Moab, take two

Mathias and I were invited to a Man Trip to Moab by our good friend Rob Bigelow. I said I would go on one condition: find a spot on a trailer for my jeep cuz I'm not driving it down. Rob came through and fit my jeep, as well as his, on a big trailer and towed them down. We met up with a bunch of his brothers, brothers-in-law, their kids, and Rob's dad. There was a total of seven jeeps, one stock Nissan truck, and a rental jeep. The brother-in-law with the Nissan drove all the way [I believe] from Virginia. Mathias had fun because there were tons of kids to play with all the time.

We had an absolute blast. The first trail was Elephant Hill. That was my first time on this trail and wasn't sure what to expect. I was told it was doable by mostly stock SUVs so I wasn't too worried, but I knew there were some tight switchbacks along some cliffs; I don't like cliffs. I aired down the tires really low and went at it, not bothering to lock the front hubs in. It turned out I never had to; I ran the whole trail in 2WD. The other rigs did just fine too, except we did have to do some rock-stacking for the Nissan.

The next day we ran Poison Spider Mesa, a well-known and well-loved trail. We ran up to the wedge and back. I was starting to get a little cocky with my still newish tire/rim combo (37's and beadlocks) and did a couple things I normally wouldn't have. Everything turned out awesome, giving me some confidence in my jeep. If I could get a full cage, stretch the wheel-base some, and get stronger front axle shafts I'd really be loving my jeep.

The last day we ran Moab Rim. Again, great fun and everything went swimmingly. When we finished that trail, we packed up everyone's junk and headed home. It was a great weekend. Ran some great trails, made some great friends, and no one broke anything of consequence. Rob had some little plastic doohickey break in his steering column so he couldn't run the Rim, but other than that no one had any problems. I really hope they invite me next time they go. I think I might be welcome next time, not because I'm fun to have around but because I can run air tools on the trail.

motorcycle ride

Mathias has been asking Grandpa Brower and dad to go on a motorcycle ride for awhile now.

Devin finally decided to take him for a short ride. Mathias was so excited and had his helmet on and was on the bike for a few minutes while waiting for Dev.

Doesn't he look cool. I am not a big motorcycle lover. They make me extremely nervous. At least on this bike he had armrests kind of holing him and Dev put a bungee cord in front of him. This made me feel a little better.

Off they go. They were actually gone a while longer than I expected them to be.

Mathias had a blast and wants to ride it all the time now. Boys and their toys. Who knew it started so young. Man I am in trouble when he gets older. At least he knows he has to always wear a helmet!

random pictures

Mathias asks to hold his baby sis all the time. He just loves to snuggle her and give her kisses. He is doing really well with her, however he is trying to get away with a bit more with us and push our buttons more. This is kinda hard for me cause I know he still needs to be disciplined but at the same time I know that his world has just been turned upside down. Hopefully this doesn't go on for very long. He has been getting to spend a lot of time with grandma and mema, in fact I think last night was the first time that I have had both kids by myself.
Also, tomorrow my brother Dustin flies in for the week so he will have all sorts of fun hanging out with him. Let's hope this warm weather is here to stay so we can go outside more and he can use and get rid of all his energy and and therefore won't drive us as crazy.

Azlyn loves her swing already. She will sleep in this thing for hours!

The other morning Dev was changing Azlyn's Diaper and as usual Mathias was there to observe. This time, however, he had on his safety goggles just in case.

She is just so cute. I love how it looks like she is smiling in this pic.

Battle Creek

Even though it was a little chilly today, we decided to head up to Battle Creek and play with the RC crawlers. I see this happening a lot in the future. The boys just love it and I am so happy that they have something that they just love doing together!

Playing in a puddle.

I don't know who loves doing this more? Seriously Mathias is a mini Dev. Love it.

Do boys ever grow up... I think not.

Mathias and his jeep. The radio controls no longer work on it but it was still fun to push around!

So excited that it made it up without falling! I love the excitement on his face.

Movie night

The other night Mathias wanted to watch a movie so I told him to pick one out and he could watch it in my room. Dev went in there to watch it with him because he didn't want to watch whatever I was watching on TV. After a little while I noticed that it was really quiet and wondered if they both fell asleep. Dev had but Mathias was still just watching the movie (that doesn't happen too often). I love that Max (the puppy) is snuggling with them as well. I seriously love these boys!!

Like father, like son!

Dev got the brilliant idea to make a house and a garage big enough that his micro rc could fit in it. Mathias LOVED this idea. He was even able to park the car in the garage a few times without wrecking anything. Once the house was wrecked it was all about making log ramps and trying to drive up them. The boys sure do have a lot of fun with this little rc car!

"helping"

On Sunday, Brian came over to help Dev work on my car. They replaced one of the belts and also the thermostat. When Mathias heard that they were gonna be working on the car he could not gather all his tools fast enough. He was so stinking excited. I love that he loves to get out there with Dev and "help" work on the vehicles. Hopefully this means that he will learn everything he needs to know at a young age so that he can work on his cars when he needs to. I love in the picture with him and Dev laying down checking out the underneath of the car that Mathias has Dev's gloves on. Too cute.

This picture just makes me smile. When Dev was draining the antifreeze, Mathias said, "Look dad, the car is going potty." How funny is that?

While the guys cleaned everything up, Mathias decided to go and grab his jeep and play in the snow. This jeep has seriously been through so much, I can't believe it is still around!

Handy Mathias

Mathias was so excited to open his new work bench and was so excited to help daddy put it together. These two make a great team!

When it was all put together he was too excited to hurry and change into his jammies that he had to play with it mid change.

Since it has been open, Mathias and his tools have worked on many things. He helped Dev put some shelves together, he sawed up some styrofoam and has tried to fix some of his toys. He knows what most of the tools are called and what they are used for. I can see many nights in the future with these two working on something together, most likely the jeep. Boys are just so much fun! It is going to be so weird having a little girl in the house. It is just kinda hard to imagine since I am surrounded by so many boy things.