Aquarium

This is one of our favorite family activites. We went twice last year, once with this field trip group and once as a family. We keep getting free tickets, so there is no excuse not to go. When we go as a field trip, we pay a very discounted price which includes unlimited rides. This is such a sweet deal because when we go, we have to ride the shark train five times as least, hit the carousal multiple times, and do the ferris wheel at least twice. We also enjoy going through the aquarium multiple times because then we might actually see everything since Dallin doesn't pause too long at each exhibit. I'm not sure why the aquarium has a white tiger, but he is also a hit. Since this was a field trip, Zane was working. I was a little nervous about being by myself with a two-year-old and a baby, but lots of people stepped in and helped when I needed two hands (or had to feed.) Here are all the pictures from our fun day!

Dallin touching sting rays and apparently not happy about being in a picture with his mom. I sure hope he doesn't think he is too cool for me already!

He was much happier to hang out with his best friend Ruby

My super cute boys all bundled up. My relatives in Utah would have been in short sleeves and shorts, but it was cold for us!

Since I was holding Gavin, I didn't get a picture of us. Gavin and I were on the dolphin next to Dallin. Gavin really enjoyed the carousal.

Hanging out with cousin Caleb on the Ferris wheel

Content to be cuddled

The scary white tiger!

Best Friends

The shark train: this train goes under a huge tank filled with sharks. Every bedtime story now is about sharks. We have read every book we can find on sharks and looked at tons of pictures. It is Dallin's new favorite animal.

The huge brown eyes with the eyelashes- Isn't he adorable!

Enjoying my day with my boys

Gavin's a sitter!

Gavin's been a supportive sitter for awhile, but now he can sit for long periods of time playing with toys without me worrying about him falling. This is one of my favorite stages. He can entertain himself and is stationary!

Love of Books

We missed the moment, but Haley and I walked into this room with Dallin and Caleb surrounded by these books and looking through them (by the time we grabbed the camera they discovered the truck too.) Dallin is really into looking at books right now and being read to. His favorite though is for daddy and mommy to make up stories. We are not the best story tellers, but he loves them. He is constantly asking for me to tell him another story. The stories usually involve something scary like a monster, banshee, or alligator attacking something and Dallin saving the day (sometimes he saves the day with the help of El Materdor and Lightning McQueen). His friends have all become characters in his stories especially his girl friends. Dallin helps make them up with us, picks the character, and the adventure. Right now, every story involves sharks since we just went to the aquarium and our theme for preschool this month is under the sea.

I love that he loves books and stories so much!

Pictures Are Here!

The whole group of people who joined in our special day plus the kids who stayed in the waiting room. (We are missing a few special friends who didn't want to be in the pictures...you know who you are.)

Just the family- My Grandma Skolmoski visited us from Utah and joined us.

This picture cracked me up. Typical Caleb and Dallin

All the grandchildren

Our cute forever family

Kids with Grandma and Grandpa

So sweet

We love these boys!

Thanks Kara for taking such great pictures!

Climbing and Jumping

Dallin was invited to his first birthday party. It was at a local gym and he had a fantastic time. Surprisingly, he was a little shy at the beginning and made sure I was right by him before he tried any of the activities. This place is really perfect for Dallin. There was a lot of climbing and jumping!




We can't wait to play at this place again!

Outside Work Got Done!!!

When Zane and I both try to do outside work together, we usually get about 30 minutes in before one of us needs to stop and do something for one of the boys. This day though, we both worked for two hours straight. It was amazing.

Dallin was a fabulous helper with raking all our leaves that we ignored during the Christmas break. He enjoyed jumping in the leaves, but he also used his rake to help rake and then put them in the bag.

After about an hour, Dallin was done with leaves and spent the next hour playing with this box and his cars. Boxes make the greatest toys!

He took a nap through part of the work and then enjoyed watching everyone from this seat the rest of the time. The leaves and grass were very entertaining!