Watching the Eclipse and such….

These pictures are out of order of how the week went, but I can’t figure out how to simply change the order so I won’t worry about it.

First off, how adorable is this baby!?!?  He loves to lay in our bed in the morning and just chat away with all the kids.  His new thing is blowing bubbles with his mouth.  Again, cutest thing ever!

Tonight we went on a little adventure with our friends the Maas’s to watch the solar eclipse that lined up perfectly with Albuquerque.  We thought we would be the only geeky ones out there watching it.  WE WERE WRONG!  We headed up to the mountains to watch it but were actually turned away by the police (along with the long line of cars behind us) since the top was full of over 1000 people already (about an hour or so before the eclipse.)  So plan B was watching it from the side of the road off of Tramway where we lived 2 summers ago.  It was so fun!  We brought our chairs, snacks, kids, and had so much fun just chatting with our friends and letting the kids play.  It was hard to see the eclipse since it was so bright and everywhere was sold out of the special glasses you need.  We figured out if we opened our van doors and looked through the tinted windows it worked perfectly.  We live in such an amazing world!  (The kids are all bundled because we thought we were going to be on the top of the mountain which is freezing.)

Hats are a must here.  We’ve been buying lots of hats and sunglasses and sun block.  Andrew loves his spiderman hat and rarely will take it off.

We went to the mall and saw this rocket ship on the way out and didn’t have time to ride it.  He talked about it the whole entire week!  I finally took him back to let him ride….I think he was a little let down it didn’t go fast or into outerspace.

Best Mother’s day present EVER!  We got to listen in on Nathan’s call home from his mission in Taiwan.  We all gathered around the phone on our bed and listened in.  It was so great to hear his voice again and be able to actaully talk to him!  He is doing great….but we really miss our uncle Nate.

Chris was so sweet and took me out on a date for Mother’s day!  We saw a movie and went to dinner.  It was so fun to go on a date again.  I don’t think we have really been out since I had Zack.  Zack of course was perfect. 

He was amazing during the movie and just sat there and watched the screen, then fell asleep when he was done.  I think he is our first kid to actually do that.  It was a great night and the kids at home had fun with their amazing babysitter, pizza, cookies, and movies.  Amazing Mother’s day weekend!

A Quick Update

Well, I’ll try to make this quick.  To say I was a little behind on blogging would be the understatement of the year.  I’ve decided to pretty much just work on our blog books and post all the pictures and stories in there.  I think there might be a few people who still look at our blog so I thought I would post quick update on what we have been doing.

Andrew turned four in April.  He decided the day of his birthday to completely change his theme from Spiderman to Army man after a call from his uncle Mike who is in the Army….so we spent a good part of our morning exchanging things for army themed things.  His favorite part of his birthday?  Baking his OWN birthday cake!  He did EVERYTHING!  Well, almost everything.  At the end you had to add hot water so I did that part…but I didn’t look close enough and added one cup of water..instead of half cup of water.  So he got to make two birthday cakes that day!

 

He also really really liked when we put on army paint and army hats and ambushed Ben and Kallie with water balloons from off the balcony when they got home from school.  that resulted in a very fun water balloon and water gun fight.  He asks all the time if we can bomb them again….

We head back to Utah for Christopher’s graduation.  It was so fun to go home and see our dearly missed friends and family.  His graduation was amazing and really special for us.  He loved seeing all the people he worked with for so long again.  It was hard to leave for the last time.

Our trip was a whirlwind.  Christopher’s graduation started at 8am.  We left BYU at 2pm for a birthday party for Andrew and Caden at Chuck E Cheese that started a 2pm.  We were a little late  

Completely impossible to get these two birthday boys to look and smile at the same time!

KAFB had a “bring your kids to work day”.  After our visit I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the last time they have one!  The kids had so much fun seeing where Christopher works, getting their names laser cut on a card, playing games on the biggest TV I’ve ever seen and having hallway chair races.  Andrew’s favorite part was the visitor's badge he had to wear.  Chris’s badge actually opened doors and things so Andrew thought his did too.  He has been begging me to put a badge lock on his bedroom door that he can open with a card.  I love this kid!

Since making his own birthday cake Andrew helps me in the kitchen everyday!  His favorite is making chocolate chip cookies for movie night and scooping them up.  He is really good at it too.

Kallie went on a field trip to the Bio Park.  I wasn’t allowed to go since I didn’t have my fingerprints turned in.  It worked out ok since Ben stayed home that day sick.  she had a blast and loved wearing her sunglasses to school!

We have a park not too far from our house and we walk there often.  The kids love to head over since their grass is goat head free!

Zack continues to be absolutely amazing and has now topped himself by sleeping through the night almost every night! (No, he sleeps in a crib not on his play mat)

Chris gets every other Friday off.  We decided to take the little boys to the zoo one day.  It was so fun….and wore the boys out so much they took a nap and went to bed early that night!  I bought a year long pass

We get creative and make a homemade water slide….

Zack loves his jumper!  I can’t believe he is big enough all ready to jump!

Library days are really quiet in our house….

I’ve met some really great people here.  We met up with a new friend and her kids and explored the aquarium and gardens.  Had a little fun adventure getting there too.  Love driving into the city!

Everyone knows sunglasses and a cowboy hat makes you faster on a scooter!

I know it’s a random picture…but have you ever seen a cuter bald spot!?!??! 

So that’s a little of what we have been up to.  This month has been crazy and fun and busy!  We are getting to like New Mexico more and more.  I love the crazy wind storms and thunder storms that roll in and out quickly.  Today Christopher got stuck in a torrential downpour while waiting for his bus and had to ride the whole way home (about an hour) sopping wet….in his aloha Friday shirt.  By the time he got home it was sunny and blue skies again.  Love living in the desert!