A playdate with Wyatt

A couple of Thursday's ago my friend Betsy and her son Wyatt came over to hang out for a bit. The boys play so well together and were pretty content to play cars out on the patio while pizza cooked for lunch. After pizza we went outside and finger painted for a bit. This was the first time Mathias has done this and I think it was the first for Wyatt also. It was pretty fun to watch them. Mathias looked at me like, "I'm allowed to get dirty mommy?" After we were done and cleaned up we came back inside to play and read cars. Thanks for coming you guys, we will have to do this more often.

soccer party

Last Saturday, Dev's soccer team got together for a little party after their soccer game. We all met at a little park in Lehi and had some dinner and let the kids run and play on the playgrounds. They also rented out the pool but we did not go to that because it was way past Mathias' bed time.

Mathias is so lucky to have cousins that live nearby, and ones that completely adore him at that.

Little Miss Brinley was very content just pushing Mathias and twisting him around in the swing, which she did till it was time to leave. She is an awesome cousin and will be a great babysitter and mom one day.

The guys and boys played capture the flag till it was time to go. It looked like they where having a lot of fun.

Go Dev!

Dev's note: Don't worry, I got him

like father like son

NEED I SAY MORE?

boys will be boys

Daddy borrowed a friend's little RC rock crawler for a couple of days to see if he wanted one of his own, and Mathias was in heaven. This little boy is so much like his father in some ways it is scary. Look how excited they both look. I love that they have this in common and can play and spend some quality time together.

I just love this picture. Look at the excitement in his eyes as he "gets" to help daddy control the rock crawler. I also love that he has his tongue sticking way out as he tries to concentrate. Too cute!

fhe this week (well a week ago)

This week we decided to pull out the finger paints and do those as a family. This is only the second time that Mathias has used them and is still figuring out that it is ok to get dirty.

This is his first masterpiece.

When he started on this one he realized that what he painted looked like a "J". He said, "Look momma, a J!" I was completely surprised that he picked that out.

I then showed him that he should step on the paint plate so we could make foot prints. It took him a minute, but once he saw his foot prints he wanted to walk all over the place.

I think that Mathias thinks that the plate is where he is supposed to color. He is completely happy just swirling the paint around on the plate rather than on the paper and we have to keep reminding him that is what the paper is for.

Here is daddy showing him how to clean off some of the paint off of his feet. What a fun daddy.

Mema's work party

We went with Mema to her work party a few Tuesdays ago. They rented out a bowling alley in Salt Lake and had a ton of food and drinks and even little packages (coloring book, colored pencils, and fruit snacks) for the kids - one for the boys and one for the girls. The only thing Mathias was interested in the whole night was bowling and eating his fruit snacks, along with flirting with all the girls, younger and older, that were near him. He had a blast and we tired him right out. Thanks for inviting us Mema.

more toddler talk

This was the conversation I had with Mathias while driving down the freeway the other day.

Mathias: look mom, there's a motorcycle
me: there sure is
Mathias: look, wearing a helmet
me: that is right, he sure is
Mathias: he's smart

YES! IT IS WORKING! HE REALLY IS LISTENING TO WHAT WE TELL HIM!!

fhe last week

Dev found this place called NPS in Salt Lake a few weeks ago were they sell things for pretty cheap. He found out that they had a few wagons there, and we have been wanting to get a wagon for some time now. So we went to check it out and sure enough, there was the wagon that Dev wanted, and for half of the original price! So for family home evening last week, we took it for a ride and tried to do some geo caching by our house. Mathias loved the wagon ride and playing with the Garmin GPS receiver and pointing out everything that we passed. We never found the geo cache though. It was a pretty fun little walk and I have a feeling we are going to get a lot of use out of this little red wagon.

Dev's note: every little boy is entitled to owning a Radio Flyer wagon. I remember when we'd set up ramps at the bottom of a hill by my house to see how far we could jump them. Of course we'd eat it hard, someone would get hurt and go running home crying, but it was all part of growing up being a boy. I can't wait for the day when I see Mathias pulling the same stunts. Of course his mom will be freaked out, thinking he's going to kill himself, but I'll be chuckling to myself, silently wishing him to push the limits and jump it a little further.

Go Dallas

A couple of Fridays ago we went to watch our friend Dallas race his dirt bike up at Rocky Mountain Raceway. We got there a bit early and Mathias got to watch the tractors make sure the track was done perfectly. Then the little kids (starting at age 4, scary!) race their four-wheelers and little dirt bikes. It was pretty cute and fun to watch. Between the kid races and the adult races the kids got kinda bored and played with their cars and read a book with Devin. Mathias made it a point to point out EVERY SINGLE plane that passed over head and since we were close to the airport, it was a lot. When it was Dallas' turn to race, we made it a big deal and so Mathias watched the whole thing cheering him on. He covered his ears at first because the big bikes are quite a bit louder than the small ones. Dallas did really good and we were glad we got a chance to see him race. Mathias was in pure heaven being surrounded by motorcycles, four-wheelers, and big planes. It was great fun and hopefully we can go again sometime. The only bad thing was that it was $10 a person to get in! Luckily Mathias is still young enough we don't have to pay for him most places we go, but $20 for us to watch a bunch of novices race dirt bikes was pretty steep.

Discovery Park

I have been so bad at getting things posted just after they happen, so if all my recent posts start with a few weekends or weeks ago I am sorry. But hey, at least I eventually get around to posting them, right?
Anyways, a few weekends ago we went to Discovery Park with our friends Dallas, Candice, and their little boy Cohen. It was so much fun to get together and let the kids run around and burn some energy. To make things even more enjoyable, it wasn't a million degrees outside. After the park we stopped by Arby's to grab some dinner and then went to watch Dev play in his soccer game. Thanks for coming to play with us you guys. We had fun and the kids get along so great, we will have to do it again!

Toddler Talk

It seems Mathias talks the most while we are in the car. He is such a smart little bugger and picks up on things pretty fast. His favorite things to point out while we are in the car are:

• windmills (by the point of the mountain)
• power plants (he learned his first one at the mouth of Provo Canyon)
• airplanes
• the sun
• merican flag (American flag, he learned this over 4th and 24th of July)
• moon
• helicopter
• cement truck
• pick up truck (and yes he says it just like that)
• dump truck (I love that he knows the difference in all these trucks)
  
• semi trucks (and yes that is what he calls them)
• motorcycle
  
• scooter (he also knows the difference between the two when he sees them)
• jeeps
• pine tree (he learned this at the gardens at Thanksgiving Point when we went with our fam)
• firetruck
• police car (one lives in our complex)
• allabance (ambulance)
• train
• water fountain (as you enter or leave Pleasant Grove they have one)
• fire hydrant (this is his new favorite to point out for some reason)
• mountains
• horse trailer (not sure where or when he learned that one)
• four wheelers or motorcylces on a trailer (he gets pretty excited about this. He will also tell you that the truck is pulling the trailer.)
• school bus (and a normal bus)
• fast car (sadly, he even says this when he hears a ricer's fart pipe because he thinks it's fast. It makes Devin cry a little inside)
  

Some of my favorite things Mathias has said recently are:

Mathias: mom there's a airplane
me: yup
Mathias: hi airplane
after a second...
Mathias: bye airplane, have a nice day.
I laughed out loud when I heard him say that, I have no idea where he picked it up from. (Dev's note: my dad says that whenever we leave my parent's house, along with "write if you find work")

Monday, while we went on a walk with his new wagon :
Mathias: mom there's a helicopter
me: there sure is
A few minutes later
Mathias: where did the helicopter go mom?
Me: I am not sure
Mathias: I think he went home for lunch.

Really, you just put that together all by yourself? Ok, you can stop growing up NOW!!

The other day Dev was taking Mathias to Kelly's so she could watch him while we went to work. He got to the stop light by our house when he realized he forgot the diaper bag and turned around to go back and get it.
Mathias: why we going back home, daddy?
Dev: because I forgot your diaper bag
Mathias: oh.
I love how he is suddenly talking in complete sentences. It just amazes me how fast he learns!

That is all I can think of for now, I had a bunch written down so I would not forget them but Dev threw it away :( (Dev's note: Bad Devin! Bad! Bad!)

Head lamp

The other day Mathias found Dev's head lamp so they went in the bathroom and shut themselves in there and played with it for a few minutes. He is such a guy and just loves everything that his daddy does.


Dev's note: I took the above pictures, but I'm not smart enough to figure out how to turn the flash off so you can't tell we were in the dark on the second picture. I think I was even trying to just cover the flash with my hand. I'm usually pretty good with electronic gizmos, but this camera is so far beyond me... (Nikon D40 for anyone wondering)

What you doing?

The other day as I was checking my email I noticed that it was really quiet (mothers of toddlers know that's not a good sign) so as I came out to see what Mathias was up to I found him in the pantry getting some fruit snacks. This kid is way too smart, he knows what he wants, when he wants it, and how to get it. So I got him down and opened his fruit snacks for him and went back to finish my email when my phone rang. Mathias answered it and I thought nothing of it cuz there are only two people that call me on a regular basis, my mom and Dev. However, as Mathias was talking on the phone, Dev walked through the door. So I went out to see who it was and he was in there just chatting away, telling that person what he was watching and what toys he was playing with. Turns out it was my good friend Annalee. I am sure glad it was somebody I know and has kids so she understands how it is! Man this kid can sure get into everything pretty fast!

kid friendly church books

So since I have been talking about FHE and our goal of doing this every week I went on the hunt for toddler, or at least kid friendly, church books. I have heard that Seagull Book has great prices and I have never been there, as I usually go to Deseret Book. I think that this is one of my new favorite stores! Almost everything there is discounted at least 20 % and they have Down East Clothing - who knew? Anyways, I came back with these four books and a few coloring books, and when all was said and done I got the whole purchase for almost half off. Not too shabby! I know that he is too young to understand the books, but they learn so fast at this age that I thought we had better jump on it. So if anyone is on the same quest I would recommend these books, they are great.

Gateway fountain

A few weekends ago we went up to The Gateway mall in Salt Lake to let Mathias and Holland (Mat's cousin) play in the fountains. I have been wanting to take Mathias up there for a while to see what he would do. He would not run in the water at all; instead, he would run around or right up to where the water would shoot up. The only way we could get him into the water was if Dev held him. What a silly kid! Even though it was a really hot day, it was nice to get out and let the kids run around and play and spend time with the family.

Dinosaur Museum

A few weeks back we decided to try and go to the dinosaur museum with Mathias. It is such an awesome place, just not for very energetic two year olds. All Mathias did pretty much was run through the entire thing. He only stopped to try and get in the sharks mouth and to touch, but not play in, the sand. Oh, and when we got done witht he museum, he tried to get into the jeep at the cafe. We will have to try this again we he is older... a lot older!

Battle Creek Canyon

For our second week of family home evening, we decided to pack a little dinner and go for a quick hike up Battle Creek. It was a pretty day although it was pretty hot still.

Mathias showing me his messy cheetos hands and asking for a wipe. Which, of course, we forgot.

So we did the next best thing and wiped them on the grass.

Not very far into the hike, Mathias found this little grate and heard the water running under it. So we had to stop and listen and then that turned into shoving rocks into the tiny holes on the corners.

Mathias was kinda funny about the rocks. He had to walk where it had the most rocks and he made sure that we followed on that same path. He also made sure to pick up a few rocks on the way.

I would try to run ahead of him to get a picture from the front (since most of them are from behind him) but when I did this he would try to chase me and catch me. Needless to say this did not work very well for pictures.

And here is Mathias on his path of rocks, running way ahead of us. The only way I could get him to slow down or to look at me was to tell him to look for bugs or butterflies.

I told him to watch out for the horse poop and not to step in it, so every time we passed some he made sure to stop and point it out to us.

After running up hill for a while Mathias finally started to wear out and daddy got to carry him for a second.

Mathias thought this "waterfall" (where the water went into the pipe) was pretty cool.

This is where we attempted to turn around since it was getting close to bedtime.

As you can see, Mathias was not to thrilled by this idea. Next time we will have to start earlier and wear better shoes (we all had flip flops on) so that we can hike a bit further.

bike ride up the canyon

Dev and I have decided we should probably start doing family home evenings and get in that routine while Mathias is still young. Since he is so young we don't really have a lesson and do all that just yet but we just spend time together doing something active and fun. So for our first one, we decided to take a bike ride up Provo Canyon. We started at the bottom by the gas station and rode up to Bridal Veil Falls.

Once we got up to Bridal Veil Falls we were greeted by a forest ranger. He told us that the helicopters where bringing up cargo to where they were fighting the fire and then there were some hauling water to dump on the fire. He told us that the fire was about 30-35 % contained and about 180 acres were burned at that time. We could not see a ton because it was on the other side of the mountain from us. Mathias was in pure heaven because not only did the ranger give him his own little Smokey the Bear star-shaped pin but he got to see helicopter after helicopter fly over us. However, on the way back down the Burly (the trailer Mathias sits in that Devin pulls) got a flat tire so we stopped at a park while Dev rode down and got the truck. It was not too bad because we got to stop and run around and play for a bit.

When Devin came back to pick us up, we drove further up the canyon to see if we could see any of the fire. We drove for a bit, but didn't see any fire. But what we DID see was a helicopter dip its bucket into the Provo River to go dump on the fire. We all thought it was pretty cool, especially Mathias who loves pretty much anything with an engine, especially helicopters and airplanes.

Hopefully we can keep this FHE thing going, it's good for us to get out as a family, have fun together, and watch Mathias discover new things.