Andrew's Prayer

As we knelt down tonight for family prayer,

Rhett picked Andrew to be the one to say it.

"Remember to bless everyone,"

Rhett reminded him.

So Andrew prayed:

"Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for church. (what he always says)

Bless everyone.

Name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Fishing

It's quite a shame to think that we have been in Vernal for a year and haven't taken advantage of all the local rivers, lakes, and reservoirs to fish in. So yesterday, we got all the fishing gear out and ready, bought three more poles for the boys (because everyone has to have their own pole) and headed to Matt Warner reservoir for a day of fishing. After having to turn around twice and a few wrong directions, we finally arrived and got our spot staked out. Rhett spent the first hour getting everyone's lure on, teaching to cast and untangling everyone and everything. We fished for an hour or two with no bites. We tried everything - spinners, lures, power bait, and eventually decided that we should take a break and have some lunch.

After fishing for another hour and still no luck, a family came to the water and starting fishing no more than 20 yards from where we were. Within 30 minutes, they had two fish. We watched them catch 3-4 more (and they were throwing back some because they were too small) and started to wonder what we were doing wrong. I walked past them and asked what they were using - hoping to get their wonderful fishing secret. "Cheese bait" is what he told me, and offered me some. I took it back to our spot and we proceeded to outfit everyone's line with a triple hook and some cheese bait. After about 30 minutes (and watching the other people land 3 or 4 more fish), Rhett hollered - he had a fish on his line! He reeled it in and when we brought it up on shore, you have never seen 3 more excited boys in your life! I think the whole place knew we had a fish.

After that, the fishing was great - I caught the next one, then Zach caught one. Rhett finished with Zach's and two seconds after he threw out Zach's line for him again, he had another bite - a monster 16 inch trout. At one point, we were all sitting with our lines in the water when Andrew all of a sudden fell over with his chair – almost landing him in the water. Rhett went over to help him back up and grabbed his pole – and realized there was a fish on the line! Unfortunately it got away – it was pretty hard to explain to Andrew when his line came back empty, that he had had a fish but it got away. After I caught another one, Porter was starting to get pretty discouraged that he hadn’t caught one yet. So we sat for a little bit longer, and when I had another on my line, I let him bring it in. He was finally an experienced fisherman. Every time we would bring a fish in, Andrew would shout and tell everyone that we had a fish and Zach would yell, “More dinner!!” You would have thought we were catching $100 bills or something. We finally called it a day after catching 6 fish and having about that many bite and then get away. The boys are so excited to eat their fish. I’m surprised they’re not asking to fishing again tomorrow. We had a wonderful day.

Our Texas Trip

We returned yesterday
from a two week trip to Texas.
We visited Albuquerque, White Sands,
San Antonio, Houston, Pampa
Denver and then home
for a total of
3,523 miles
and
65 hours 37 minutes in the car.

It was a blast and we did so many fun things.
We are already talking about doing it again...
(in a few years)

Some of the highlights included:
seeing old friends in Albuquerque;
lasting only 1 hour on White Sands because of the heat;
being able to see Mexico as we drove into Texas;
swimming in Greg and Jodi's pool;
Visiting the Alamo;
Eating at Rudy's, Taco Cabana, and Culver's;
The Toilet Seat Museum (need I say more?);
entertaining three children during a 1 1/2 hour blackout;
spending the day at Sea World and
getting to pet the sea lion;
being able to play with cousins;
playing at Galveston beach;
smoked brisket by Uncle Jeff;
visiting Space Center Houston and
playing in the Star Wars attraction there;
a three-day drive home with stops in
Pampa, TX and Denver.

Now we are home and ready to start the summer!

Andrew's Birthday Celebration

Since we are going to be in Albuquerque for Andrew's birthday on Sunday

we decided to celebrate a little early

so he could have his dinner, special cake, and presents.

He is so excited to be turning four -

but his parents can't believe he's that old.

He is such a sweet little person

and we are so glad he's part of our family!

Every boy deserves his own big bag of M&M's

The request: a green cake with stars

They call me mom

Happy Mother's Day

to all you wonderful, inspiring mothers out there!

I DID IT!!

Official time: 2:25:03

(11:04 miles)

YEA!!!

Pictures later...

Happy Day After...

St. Patrick's Day!!

My boys got these cool embroidered shirts from their grandma
and they were so excited to finally get to wear them!
I also found some St. Patty's Day tatoos from last year
so we had fun "decorating" our arms and faces.
Andrew and I made these rainbow cupcakes.
Have you ever seen anything more fun??
Here's what they looked like
after they came out of the oven:

Don't you just love the colors?

And here's the finished product:

Complete with plenty of frosting, sprinkles,
and a piece of leprechaun gold...
Here's the eaten product:

Isn't the inside amazing?!?
These are definitely as fun look at
as they are to eat!!
I usually don't prefer much cake
that doesn't have chocolate in it or on it
But these cupcakes are delicious!

Our local rec center had a fun St. Patrick's day party going on
so the boys and I headed over there
for mini-golf, a cake walk, face painting,
hot dogs, and other fun games.
Wish we had this day more often!