He's THREE

 Last night as we were trying to get everyone off to bed and the kids were running around being crazy and Grayson was being adorable.... Aaron casually said, "well... this is our last night with a 2 year old", and I suddenly felt so strangely sad.  2 is so much fun.  2 makes me laugh every single day.   This morning Grayson and I sat down and looked through pictures of when he was born and as he got older and it was so much fun and crazy because it's gone by so fast and yet I can't even remember what it was like when Grayson wasn't in our family yet.  He brings so much joy to our lives and I love this little man so so much.  

A few things to remember about Grayson right now:

1.  We all love how he is so polite and adorable.  Like when you wish him a happy birthday he'll say, "happy birthday a you too!"  

2.  Whenever we open up the garage door to find Aaron's car inside Grayson bursts out with "Daddy's HOME!"  he does this even when Aaron is with us in the van.  LOL!

3.  He snuggles like no other.  He loves kisses and we play a kissing game every night before he goes to bed.  I smother him in kisses and then he wipes them off so I have to kiss him again and hold down his hands so he can't wipe them off, so he'll blink them off, or sniff them off or something.  He giggles and giggles and then we reverse and he smothers me in kisses.  How long will that game last??

4.  It's just fun to watch him learning words and learning about the world.  He got a contained or cheese puffs for his birthday and ran to them and yelled, "pumpkins!!"  while hugging the container.  He also got a large ball and when we asked him what it is he says, "circle!"  

5.  Lately he likes to play bus.  Whenever we drive somewhere he tells me "you not mom, you bus driver."  All I have to do is talk in a low voice, that makes me bus driver.  LOL!

I really truly selfishly don't want this child to get a minute older.  I'll take the diaper changes and occasional tantrums to have his sweetness and tenderness and laughter and giggles any day.  I know life changes, but  it seems so perfect right here and now.  

Happy Happiest of Birthday's Grayson dear.

Easter

Our Easter celebration was much the same as usual.  One of my favorite parts this year was our primary kids singing Hosanna in sacrament meeting, with the chimes and descant voices.  I love my calling right now as Primary chorister.  I really feel like I am sharing the best part of truth and of my testimony when I teach them this music.  I love the Easter celebration.  I love how in a world that seems full of evil and darkness and sin.... that there are still millions of people that gather at Easter to celebrate the life of Jesus Christ and celebrate his love, his sacrifice and His Resurrection.  I can't take picture of those moments, but there were several sweet experiences this year as we talked about that Savior, that our home just felt peaceful and blessed again by that sacrifice of 2000 years ago.  

 Grandma B sent a cookie craft project thing that the kids had fun with.  Almost no one got it looking quite like the model, but we had fun anyway.  

 The Easter Bunny came.

 This fun set of Elders shared Easter dinner with us and then colored some Easter eggs with us.  They were a lot of fun and it was great to hear their testimonies since they are out there testifying of Him all day long.  They love what they are doing and that was evident as they shared it with us. 

Happy Happy Easter.  How grateful I am to have this REASON to celebrate.

Ordinary Days

 Grayson was watching an episode of Daniel Tiger's neighborhood in which Daniel and friends were playing dress ups.  Guess what his latest obsession has been.  It's funny that he gets superman so much.  He runs around saying "I save the day."  Even when Lizzy changed his diaper and asked him to throw away the diaper... he soared in with the diaper.... and tossed it in the garbage while declaring... "I throw away diaper and save the day."  Haha.

 Sam and his dramatics.  This is at our local library.  Love it.

 The weather is finally warming up enough that we were able to go on a great hike this weekend.  Meadowdale beach park is a beautiful hike and only takes a few hours to do round trip.  I love that we have access to beautiful beaches in such a short time.  

 Trying to catch him while in the air.  It took a few tries.  

This Week

Lizzy turned 12 a few months ago and has loved loved loved being in young women's.  Yes, she freaked out when one of the first activities was an etiquette night (aka dating practice).    I mean she was escorted to her table by a 16 year old boy and sat at a table with Laurels and Priests.   But then later I think she decided she loved it.  Maybe that's what has been so fun about young women's.... learning that all of these scary adult sort of stuff may not be so scary after all.  Might even be fun.  She dressed up for their New Beginnings night (it was red carpet themed) and she looked beautiful!  I watched her during this event, standing up and stating her values with the rest of the young women, singing about the Savior and becoming part of this wonderful, uplifting, inspiring organization and I suddenly felt so overwhelming grateful for the help of the church in raising my kids.  We're doing the best we can, but some things we just can't teach and the experiences she's having in young women's cannot be duplicated at home.  

 I just don't want to forget Grayson at this stage.  He just makes me laugh every day.  I tell him we need a picture of those pretty flowers and he strikes a pose.  He's such a ham.  One of my favorite things lately has been when this little 2 year old sees me doing some job (taking out the garbage... etc) he'll say in his little cute voice, "you need help?"  and then he'll help me.  It's so heart breakingly cute.  

I just posted this picture from a birthday party this week because it reminds me of all the good friends we have.  I love these people and their parents.  

Best Vacation Ever

A Post That Leaves A Lot Out

 So I've been a terrible blogger lately and decided I need to cut it out.   Really... these are precious memories!!!  I also decided that if I try to catch up on everything we've experienced since I last blogged... I'll give up before I get going again.  So while I recognize we had a trip to the Olympic Peninsula and 4 birthdays and Christmas and Thanksgiving and Halloween and lots of sporting events and a few trips to Utah and a few visitors from Utah... I'm starting with the most recently uploaded pictures and hope I won't forget those precious memories I'm skipping.  

Here are some of my favorite pics from over the last month.  

 This one.  Because Andrew was really scared to fly on an airplane for the first time.  He did great by the way.  

 After our airplane trip and getting the rental car and driving for awhile we stopped at this beautiful temple.  We kept asking the kids to be more reverent, but I guess I can't blame them too much because it was the first time they could really run after a long day of sitting.  

 This one just makes me laugh because Lizzy wasn't quite thrilled by this ride and wasn't exactly keen on me taking a picture of it.  LOL!!

 I like this one because it reminds me that Lizzy really has this very  quiet, introspective part of her personality.  While the other kids were digging and playing on the beach, she spent a long half hour at least just gazing out... like this.  Not that she doesn't enjoy all the play, but she's a thinker too.  I like coming to know all the sides of my kids. 

 This one is just because yep.... that's where we went.  

 Grayson loved the Star Wars stuff.  He is pretty into Yoda and pretty into weird smiles lately, so these two pictures fit the bill.

 We all really liked this picture because when you zoom in on Sam's face... it looks like his head is floating.  That's fun... right?

 Ninjas.... awesome.

 This isn't the best picture with the sun in our eyes, but I wanted to show how close we actually got to be to these sea lions.  Seriously it was awesome.  

 Like I mentioned above about Lizzy, this is the other side of Sam.  His goofy, hamming it up side.  

 Grayson and I did some yard work and he wanted to climb a tree, and he kind of got stuck, but also asked me to take a picture... so here it is.  

 Our Japanese student Kaho.  Grayson called her Eastin almost the entire time she was here.  No one knows why.  We worked pretty hard on it and finally on the last day, he started calling her Ha-Ho.  He and Kaho had a pretty cute relationship.  We were sad to see her go.  

 Spring.  In our yard.  Yay!!

 Kaho pretty much did whatever Grayson wanted her too.  Meaning... she sometimes played blocks for an hour at a time.  Nice girl for sure.  :)

 The gum wall.  Really really gross. 

 We discovered the troll under the Fremont Bridge recently.  Who knew?  This was seriously awesome.  So many things to do and pictures to take with a giant troll under a bridge.  Like this one..pretending to pick his nose... 

 ...or you could climb on top of his head....

 ....or pretend to be caught under his giant fingers...

the possibilities are endless..