Art City Days

Every year here in Springville we get to celebrate Art City Days. It's a ton of fun and the boys LOVE it! We do all kinds of different things to celebrate our little city but I think this year takes the cake. We did something almost everyday for a week and had so much fun!

MONDAY

Monday was the Teddy Bear Picnic at the library. We went with Z. Mendenhall and her girls and it was great! Each of the kids brought a stuffed animal and we started with story time. The kids learned all about caterpillars and butterflies in the basement of the library. After story time they were divided into groups and then sent to different stations to do crafts. They played with play-dough, made hats, painted, drank 'butterfly nectar' and just had a really great time.

Porter and Walker creating their caterpillar hats.

After the crafts we ate our picnic. Z was nice enough to share her lunch with us since we were running late and didn't have a chance to make one before we left. I was going to get something from a drive-thru later but this was so much better. Thanks Z!

Lillie, Walker, Christie and Porter with their painted butterflies and caterpillar hats!

TUESDAY

We spent Tuesday getting bikes and masks ready for the Children's Parade (more on that to come). The boys loved it and, actually, I had a little fun too!


WEDNESDAY

Wednesday was the Fun-A-Rama at the Arts Park. The boys rode on a train, jumped on a ton of inflated slides, watched a magic show and finally, went rock-climbing. When we first got to the activity Porter saw the rock-climbing wall and that's what he wanted to do most. We looked at the line and it was really long so we decided we would go on different rides and come back to it later to see if the line got smaller. We did the other rides, got some lunch and cotton candy and then went to stand in the rock-climbing line. It actually didn't take that long and pretty soon it was our turn. Porter went first and really liked it but it turns out all he really wanted to do was swing on the rope after he was done climbing! They had fun though and that's all that mattered!!

Porter climbing up the wall.

Walker getting strapped into his harness and contemplating the huge wall looming above him.

THURSDAY

We spent Thursday inside, recuperating from Wednesday and gearing up for Friday. Read on and you'll see why!

FRIDAY

Friday was a busy day. We left the house at about 9:15 a.m. to be able to get to the Children's Parade on time. We have done this event for the last three years and really wanted to do it again this year. Of course, the last three years we lived basically across the street from where they start the parade so we didn't have to leave early to find parking or anything. It was a little different this year!

I guess I should explain what the Children's Parade entails... Each year, the city of Springville invites all the children in the city to ride in the Children's Parade. Most kids ride their bikes, some ride skateboards or scooters and some even ride those little battery powered 4-wheelers. The babies that can't walk are pushed by their moms and everyone marches/rides their bikes etc... around a couple of blocks. It's great fun. There are usually spectators around the route and some of them even throw candy for the kids!

So about 9:30 we picked up Z and her kids and their bikes. I had Mike's truck, since he was out of town (more on that to follow), and we used that so we could fit all of the bikes into the back.

We got to the parade, parked by the old house, unloaded the bikes, sunblocked up and we were on our way. We got in the line to start and volunteers from the high-school were there giving out participation ribbons and Airhead candy. After that the kids didn't really care much about the actual parade. They had gotten their treats and they were ready to go eat them! Being the horribly mean mom that I am, I made them actually ride in the parade still.

One of the funnest things about the parade is that most kids spend the days leading up to it by decorating their bikes and scooters to show them off to the other kids with decorated bikes etc... The kids love to look at all of the decorated bikes and the awesome costumes some of the kids wear. There are usually a lot of superheroes and princesses and one time we even saw a family walking the parade route with their decorated goat and duck in tow. Seriously, a real goat and duck on leashes and with bows around their necks!

So this year I took the boys to Partyland and let them pick out decorations that they would like to put on their bikes. I was able to keep them focused on doing a 'theme' for their bikes and we ended up with patriotic like decor. We also painted masks to wear. I let them paint the base of the masks themselves and then I embellished to add a little flair! This is what the end result looked like:

Walker on his 'motorcycle'.

Porter on his bike.


Both boys being very proud of how their bikes turned out!

Christie, Porter, Lillie and Walker on their bikes in the middle of the parade.

MORE FRIDAY

After the Children's parade we headed over to the Children's Art Festival. We had never been to this before but had heard great things so decided to check it out. There were a ton of tables, each with different crafts on them and they were all FREE! They had a little welcome kit and we learned that if we went to at least seven different craft tables we could get a special prize! The boys thought this was super cool so we went for it.

The first thing we did was draw on a mural for the Art Museum. They each drew a picture of anything they wanted. Porter drew a shark and I'm not sure what Walker drew but it looked something like a tornado :) After that we did sidewalk chalk, little puppets made out of paper cups, face painting, bead bracelets, balloon animals, thumb print art, and a lot more. They had pottery for each child to do, entertainment, leather pounding.... I could go on and on. We decided to do lunch there too but by the time we got around to it they were sold out of hot dogs so instead we had donuts and otter pops! Not the most nutritious but yummy all the same! I didn't actually take any pictures at the festival due to the fact that I had three kids on my own in a very crowded place and didn't want to lose anyone and it was really, really hot. I did take a picture when we got home though...

Luke and his face painting!

We didn't get home until late afternoon and we were pooped. The boys wanted a nap but I managed to keep them awake until about 6:30 and then they crashed for the night. I think that might be the first time they have ever slept in. It was great!

SATURDAY

This was another busy day. We left the house about 9:30 again to get a good spot at the Grand Parade. Doug, (Mike's dad) had gone down earlier to save us a spot and he got a great one. We were in the shade most of the time so it wasn't too hot and we were at the beginning of the route so there was a lot of candy being thrown and none of the people marching or on the floats were tired yet.

So every other year the boys have ridden on the firetruck in the parade. Mike's a member of the fire department and as a 'perk' all of the kids of the firemen get to ride in the parade. This year Mike was gone so we decided to watch the parade instead. I think after getting all of the candy that they did the boys started wondering why they had ever ridden on the truck in the first place. There they had to throw the candy to other kids but watching the parade they got to keep what they got! And let me tell you... they got a ton of it! More than they ever have trick-or-treating! But you tell me.... could you have resisted giving candy to these two?

Yes, they both put on costumes for the parade and no, it wasn't my idea. These two just really love to dress-up and make believe. You can't see their faces but they are also wearing their masks that we made earlier in the week. They've pretty much worn them every day since then too!

Anyway, there were a ton of great floats, horses, bands, firetrucks etc... but I think their favorite part of the entire parade, (besides the candy, of course) was when they met Captian Hook and Peter Pan!

Captain Hook tried to convince them to join the pirates and Peter Pan let them know he thought the Lost Boys was the way to go. I am sorry to say (but not surprised :)) that they picked the pirates.

All in all, it was a GREAT parade and I even learned a few things:

1. If your kids are dressed in a costume with a crazy mask they will be noticed and given a lot more candy!
2. Even missionaries have stuff to give away in the parade. Apparently parades are great places to give out reference cards. Who would have thunk it?
3. There is enough candy at the parade that you don't need to pack any snacks. (I learned this the hard way when all of the food I brought melted and got really hot because all they wanted to eat was candy!)
4. (From the boys) Catching candy is a lot more fun than riding on the firetruck throwing the candy.
5. If you dance and wave and make yourself seen, your chances of getting candy are greatly increased. Unless of course the music is so loud that the people throwing the candy don't hear you and they are looking the other way so they don't see you dancing either! (See below)

We had lunch at the fire station after the parade. It's a tradition. Usually Mike volunteers with the other firemen to cook it and this is their main fund raiser for the year. It's usually packed and they make pretty decent food for the price that's charged.

After lunch me, the boys and grandma headed over to the carnival to go on a few rides and get some cotton candy and a scone (thank you Kiwanis club)! Last year we put the boys on a little roller coaster and Walker bawled the entire time. He was terrified of it! I felt really bad but he wanted to try it again this year and he did great on it. When he got off he had a HUGE smile on his face and wanted to ride again!

If you look in the very last car you can see Porter being a brave boy with his hands in the air. This cracked me up! He saw all the big kids doing it on the big rides!

They also rode on a little dragon ride that took them up and down and made crazy sounds....


And Walker's favorite? The motorcycles!


We stayed up late that night and I was going to take them down to the Arts Park for the fireworks show but frankly...we were all exhausted from the day. We did get to watch the fireworks from Doug and Paula's back deck though and I think I enjoyed that more than all the other years when we actually went to the show.

Art City Days was so much fun this year. It was exhausting going to all of these different events without Mike to help out with the boys but I really wanted them to be able to experience it all one last time before we moved to Canada. They loved it and I had a ton of fun too!

And where was Mike this whole time you say? He was down in Havasupai...


with his brothers doing things like this.....

(These are pictures taken in quick progression. The first is Mike and his brother Jesse getting ready to jump off the falls together. The rest show their jump and decent and the last is them hitting the water.)

Yeah, he's pretty crazy, but a ton of fun! Love you Mike!

So is this the longest blog post you have ever seen?!! If it is please leave a comment stating that you have never seen a blog so long before. Okay... that was a weak attempt at getting you to leave a comment, but I love comments.... so shoot me!

GG Hamlin and the Boys

This is Grandma Hamlin and the boys. They sure love her and are glad to have her around. They'll miss her when we move to Canada!

It's been approximately a month now so I thought I should let you know that there are some great posts coming soon! I have just been so busy! Okay, that's a lie. I've been incredibly unmotivated. Things are happening here and I want to write about them but actually taking the time to do so..... well, you can see for yourself. Anyway, just wanted to let my faithful readers (there must be some right?) know that there will be some new posts forthcoming.

My Little Supermen

So, while Nacho is the definite favorite in our house, there is still some room for other super heroes. Grandma Hurren made a couple of Superman capes for the boys a couple of Christmas' ago and they love them. Enough so that when we sent everything we own up to Canada to await our arrival the capes stayed. I went to put the boys to bed the other night and this is what I found. Porter was Supermanning it up.



In case you are worried, he did make it to the bed. Over and over again! I was a little worried the first time I saw him but he made it so I figured it wouldn't hurt to let him 'fly' around for a little while.

Mike decided to pose Walker to look like he was flying through the air. I though it looked pretty authentic. What do you think?

NACHOOOOO!!!

If any of you haven't heard.... Walker is a HUGE Nacho Libre fan. Everything, from the moment he wakes up in the morning to the moment he lays his tired little head down at night, is Nacho. He dresses like Nacho, he talks like Nacho and all day he does Nacho tricks. The latest one was trying to pull a tablecloth out from under some things he had put on it without making those things fall off. Just like Nacho does. Now, Walker is not a big kid by any means but the following pictures might suggest otherwise. No, he does not have a huge butt... he just layers it with countless pairs of undies and pajamas. I'm not sure why but for some reason he thinks this is what Nacho does.


At any given moment I can find Walker with many layers on. I am not kidding when I say he usually has 3-7 pairs of underwear on in addition to at least 3 pairs of pants and 3-4 shirts. Seven is his record, but the usual is about five. This makes it hard for him to get everything off when he has to take a potty break and we've had a few accidents but luckily I have about a billion pairs of undies for him. He thinks that Nacho dresses like this and I tried to reason with him for about 3 days and then gave up. If he is missing.... I know he is in his room putting on more clothes.

At night this is what the boys do, continuing the never ending Nachoness that is their lives. Luckily Walker likes to be Nacho and Porter likes to be Ramses. They are acting out the scene from the movie where Ramses unmasks Nacho.

One night we got the boys in the bathtub and then put them in bed. When we went to check on them later and tuck them in this is what we found...


And if you noticed that the pillows look a little wet, well, they are. Only because when we gave them their bath Walker thought it would be a good idea to take his Nacho mask in with him. We hung it out to dry but after we out them to bed he managed to find it and put it on. Soaking wet. What can I say.... the kid is a fan of Nacho.

P.S. does anyone have a pattern for a Nacho costume? Maybe some blue stretchy pants? :)

Hobble Creek and Dirty Boys

For family home evening last week we decided to go up Hobble Creek Canyon for the evening. The river was really swollen so we didn't get to play in it but we did get to have a nice fire and roast some hot dogs and marshmallows. The boys had a great time.

About a week ago we let the boys pick out a treat at the gas station for some reason. (I can't remember why right now.) Walker picked some bubble gum tape and decided he wanted to bring it with us up the canyon. As we were driving up we heard some loud noises coming from the back seat and when I turned around I realized it was Walker with about half the package of gum in his mouth. He couldn't close his mouth to chew it because he had so much stuffed in, and Walker isn't like most two year olds. That kid will chew a piece of gum all day and not swallow it. Anyway, when we got up the canyon I asked him to show me how much he had in his mouth. Here was his response....

I'm not sure what it is about boys and their sticks, but the first thing the boys did was go and find some "awesome" sticks to play with. These sticks played the following roles on our outing: Light Sabers, Swords, Walking sticks, stir sticks (for the fire) and sticks to hit your brother with. The last one didn't fly with mom and dad but they did have a great time of it.

While they were waiting for the fire to get going so we could cook the dinner Porter and Walker found a tree to climb. And they did it in sandals too! Tricky little beasts!

All in all it was a fun filled evening doing what boys like to do best. Throw sticks and rocks in water, climb trees, play with fire, and eat campfire food. I'm lobbying for our next FHE to be at the spa. Anyone think I'll win that fight? Sigh.... I didn't think so either. Oh, and if you were wondering where Luke was this entire time.... he was asleep in the van!

WOW! Duck Pond Sludge Stinks!!

Grandma Hurren had a great idea to go feed the ducks today. The boys and I though it would be a lot of fun so off we went. Earlier the boys had declared it a pajama day so yes, I do realize that they are still in their pajamas in these pictures and before you mention it... I also realize Walker's ginch are on the outside of his pajamas. He is convinced that if he does this he is Nacho Libre. I don't tell him otherwise because I love it when they use their imaginations! Now, on to the duck feeding.... I brought my camera with me thinking this would be a fun thing to blog about. I had no idea what was in store for my blog....

It all started out innocently enough. Porter liked feeding the ducks the little pieces of bread we brought for them.


They both had fun tossing the bread into the water and watching the ducks fight over it. There were even quite a few ducklings swimming around. They were very cute!


Walker's favorite thing to do was chase the ducks back into the pond every time they got out. He ran up and down the shore chasing any strays back where they belonged!


What a cute little innocent kid right? That's what I thought too when I saw him standing there!

Porter and Walker decided to go down the pond a little further and when I called them back Walker came a runnin'. I was happy he had listened so quickly. That's kind of something we are working on with him. Anyway, Porter wasn't coming so I called him again and when I did Walker turned to see where he was. The bad thing was that Walker was still running in my direction while looking behind him. He didn't see the great big pile of sludge right in front of him and....


He was not happy about falling into the pit that you can see right behind him but man.... it was hilarious. Paula and I burst out laughing while trying to pull him out. He made the funniest sound I ever heard come out of his little mouth. He was sure he was drowning and had no idea what had even happened. I didn't think he normally minded being so dirty but after we rescued him for the sludge, I realized the real reason for his little yelp. That stuff stunk!!!! It was so bad I was gagging while trying to get his clothes off. Luckily he had on four... yes four.... pairs of underwear (he thinks Nacho wears a lot of underwear for some reason).


We pulled off the yucky pajamas and underwear and sandals and he was ok again. Grandma explained the hazards of duck ponds and he was very cautious after the incident. I don't think he wants to go back to feed the ducks anytime soon and I don't blame him.

Brave Boy!

Porter will be starting school this fall and needed to get his kindergarten 'Well Child Visit' exam. It was a full physical that included a blood sample, a urine sample, weight, measurement, and then shots. The doctor asked him a lot of questions and Porter was happy to answer them. He was having a great time of it for while. That is until they pricked his finger for the blood sample. He said, "That kinda hurt!" But he was glad it wasn't too bad. That is until I told him this wasn't the shots he had to get, but just a blood sample. I have been talking about the shots for about a week now and trying to get him ready for them. I told him they would probably hurt and they wouldn't be fun but they would help to keep him from getting sick while he was at school. Grandma Hurren was getting some shots for her upcoming trip to Guatemala so he went with her to see what all the fuss was about. She didn't cry so I think he figured it would be ok. The following picture was taken when we first got there and Porter was pretty excited to show me how tough he could be at the doctors!

When it was time for the shots Porter was very brave. He watched Davian (our awesome nurse) get the shots ready and found it pretty interesting. He was given the choice of having Davian and her helper give the shots at the same time or taking turns. Porter wanted them to take turns and since he had to get FIVE shots it was going to take a while.


To distract him, Davian asked Porter if he knew his ABC's and if he could sing them to her. He started singing and the shots started. He did so well! The first two shots he didn't even flinch!


Things started to go downhill at about "Q" in the Alphabet Song. This is when the third shot was administered and Porter didn't like that one at all. I guess it had to go in on an angle and Davian told us that those hurt a lot worse.


Until this moment Porter hadn't even whimpered. There was a slight pause in the song where he said, "Owwwww..." but he carried on and finished it up. One arm down, one to go. I think by the time the song was over he realized that this wasn't great and it actually did hurt a little. I asked him if he wanted to sing another song for the next arm but he said he would just like to hold me.


This is about when I started breaking down too. I think I felt worse for him than he did for himself. I was so darn proud of him for being so tough that I even got teary! Even though it was so hard for him, he didn't cry out once. His eyes got full of tears but he didn't make a peep!


When it was all over Porter bravely put on a smile and showed off his battle scars! He was so good and big and brave. I'm so proud of you Porter!!!


I told Porter he did such a good job that I was going to take him to get a special treat, just him and me. He said he would like ice-cream and then magically Davian came in with a coupon for their "Brave Patients" for a free ice-cream cone at SOS Drug here in Springville. Porter was pretty excited about that. We went out to the car and I asked Porter if he liked going to the doctor. He said that he did. I asked him what he thought of Davian (interested if his opinion had changed since the shots) and he said he thought she was really nice. So good job Davian (and thanks for the help with the pictures)!


All in all the visit was a success and I will feel much better sending him to school with all if his immunizations caught up. Oh and for all you moms out there, when your little boys is asked to pee in a cup and it starts filling up to the top and you calmly ask you little guy to stop and he doesn't so pretty soon you are yelling, "STOP! STOP!" because you are afraid that it will pour over the top and all over your hand and onto the floor in the doctors bathroom... well, let's just say that they can't stop mid-flow. Believe me, I know!

Luke's First Solids

I started Luke on solids the other day. I figured it would take him a while to get used to it but man was I wrong! He downed the first bite and didn't stop until two bowls later! My other boys took some coaxing to get them to eat a few bites but not Luke. He loved it. Here are a few pictures.

This is the before shot...
This is the first bite...
This is the 'after' shot...