Farm Day

For about a week now I have been talking to Bentley a lot about different animals and how today we would get to go and see some of the animals he had been learning about. A friend of mine also a co-worker lives here in town and has lots of fun animals and offered for me to bring my  boys over. 

Last night Bentley could hardly stand to wait one more night. He kept coming out of his bed to tell me little things that he was excited about. At first it was somewhat cute, but then I had to play the mean mom and tell him that all the animals were sleeping and that he needed to be too. I had to tell him that if he didn't choose to stay in bed then he wouldn't be able to go to the farm. Well that worked and he instantly fell asleep. 

The first thing he said to me this morning was, "MOM IT"S FARM DAY!" He wanted to jump in the car in is pajama's and head right over to her house, but mean mom again made him bathe and make beds, clean up house and eat breakfast. After we were all ready we went straight to Trin's. 

At first the Bentley had his reservations about all the animals. Nixon on the other hand that kid is FEARLESS. He wanted to run right under the horses, go in the chicken coup, hold the lambs etc. 

 Lola the baby lamb at 2 months old.

 Touching the hen.

 Pointing at the horses.

 Above: Is that not the cutest pic ever? He would bend down real close to it but wouldn't touch it.

 Like father like son. Nixon found the sand rails and climbed right in.

 Bentley riding Jewel. 

 Bentley holding the baby chicks. 

 Again above is Nixon bent down looking up at the chick.

 They had a tree house. Bentley thought it was amazing! 

 On the way home I let Bentley stop at Petco and get a fish. We just got a betta to start because they require the least! 

 Bentley named his fish Brutus.

 Mesmerized.

New Beginnings

 We had our New Beginnings program for our young women this past Thursday and I was in charge of the desserts! I was glad that that was all I was assigned to this year! 

 Luckily my younger sister got married a few weekends ago and so I just took some of the extra candy from my mom and put it in these glass jars and had a candy buffet. The girls loved scooping out there favorites and then tying the bag with a bow. 

Also I made almond flavored cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting. They were a huge hit. I only came home with one!

The program was great we focused on putting your whole "Heart" into Personal Progress. We had Sister Charon from the stake young women presidency come speak to us. Also Hannah our YW president spoke to the girls about satan being the "thieves of our hearts," and that if we don't stay close to our Heavenly Father and do the small and simple things daily that slowly satan does just that "steals our hearts" from where they should be. All in all it was a great night. Oh, and if you have a chance listen to "Fearless Heart," I think it is from an EFY soundtrack.  We played that and it was beautiful. The spirit was so strong!

Spendin' some quality time..

Today I decided to take the boys for a drive down to Coldstone in Bullhead. I loaded the boys up and the entire time Bentley is asking, "Mom, where are we going?" I continued to drive and finally got on the interstate and out of no where I hear Bentley yell, "NIXON, guess what? We're going to Bullhead to get ice cream!? I smiled. How did he guess? Maybe that's because we do this frequently, but I told him that yes that's where we were headed! Nixon didn't quite understand what Coldstone was, but once we mentioned the words ice cream he was all over it. Needless to say they were great on the way down. 

Bentley: "Mom, why is that guy looking at me while were driving?"

Me: "Bentley, I don't think he can see in your window."

Bentley: "Why couldn't he the suns up?"

Me: "Because daddy tinted the windows which made the windows dark."

Bentley:"So I am invincible?"

Me: "Yep if that's what you want to be!"

Bentley:"Mom I want to be invincible a long long time so I can see Jesus."

Where kids come up with some of these things I have no clue, but he made me smile the whole way down. He also saw a semi just the truck with three more semi trucks attached (if that makes sense) and said, "Whoa, look MOM! That semi-truck looks silly...theirs a daddy truck a mommy truck, a brother truck and a sister truck and uh uh I don't know what the last truck is."

Bentley: "Mom when I get to Coldstone I want two ice creams, one chocolate and one brown."

Me: "Bentley those are the same thing."

Bentley: "Duh mom!"

The drive home was just as memorable! Nixon chatted up a storm pointing at things the whole way home. Below are some pics of them at the ice cream shop.

 Nixon was so excited when he saw the toppings he was literally jumping up and down!

 Mesmerizing over the colorful ice cream.

 My camera got out of focus somehow, but anyway above is Bentley with is Chocolate ice cream with his oreo that he insisted be whole!

 Nixon being allergic to milk had one choice, mango strawberry sorbet and he picked sprinkles!

 So happy to be with mom at ice cream he told me.

Nixon finished his ice cream and ran straight over to the freezer and started asking for the cookies on top of one of the cakes. It wasn't to much longer after that that I was hurrying Bentley along and we were off to a quick stop at Joann's and home in time to make Chicken Cor don Blue, Parmesan crusted asparagus and baked potatoes for daddy when he came home for dinner. Bentley and Nixon you two are so sweet thanks for making today a memorable one!

St. George

Last Friday Nick and I headed to St. George for a mini vacation. My lovely husband had the day off so he managed to get all the laundry done (not folded) and the boys packed so that we could leave when I got home from work. Friday night we dropped the boys off with my mom so that we could go to dinner with Nick's parents at Benja Tai and Sushi. My mom had gone earlier to pick up my niece Abigail so that Bentley and her could play. I thought that was sweet of her. 

Nick and I love sushi and it was such a treat to be able to go to such a great restaurant with NO KIDS and just his parents. We visited for two hours about everything. Before we knew it it was after nine and we decided to wrap things up. Thanks Doug and Cindy for such a wonderful time out! 

Saturday, we woke up to a hot blueberry waffle breakfast with eggs, bacon and hash browns. My mom and dad sure know how to cook up a mean breakfast! The kiddos loved it as Grandma had each one of them help make something. She has so much patience! After breakfast we loaded up and headed over to Costco. ON A SATURDAY! It was crazy and we knew it would be. When we lived there we made sure to avoid going to do our Costco trips during the week, but we were going through withdrawls and enjoyed every minute of the hustle and bustle! Nick about croaked at the check out, but the trip was to long in the waiting that our list was so long. After we checked out we sat and let the kids eat. Bentley wanted a churro, hotdog and yogurt so what does Grandma do? Gets him ALL THREE! Nixon wanted a smoothie and then yogurt so she made two trips through the long line just for him. What a Grandma! The boys love her to death. 

After Costco Nick took my dad home and the boys over to his parents so the kids could visit with Grandma and Grandpa Westbrook while my mom, Abigail and I went to Target and then home. I needed to get some wrapping paper for my friends Bridal shower gift. I ran home wrapped it up with my moms help and was off to Jessica's shower (the whole purpose for the trip).

My great friend Jessica is getting married to Ty Empey on March 12th! Saturday was her shower and it was great to go and see so many friends that I haven't seen in years! I'll admit I was a bit nervous too...since I hadn't seen or kept in close contact with many of them (which I feel bad about and hope to change)... would it be awkward? would we have anything to talk about? Well it turns out it was a blast as if those years with out seeing them had never passed. Below are some pics I was able to snap at the party.

 Jessica Harward, Jaclyn Lamereaux, Kacee Payne

 Sue (Jess's mom), Nikki (her sister), and Jessica (Bride)

 Brittney's sister, Brittney, me and Mikayla (sp?)

 Jessica and her sister Nikki.

 Jess and I

  Me, Kacee, Jessica and Chelci. Chelci is getting married this Friday!

I met Jessica in the third grade. I remember she loved running and she was good at it! She was always so beautiful and still is. We became closer as the years went on. I remember so many summers spent at the river or laying out. We cheered together. In fact I was a flyer and she was one of the other ones. I always looked up to her. She was so academically talented. She currently teaches at east elementary. I thought that she would have been the first out of us to get married. Isn't it crazy to see what really ends up happening and where each of our journey's lead us? Jess I am super happy for you and wish you the best and can't wait to be there on the twelfth when you are sealed!

Later that night my sister-in-law Heidi came over with her other daughter Clara and we ordered in Cafe Rio and just ate it at my moms. So Relaxing! We then put Nixon to bed and had a YW come over and sit so that we could go support my cousin Max at his semi-final and final basketball games! It was so fun. I was cheering and yelling so loud I thought that I wasn't going to have a voice this morning. It was intense at times. The old cheerleader totally came out in me! It brought back so many fun memories. My cousin Max plays Basketball, Baseball and Football year round. He plays on all star traveling teams when he isn't playing for his school. Below are a few pictures that we took.

 Not sure why its so blurry but Max shooting a free throw

 Nick, Bentley and Max after he won his first game.

 For Christmas my Aunt let Max make a customized pair of Basketball shoes at Nike id online. Aren't they sweet?

 His team and the coaches. They took the championship.

 Max giving his mom (number one fan) a big hug!

 My aunt Kandra, Max and his dad Brad.

 Myself, Max and Nick after the last game.

 Bentley telling Max that he was number one!

We had such a great time. We stayed up until 1 am just chatting as a family. We woke up early today (Sunday) and had another great breakfast and packed up. We headed over to Westbrook's to pick up some meat and say our goodbye's. It was great to see my sister-in-law Mickell and two of her lil ones as well. Fairwell St. George until we meet again in two weeks :)