I Love to See the Temple..........

About 2 hours after we went through the temple open house, we had a horrible storm and the Angel Moroni was struck by lightening!! This picture was taken after it was struck by lightening. The face and down the front of the statue is black now!!


We got to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple open house today. It was a special experience to be able to take Carlie and Cayden and show them what the temple is like. Carlie was so serious through the whole tour and you could tell she was just trying to absorb everything in. I hope they will remember how special today was and how special it is to be able to go to the temple one day. I had the opportunity to help at the open house last Thursday and that was a neat opportunity. It is wonderful that we have so many temples so close to us and to live within walking distance of this one! We are so lucky and I hope we can remember that and take advantage of how lucky we are to be able to go to the temple whenever we want to:)

The Last Days of Kindergarten...........

Carlie and some of her good friends in her school class.

Kindergarten program

Cayden posing in front of Carlie's artwork hung in the hallway.

Carlie's classroom after her program.

Carlie had to make sure I took her picture with the giraffes! It is her favorite animal!

Carlie with some of her friends. She was not this happy during the fieldtrip she is just good at putting on a happy face for pictures!!:)

This is what is looked like most of the fieldtrip!!

Kindergarten is is now over but it has been a busy week. Carlie had her end of year program last Friday where they had a fashion show recognizing each child and sang some fun songs they had learned. They then went to the zoo on Wednesday. Carlie had been so excited for this day to come. The weather ended up being horrible (which wasn't surprising after it had already rained every day that week). I think it rained (actually not just rained, it poured) the majority of the field trip, good thing I brought an umbrella!!! Everyone was dripping wet when it was time to get back on the bus!! Carlie did love riding the bus however and I think that was the highlight of the trip because she kept asking when we could go home and made me promise that we will go back to the zoo when it is not raining (which right now that is hard to know when that will happen)!! Carlie has had a fun year going to Kindergarten and had a really nice teacher:) She is excited to go to first grade all day and get to eat lunch at school this fall!!

Brotherly Love!!!

The Price of Children......

I found this on a friends blog and loved it, thanks Jodi.........


The Price of Children

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about price shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition. But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down.It translates into:

$8,896.66 a year,

$741.38 a month,

$171.08 a week.

A mere $24.24 a day!Just over a dollar an hour. Still, you might think the best financial advice is; don't have children if you want to be 'rich.' Actually, it is just the opposite.. What do you get for your $160,140.00?
Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
Glimpses of God every day.
Giggles under the covers every night.
More love than your heart can hold.
Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
A partner for blowing bubbles and flying kites.
Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up. You get to:
finger-paint,
carve pumpkins,
play hide-and-seek,
catch lightning bugs,
never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
watch Saturday morning cartoons,
go to Disney movies, andwish on stars.
You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas,
hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang for your buck.You get to be a hero just for:
retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
taking the training wheels off a bike,
removing a splinter,
filling a wading pool,
coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat in history to witness the:
First step,
First word,
First bra,
First date,
First time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, so one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

See Heather I can Blog!!! Happy Birthday!!!!

Birthday Celebrations......

Cayden on his new Thomas bike!!

We had cupcakes to celebrate his birthday

Thanks everyone for the fun presents!!

It's been a fun couple of days. For the last 2 months Cayden has been asking for two things for his birthday, A Thomas bike and Space Buddies DVD! He was so excited about the Thomas bike but when we got outside and he realized he didn't know how to peddle, he jumped off the bike and ran over, got on his tricycle and told Carlie she could have his bike!!!!! Kids are so funny!! I know it won't be long and we will be chasing Cayden down the street on his Thomas bike!!:) On Saturday (Cayden's actual birthday) we went and watched Monsters vs. Aliens. Ever since Cayden saw a commercial for this movie he has wanted to see it! Carlie wasn't so sure she wanted to go to a "monster" movie and tried to talk us into not going, but we all went and both kids liked it and no one got scared! Cayden did like the idea however of taking Carlie to Grandma's so that just he could go with mommy and daddy to the movie!!!:) We then went to Boondocks, another request of Cayden's and played some arcade games. Both kids like to see how many tickets they can get so they can get a prize, they don't care about the games it is just about how many tickets they can get!! It is interesting to see what prizes they pick out (it is never the thing that you want them to pick)! They always seem to think more is better than getting one really nice prize!! Cayden then wanted Grilled Cheese for dinner so we went to Applebees. We had both of our families over to celebrate on Sunday night. He had a great time playing with his cousins! We didn't see him all night!! Cayden has been one little spoiled boy all weekend, just how birthday's should be!!!:)

Happy Birthday Cayden!!

A couple days old

6 months old

1 years old

2 years old

1 month before he turned 3

Cayden is 3 years old today!! It seems like he has grown up so fast! He never did seem little for very long! He loves anything that has to do with trains, cars and airplanes! He cannot wait to go to preschool in the fall, he has his Thomas backpack all ready! He likes to play outside and ride his tricycle as fast as he can up and down the street! Going to the park and playing with his friends is always a highlight of his day. His cute personality is starting to show even more every day and he is always surprising us with the funny things that come out of his mouth. Somedays we can't believe he is only 3 yrs. old!! He still has his bright blue eyes that we love, I hope they stay blue:) If he looks at you with those bright blue eyes and big smile you can't say no to the kid!! He loves to tease his big sister! Corndogs, macaroni and cheese, pancakes, grilled cheese and chicken nuggets are basically all he will eat (such a healthy boy, if you mention fruits or vegetables he looks at you like you are crazy)!!:) He still loves to snuggle next to me at night, he sleeps like a baby still if he is next to me, but hates to sleep in his own bed! We love having Cayden in our family! Happy Birthday!!

Day Out With Thomas.........

Where do they find these people!!!!:) They always fit the part so perfectly!

Today we got to go see Thomas the Train in Heber. The kids were excited Grandpa Wilde came with us to ride the train. Cayden has been so excited for this day. On the way we stopped at the Dairy Keen Drive-In in Heber. It was so fun, the kids got to eat in the train cars outside. It is a hamburger and shake fast food place (they really do have the best shakes)!!! Afterwards we headed over to see Thomas. The kids had so much fun getting to look around at all of the trains and of course there favorite part was riding on Thomas the Train! Cayden picked out a Thomas the Train whistle as his souvenir. At first he could not figure out how it worked, but it didn't take long and now we get to hear the whistle for the next 24 hours until the newness wears off, he has to blow it every couple minutes just to make sure it still works!!!:) The storm waited to arrive until after we were finished which was nice. Everything was outside and so it wouldn't have been as much fun to be there in the rain, but for all those Thomas fans out there, he gives rides rain or shine!!:) Thomas is a lot bigger in person:)

The Birthday Hat!

It is almost Cayden's birthday so on Sunday they celebrated in nursury. His cute teachers made him a birthday hat that he was so proud to wear during class. They also gave him 2 bags of M&M's. He couldn't be prouder to show us what he got after class:) Carlie knew exactly why they gave him 2 bags of M&M's, so that she could have one too!!! It is a good thing Cayden likes to share:) It is so fun as they get bigger and understand what there birthday is all about! He has been talking about his birthday for the last 2 months and has known exactly what he wants:) We used to be able to easily take a picture of Cayden and now he has decided he wants to make silly faces when we try to take his picture. These are just some of the pictures that reflect his silly and cute personality right now as he is ready to turn 3:)

Happy Mother's Day!

Carlie has been the most excited for Mother's Day this year! She knew exactly what she wanted to get me for the last couple weeks (and was very good at keeping it a secret), a chocolate cake mix and a bag of chocolate chips!! I wanted to laugh, I guess maybe I eat too much chocolate:) We had a homecoming to go to and as those of you with kids know, it is hard to go to church twice with little kids!! Carlie was in tears when she thought we weren't going to our own ward too! Carlie was so excited to get to sing for Mother's Day with all the other kids in primary and make a craft for me in her primary class (thanks Shauna, she was so excited). It turned out to be a great day and was fun to see how excited Carlie was to make me a million cards and make it a special day:) I think it is fun to see what the kids come up with on there own. They seem to have it all figured out and I think those kinds of gifts are always the best because they don't worry about how much something costs it is just simple and comes truly from the heart:)

Tulip Gardens

Every year we go to Thanksgiving Point and take pictures with all of the pretty tulips. It is amazing how they all look so perfect every year!! I wish my flowers looked that good!! We can't seem to get all of ours to bloom at the same time this year so we will just enjoy them one at a time:)

Boys & Bugs!!

I knew the day would come that Cayden would be interested in bugs but I don't know if I am ready:) Carlie never liked them and still doesn't (which is totally fine with me). Cayden however has found a new interest. Today he was following the bugs around our driveway and trying to drop a nickel on them to smash them! It was pretty funny to watch him waiting for just the right moment to drop the nickel on them. Luckily he doesn't have a very good aim, yet!!:)