "Try Everything" was one of the choices!

We had lunch in the park and played in the splash pad right next door before we headed home for naps. Surprisingly, the boys and I all cozied up on my bed and slept together. It was so nice! I wish we could do that every day. But we had had a very busy day, so everyone was exhausted.

Monday night, for Family Home Evening, we headed into Snow Canyon to hike around on the rocks and play in the Sand Dunes. The boys LOVED the sand. We picked a good spot, pulled out some sand toys, and went to town for a over an hour. There was a spigot nearby, so we filled buckets with water and made mud and castles, enjoyed the soft sand, and the beautiful sunset.

When we gave them baths that night, the tub was covered in red sand. So was our car, to be fair! But we had such a great time.

Tuesday, we took it a bit easier and went up to the Red Cliffs Desert Gardens. The boys, Grandma, and I walked around for quite a while before we had lunch there. But everyone was pretty tired. We went and visited Daddy at the conference during his lunch break (where Grandma found some rocks to buy the boys at a gift shop) and then headed back for nap time.

That night, we went out to Glitter Mountain, a gypsum mine I had read about online. Turns out, it was similar mine to where the pioneers had mined gypsum to crush up for the facade of the Temple! It was so fun. The boys, especially Henry, loved running around filling their buckets up with the shiny rocks. We wished we had brought more tools--and we will next time--but we still gathered some beautiful rocks to bring home.

Wednesday was our day to go home, but not till about 1pm. Grandma and I tried to go to Jacob Hamblin's homestead (now a bit of a museum) but the boys were not into it. But we found an amazing park for lunch! I wished we had known about it sooner. They had a blast running around on the playground, and they had a train! Yes--a train run by volunteers. It was only $1 to have a ride, and Johnny was in heaven.

On our way home to Provo, we stopped and drove up through Kolob Canyon, where Henry received his Jr. Ranger Badge for Zion's National Park. He did such a great job picking up garbage and doing the activities while we were in Zion's those two days. And he was SO proud wearing that badge! Just like his Bryce Canyon Badge.

We had such a great time, but we were ready to head home. Everyone was wiped. But we made some great memories!

The Boys Lately

I'm way behind on this, which is sad. So I'm just going to not worry about it, and talk about the boys right now. Not what I've missed.


Henry
* Loves to build things. Lately, it's with the Duplos and the Magneforms. But he loves to use his imagination and build houses, roads, boats, playgrounds, and castles.

* New phrases that are funny:
-"I hardly had so much food!" (He uses "hardly" totally wrong, but it's hilarious)
-"Space Sticks!" a quote from Micky Mouse Clubhouse.
- Basically--he uses that word all the time
- "All of the days"
- "Voices off"--something he has learned from his Sunbeam Teachers.

* Guards his Daddy and Henry time very jealously. He loves to play Snap Circuits with Derek during this time.

* Still loves singing and music. Try Everything from Zootopia still and the Moana Soundtrack are his favorites.

* Can buckle himself up in the car, and even tighten his seat belt just right. 

* His foods of choice lately are tortillas and Cheddar Cheese, which he likes to grate himself. He still loves French Fries, chips, and Marshmallow Mateys.

* loves holding hands with Mama. He always tells me that it helps him feel safe in the parking lot, and that he "loves it really a lot"

* Still plays cords, but not as much. He likes to connect a whole string of them and plug them in, but then they usually get left alone.

* Rocks. He got some pretty rocks from Bryce Canyon and likes to play with them often.

* He and Johnny both love to run and jump onto the love sack.

* love Sunbeams! He always comes home and tells me how much fun he has.

* Gave his first talk in Primary his second week of Sunbeams! He said maybe 5 words, but he did really well all things considered.

* Likes to help take Johnny to nursery

* still a very picky eater, but here and there he will try something new.




John
* started nursery! We always leave him crying, but his teachers tell us they can distract him pretty quickly. He's stayed the whole two hours by himself 3 weeks in a row now

* Dancing! He loves to dance. It's mostly stomping his feet and turning around, but it's the cutest.

* all about trucks and trains. He especially loves "choo choos"

* Loves to play Little People with Mommy. His favorite is Pluto, who he makes panting noises for. 

* He loves to stand up on the stool and help with anything in the kitchen. Like Henry, he loves to play in the water at the sink with kitchen tools.

* brushing his teeth! He loves it and wants to do it all the time.

* Taking baths/showers. He would stay in the bath all day if I let him. He likes to get the bucket of toys from the closet by himself and dump it in the bath.

* Getting better about diaper changes--he usually will hold still. Often we have to chase him down to get him there, but he does great. He also goes to get his own diaper and wipes, and loves to be a big boy and throw the wet one away.

* He's started throwing things or slamming the table/couch when he's upset. We're working on that, and he is very ashamed when he gets scolded. He will say "sorry sorry" when he's in trouble or he's embarrassed.

* He's started praying now. He repeats please and thank you, and usually the last word of what you say. It's darling. He also says "Jesus Amen"

* He loves to run and face plant onto the Love Sac, and always says "boom!" when he does so. 

* He will pat the couch or floor next to him and say "Mama!" often when he wants me to sit and be with him, which he loves.

* His favorite thing is when Nana or Grandma are here, he will bring them books and throw himself into their laps to get them to read to him. He still LOVES to read and often follows people around with a book until they stop and read it to him. Favorite books lately are: First 100 Trucks, Touch and Feel Kittens, London Pop-Up Book, and Dinosaur Roar. 

* John's favorite part of the day is when Daddy gets home. He stands on the radiator by the front window and bangs on it yelling "Dada!" for ten minutes until Derek gets home. When Derek starts walking up, he jumps down and runs around the ottoman yelling Dada. When Derek comes in and kneels down, he barrels him over with a big hug. Then immediately wants Derek to take his coat off. Than another hug.

* So many new words:
-Thank you
-please
-maw (meow)
-Jesus
- Amen
- What's that
- choo choo sounds
- book
- bop (binky)
- Mickey
- His no and yes sound so much the same: "nyah" and "nah" it's very confusing
- up and down
- Sauce
- Go (which he says as soon as you say "ready?")
-sorry sorry
-blue. (everything is blue!)
-Mine--still lots of mine around here.

Bryce Canyon in Winter

Several weeks ago, we made a reservation at Ruby's Inn by Bryce Canyon for this first week of January. Of course, as per usual, our Christmas vacation was full of sick people--we almost didn't go. But oh, am I glad we did!

While we didn't get to do the hiking we did while at Bryce in September, it was breathtaking in the snow! It might just be my favorite season there. The contrast between the red rock and the white snow was to die for.

Our first evening, we went up to the rim and looked out over the amphitheater and admired the beauty of the snow. The boys enjoyed walking through the snow (which was a bit terrifying, beings so close to such a cliff!) and leaning over the fence to enjoy the scenery.

Then we went back to Ruby's and made pancakes for dinner! We set up our griddle and Derek made some delicious dinner. The boys loved sitting at the table and watching a show while we ate.

After dinner, we headed to the pool. The actual pool was a bit cold, but the boys discovered the joy of hot tubs. We have to be careful with hot tubs, not just because they are so young, but also because Henry's blood sugar can drop very quickly. But it was so nice to get so warm! The pool and spa were in a different building, so we chose to drive over. The drive home in our wet bathing suits was an adventure. We just let the boys sit on our laps (I know, call the police on us, sure) since we just drove across the parking lot. We snuck around the back of the buildings, just in case. :)

Getting to bed was an adventure, as always when we share a room. We stayed up watching t.v. until about 9, then Derek and I decided it wasn't too early for us to go to bed. The boys went to sleep fairly quickly after that, thank goodness.

The next day, we bundled up and headed out to go sledding! We went down to Red Canyon, where there were some great hills for sledding. Unfortunately, poor little Johnny got hut within seconds of leaving the car. I got him all bundled up and stood him up on the ground, but apparently he thought I was still holding him. In slow motion, he tipped forward and face planted right on the ice. Poor guy! Tears and a bit of blood, and he wanted to just sit in his sled next to me the whole time. But we did get some fun runs down a hill! Henry especially loved that. Then Derek and I took turns pulling the boys along a snowy path at the base of the hill.

After lunch at Ruby's Inn, we decided to drive up along the scenic route through the park. This was amazing! The drive was a bit scary, as it was very foggy and lots of snow. They plowed the roads really well, however, so we got to go all the way to Rainbow Point. Our favorite spot was definitely Natural Bridge. Derek took Henry over to the look out and Henry said "What the?!" It was so funny. The Bridge was beautiful and coated with snow.

That evening, we did pancakes for dinner again (saving money, you know) and then headed to the hot tub one more time (just as sneakily, of course). After rinsing off the chlorine in the tub, we all piled on to one bed and watched Family Feud for a while before crashing.

We only made one stop in the park the next day: to pick up Henry's Jr. Ranger badge! We completed so many of the activities, including picking up trash, identifying animals, drawing a hoodoo, and Henry even learned what hoodoo means in Paiute (scary or afraid). He was so excited to get his badge--and very proud! He's worn it a lot since.

Our drive home was very scary, to say the least. We decided to leave earlier than we had planned when we heard about the weather--good thing! We drove the last half in a crazy blizzard. Lots of prayers were said, and we were sure grateful the boys slept through a lot of the drive.

Despite the weather, we all really enjoyed our winter visit to Bryce Canyon. I definitely recommend it! I would love to get snowshoes and go hiking, but that just wasn't feasible with our little guys. Some day.

Our House--Before Photos

We bought a house! We got keys Monday October 3rd, and we immediately started moving in. We also immediately started renovating; I couldn't even wait for the before pictures to start pulling down the hideous wallpaper in our room. :)

Here's the outside--admittedly, this is a week after we moved in. We had already pulled some weeds and added some pumpkins. But I couldn't find my other picture of the house.

Front Room:

It's a really big room, actually. Two large windows, one with a lot of the original glass, so it's nice and wavy. The bedroom doors both go off of the living, which I wasn't sure about at first, but after just a week I've already gotten used to it and I even like it. on the south wall, is a big built in bookcase right next to an awesome mantle over a not quite so awesome wood burning stove. To be honest, when I first saw the mantle, I didn't like it. It's big, awkward, and it looked so bleh with the old paint. Old dirty paint, as the previous owner burned coal every winter. Our entire house, basically, was covered in a layer of coal dust when we moved in.

The walls in the living room are covered with a grass cloth, which was another thing I wasn't sure about at first. But I've grown to really like the interesting texture. Especially after some paint.

As you can see in the photos, the heat in our house is produced by a big boiler through radiators. I love radiant heat, but these radiators are pretty big. We have plans to build window seats with grates on the front to allow the heat out, but that is a few weeks away.

view looking towards the front door. The door on the left is in to the master bedroom.

looking back. That door is in to the kitchen. 

the mantle and stove, as well as the big bookcase. 

Kitchen: 

The kitchen was like 1974 incarnate. Seriously. It was rather awful. The wallpaper was a hideous pattern of olive green, mustardy yellow things. Not a fan. We've already pulled down almost all of it, and we found avocado paint underneath! It must have been so dark when that was the color.

One of the first things we removed was a big yellow storm window on the kitchen window. It made the room so dark, and taking it off helped so much.

The cabinets are really nice, and there are a lot of them, but they are dark. White paint my friends! We also immediately removed the weird plastic sliding things above the cabinets. I didn't take a close up of those (too bad) but they really darkened the kitchen. We were lucky to get all of the appliances from the previous owner, which was a great help.

There's a weird opening to the left of the stove that we're going to turn in to a pantry, with some doors. Before, it was used as a pantry but with open shelves. It looked quite messy.

The window over the sink is awesome. I can see the whole backyard! But we've found that it gets REALLY hot right there in the afternoon. :) 

Don't you love the wallpaper?

Dark, I know, but this shows the weird yellow window where the table will be. Also, the cabinet against the wall and one right behind Derek will be taken out. 

this is the door into the Living room, with the set of drawers that will be removed. 

Back Room, aka playroom:

This room has the laundry in it, but it will be our play room. Oh man, this room needs some work. Some HORRIBLE carpet and tada--popcorn ceiling! That will be a spring project for sure.

It was just used as storage for the previous owner, so it was just packed with stuff when we first saw the house. The window and the big sliding glass door were covered in reflecting foam core to help keep the heat in. You better believe we tore that out asap. It made that room SO bright. Rowena already loves to curl up in the sun back there. The door is south facing, and that is perfect for her kitty naps. Right now, it's still a bit of mess. It's been the "I don't know where to put this so put it back here" room while we're renovating. I am looking forward to getting the toys put away back there.

The house smelled really awful when we first moved in. A combination of old people and coal, and this room was the worst. We've kept the window open and the glass door open to the screen basically all day every day since we moved in, and it has made a HUGE difference. That and a cinnamon candle.

Lovely popcorn ceiling. Spring Project for sure. 

Fancy light, right? And you can see all the stuff over the glass doors. 

laundry area

that door on the left goes to the backyard. So far, it has remained locked. We prefer to use the sliding glass door

Bathroom:

Henry's favorite part of the house is the green toilet. He was SO excited about that. And the green sink and the green tub. He wanted to take a bath in the green tub as soon as possible. Obviously it's something we want to change as soon as we have enough money to do a good renovation in there. But for now, it's functional.

There is a huge linen closet in there, one I really dislike. It takes up half the bathroom. I am looking forward to knocking that down and putting in a more manageable cupboard--something small from IKEA. It will really open up that room and make it not so dark, too.

Henry's favorite thing about the house

green everywhere!

the sink. 

door into the large linen closet

Master Bedroom:

The master is at the front of the house, and it really is a big room. And an interesting one. It has a huge closet, which is in basically another room that is attacked. It's hard to explain. But it's a great room with another big window. I love laying in bed and looking out at the sun hitting the tree in the morning.

There are several layers of pretty tacky wallpaper on the walls in there. We started tearing the outer layer out right away, and it came down easily. The others might take some work, but that room will probably be our last room.

the lovely wallpaper

nice big window in our room!

door into the living Room

the "sitting room" as I like to cal it. 

Boys' Room:

The boys room was actually the first room we redid (pictures on that later). It had big shelves along one wall, which were beautifully made, but they took up the whole wall. It's a smaller room, but it's perfect for the boys. The walls are paneling, which meant we could paint right away.

The coolest thing about their room, is the closet. It's a small door, but the closet is really big! About 3 feet wide and maybe 10 feet deep. At the end, is a big built in. Drawers and a big cupboard with nice shelves. Perfect for the boys closet. Henry's favorite part, though, is the secret door! There is a little door that leads right into the bathroom. He loves that secret passage, and so does Johnny. It's nice when the boys are in the tub, because I can just open the little door and grab their clean clothes without leaving them alone for a second. It needs to be painted and cleaned up, though. There's some really crumbly old wall paper on the walls. But I pulled up the hideous carpet that was there (and smelly carpet!) and we found some cool old tiles underneath.

walls--so dirty from the coal. 

pretty light! And the shelves that we took down. 

door into the secret passage/closet

closet. The built in at the end has been great for the boys clothes

Anyway, that's the house! I need to get pictures of the yard. We already started doing some work, I just haven't taken the time to do before pictures. Hopefully tomorrow.

But we love our little place. It has already started to feel like home and we love it. We feel so blessed and grateful that Heavenly Father led us here and we can't wait to continue to make it ours.

First Night

I finally sat down in our house today. Not just sitting to wolf down breakfast or dinner, but actually sit down and pretend to relax for a minute. It's been a whirlwind 48 hours, as got our keys, loaded up trucks a few times, began painting right away, had furniture delivered, tried to find time to eat (thank you visiting teachers for cutting out the cooking part), and then help two little boys deal with such a big change.

But last night, as we all crawled into our beds in our new house, I couldn't help but think about how grateful I am to be here. Despite our entire house being a disaster, furniture all out of place, boxes everywhere, dirty dishes and bags of chips on the kitchen counter, clothes in baskets around the living room, and the boys sleeping in our room, it felt good to be home.

Derek and I have talked a lot about how places come to mean so much to us. When BYU tore down Heritage Halls I cried a little. It was where I met Derek, where I learned so much about myself as a freshman on my own, and where I became an "adult." Our first little basement apartment--I thought for sure I would be thrilled to leave that heater-less AC-less place with low ceilings and mold, but when it came down to it, I was sad. Number 4 Panton Street--don't get me started. The point is, we're looking forward to finding out how much this little blue house is going to mean to us.

I hope we'll be here a while. Long enough for Henry to go to elementary school, even beyond. Long enough for Johnny to learn to ride a bike in the driveway. Hopefully we'll bring a new baby or two home here. I want this house to be where Derek and I learn a whole lot about renovation, taking care of our own yard, and perhaps where Derek and Jared can develop new inventions in the garage.

There's so much potential in this house, with it's quirky walls, avocado toilet and tub, 1970s kitchen, and radiators for heat. Not just physically, but for our family.

So last night, our first night here, was the beginning of a thousand and one adventures. We Brutons, we like to go adventuring. And now that we've begun this one, I can't wait to spent as many nights tucked in my bed in my own house, my little blue house, for years to come.

The Boys Lately

John
* Walking! He has been for about a month, but the last week or so he's started walking more than crawling during the day.

* Still my big eater. his favorite foods are: grapes, chicken nuggets, Marshmallow Matey's, animal crackers, Oreos, nectarines, blueberries, and strawberries. But really, he likes just about everything.

* LOVES to read. Anytime it gets quiet and I can't see him, I find him back in the boys bedroom with books all around him, reading. He's very good and gentle with the books. His favorites are:
Thomas books
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Wild Animals Touch and Feel
Mickey Finding Book
Dinosaur Roar
First 100 Words

* Newish Words:
This
That
Please
Ki-ee
Miii! (for meow)
"what is this?"
choo choo
kuck (truck)
brrmm brrm (car)
me me me! (whenever he wants anything)
"yeah" and nods his head

* Favorite toys:
cars and trucks. definitely his favorites
little rocks
dirt
sand
Little People (especially the little Pluto)
trains (Trevor and Terrance are his favorite)

* Loves his blanket that Mommy made him. :)

* still using a binky. usually just at sleeping times

* Loves the cat and tries to play with her all the time. He can sometimes be quite rough in his love, though.



Henry
* Still loves to help with everything. He especially loves to help me bake and use my mixer.

* Learning new words all the time. One lately is "obsessed".

* tries to talk his way out of anything and everything.

* He tells me: "If you don't do ____ then I'm going to____" usually what he's going to do is put me in my room or timeout.

* Anytime anyone talks about doing something, he says "me and blankie" or "blankie does----". Blankie is a full on imaginary friend and does everything with Henry. Lately, he tells me often that he and Blankie bought a house in Lindon and one in Provo.

* Still a picky eater. Getting worse, it seems. His favorite foods right now are pieces of bread, pancakes, IKEA cookies, Oreos, Cheese, and sometimes chicken. He still really likes BBQ sauce.

* Started going to a little co-op preschool once a week. Every Thursday morning he tells me he wants to stay home and that he doesn't want to go, but he always has a lot of fun.

* Best friend: Marshall Miller

* Favorite Toys:
his cords
little rocks
tools
trains
marble maze
cars (especially Lightening McQueen and Mack)
markers and scissors--he loves to do any kind of drawing and cutting up paper

* loves to sleep with lots of blankets and pillows and "friends." He always has 3-4 flashlights, his keys, and a few other bits and bobs in bed with him.

Family Photos

We had some family pictures taken for us this weekend. Unfortunately, the only time we could do it, was while it was cold and rainy. The boys were a little less than thrilled, and between that and their shyness--well, I was really surprised to see so many pictures that I loved. :) Maryn did such a great job and was cheerful and awesome despite the weather and my uncooperative boys. :) Here are my favorites: