Massacre Rocks State Park - ID

This last week we went to a place called Massacre Rocks State Park (about 30 minutes west of Pocatello, ID) and stayed in some state-owned cabins for two nights. It was a blast! The park has a river and lots of large lava-type rocks and caves for the children to climb on and explore in.

Here are some pictures of our family and Grandma and Grandpa Allen hiking around the big rocks.

We love going to Massacre Rocks during this time of the year because the place is completely empty. We basically have the entire campground and river to ourselves.

The disadvantage to going in April, we discovered this last time, is that the bathrooms are not always open by this time of year. We had to drive to the Visitor's Center every time the kids needed to use the restroom (those of you with kids, know how inconvenient and often that is). It reminded us how lucky we are to live in this age where we have flushing toilets right in our homes.

Heavenly Requests

I love it when my kids start saying their own prayers. When I consider all the little children learning to pray around the world, I can imagine that God gets some good chuckles everyday.

Mallory has been very hesitant to say the family prayer on her own and has asked me to help her until just recently. Tonight she tried it on her own and it was quite entertaining. She ended with:

"Please bless that someone will always be careful on the grass" (That'll keep God busy!)

When she said that, it reminded me of some of Carter's funny prayers when he was first saying them on his own when he was 2. Here are some of our favorites.

"Please bless us to be nosey and please bless us to be lazy."

"Please bless that my shirt will not come off"

I feel bad that I don't have any good prayer quotes to share from Taylor. He has said his fair share of funny things though. He said after getting caught in a lie last month that "I don't think I'm going to go to Satan. I think I'm going to go to the Middle Guy."

No More Growing Up

I was once told by someone that I should hug my kids a lot because someday they wouldn't want to hug me anymore. I guess I was in denial that it would ever happen to me. Or maybe the time of rejection is something you can never be ready for. On Friday I experienced my first sad moment and it totally shook my world.
In a moment of frustration or maybe grouchiness, my sweet and not-so-little-anymore Carter pushed me away when I went to give him a hug. I have to say that it sent me into nearly the saddest hour of my life. I started thinking about my wonderful little boy growing up and started worrying that the days of hugging him were over. It came so quickly, and I am not ready for it.
To my relief, Carter approached me a couple hours later and told me he was disappointed about something. When asked what he was disappointed about, he told me he was sad that he pushed me away when I tried to hug him. I suddenly felt like a baby because the floodgate of tears let loose as I realized that maybe I can still have another year or so to hug my boy. Poor Carter just stood there confused. I tried to explain to him that I didn't want to stop hugging him yet -- someday he won't want to hug me, and I didn't want that day to come yet.
Anyway, I guess I have had my little wake-up call. I gotta squeeze in all the hugs I can for the next "however long I get." I love you Carter!

Easter Eggs

Happy Easter Everyone!

Here are some pictures of the kids with their painted eggs. I call it a success because we (namely Mallory) only broke 1 egg in the process!

This year the "Easter Bunny" hid Carter's bucket in the exact same spot as last year. (Dohh!) He was a little disappointed that it wasn't harder to find, so I had to hide it again.


Thanks to all the Grandparents for their fun Easter contributions! The kids had a great time. (Grandma Z will probably recognize this silly worm creature that Taylor loved scaring Mallory with)
This was the second year that we have done baskets and treats on Saturday instead of Sunday. I have really enjoyed keeping the bunny, treats, and craziness separate from Sunday, which I want to make a more special reverent day.

I'm still trying to figure out how to make Sunday special without all the whistles and bells. Any suggestions??? I'd love to hear what other people do. Sunday felt like a regular Sunday where a lot of lessons were about the Resurrection and Atonement.

Ream of Paper = 4 Hours of Peace & Quiet

Carter and Taylor made some fun paper crafts this week. Here are some videos of their inventions. Carter made an astronaut suit, and Taylor made a robot that turns good and bad.


Can you tell that at our house we just LOVE paper? It is our best toy. When we get low on paper the kids ration it out and then remind me several times a day that I need to buy more. The last time we ran out I told them that I couldn't get any until Monday. When Monday came around, it was like a holiday. I was a hero when I showed up with a huge new ream of paper. The next time I feel unappreciated, I'm going to go out and buy a package of paper - maybe even colored paper to make it extra special. I'll be the BEST MOM EVER!

Here's a great picture that describes perfectly the relationship between Carter and Taylor. The sign on Taylor's chest reads "Astronat Assitiant." Taylor is always so happy to be serving Carter. I wonder if he will ever out-grow that. (He's holding a microphone to communicate with Carter)

Check this out too! I remembered it when I saw the assistant costume. We found this sign on Carter's wall a few months ago.

In case you can't read it:

"Carter - Set's up activites and Is the Comander

Taylor - Is Gopher and gets stuff for Carter"

Our Cute Little Wyatt

Here are some updated pictures of Wyatt. He is now 4 months, and just LOVES his fingers!

We like to start introducing table foods with the good stuff!

More Carter Creations

Who'd have ever thought you could make a costume out of K'nex? This is a ninja costume equipped with clubs, a sword, fighting sticks and a Chinese star. (plus a whole bunch of other stuff only ninjas would understand)

Also, I thought I'd show Carter's Valentine box that won the "Best Engineering" award in his class. It turned out pretty cool.