Boy do I love a good MassAGE!

Hayden has got to be the sweetest little boy. The other day he says to me “Mom, do you want me to give you a massAGE.” Wanting to play along and encourage his creativity and imagination I said yes never anticipating he really know what a massage was. So he tells me to lay down on the bed on my tummy. He then climbs on an sits on my back and put his little hands on my shoulders. He then proceeds to pump his little hands on my shoulders over and over. As I am exclaiming what a wonderful massage he was giving me he tells me, “I know the rules about giving massAGES, that’s way I’m so good.” Just another joy of being a mom to this incredible little boy, massAGES.

Maybe we are doing something right!

The other night we were having family home evening with the boys. This is always an adventure, but we try to persevere. We were gathering around and I asked "Who wants to say the opening pray?" And Hayden immediately raised his hand and came running over to me. I asked him if he wanted me to help him with the pray.

Normally he likes us to say the prayer "together" which entails you saying the prayer and him repeating the words after you. And when you get to the end of the pray and say "We say these things", Hayden says "Amen". Then we continue, "In the name of Jesus Christ." And Hayden says, "Amen." And we then say, "Amen." And Hayden says, "Amen".

This time however Hayden said he could do the prayer all by himself. I was a little leery, but thought it couldn't hurt to let him have at it. I was shocked. My little boy gave one of the most articulate prayers I have ever heard from a child. He prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for his many blessings and for the family and he prayed that we could sale our house. At the end of his prayer without a single bit of prompting he finished his pray with, "We say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I was almost in tears I was so proud of him.

Weekend in Wisconsin!

We headed for Wisconsin again this last weekend. Dave’s niece Allisa graduated from high school and they were having a graduation party for her. Dave wanted to support the family so we decided to make a quick weekend of it. We headed up late Thursday to break the long drive up so it wouldn’t be so hard on the boys or us. That left all day Friday for us to meander the rest of the way to Wausau and take a quick side trip to Mid-Continental Train in Baraboo which was lots of fun. Hayden loves trains.

The boys loved playing on the caboose.

And could there be anything more exciting than the Mullins Cheese Factory. I’ve always been a cheese fan, but Dave has opened my world to a whole new level of cheese coinsureship.

And there really is nothing better than fresh cheese curds. What a sight to behold!

Just love that cheese.

We decided to stay that the Great Lodge in Wausau because they had an indoor water park attached to the hotel. The boys had the best time. They even had water slides that Hayden could go on all by himself. Turner wasn't as impressed, but he seemed to enjoy himself. Now that we know the Great Lodge is here we may actually go to Wausau more often.

While we were there we took the opportunity to visits Dave's dad's grave site.

It is hard to beleive he has been gone nine years. I sure do miss having Tom around.

I know he would have loved our boys and been so pround of them.

Becoming a Big Boy . . .Time for a new car seat!

The time has come for Turner to get out of the pumpkin seat and face forward in the car. So I got Hayden's old car seat out and washed the cover so it was a nice and clean. Then as I was sitting on the step putting it all back together, Turner decided to check it out and take it for a test run.

Memorial Day Weekend!

Back at Christmas time while shopping at the Bass Pro Shop I was waylaid by a gentleman in the store with a vacation offer. Now normally I would have politely declined and continued on my way, but the Christmas spirit was all around me and I was feeling generous so I stopped and listened to his spiel. To be honest I really don't remember all that much about the spiel, something about two nights and three days in Branson plus $100 in gift certificates to the Bass Pro Shop. All I had to do was put a deposit down of $100 which I got back after the trip and attend one of their time share meetings. Yes it was a time share thing. Now we've lived in Missouri going on nine years now and had never been to Branson. And if they were going to give me $100 to spend and pay for my room I figured why not. So I gave them my $100 security deposit and signed up. And come Memorial Day weekend we were off to Branson.

Of course no trip to Branson would be complete without a stop at Lambert's Restaurant, the original home of the throwed rolls. The food is okay, but it is the atmosphere you actually go for.

And Hayden was so proud when he caught his own roll.

This is a picture of the Big Cedar Wilderness Club. It is the time share thingy we had to go to to get our lodging for free. To be honest I was quite impressed with their presentation. As Dave and I have been to a lot of them over the years this was the best one yet.

There was so much to see and do in Branson for the boys.
There was the dinosaur museum.


The trout farm. What a racket you have to pay to feed their fish.
So of course we did.



The Butterfly Palace was incredible. They had this maze of mirrors which was quite fun and eerie all at the same time. I kept seeing this fat lady walking around bumping into things and then I realized it was my reflection in the mirror. Not a happy moment.

I just love this picture of Hayden.

And this one too. He is such a little investigator.

Outside they had some fake coconut tress for the kids to climb. Hayden got all harnessed up. It was his first climbing experience.

He only made it about half way up before he got scared, but I was so proud of him.

Then there were the Ducks. These are vehicles that drive on the road, but also can be driven into the water and driven as a boat. They took us all over Branson and out onto Table Rock Lake. We each got our own quacker and even Turner was quacking away.

Hayden even got a chance to Captain the duck while we were a float.

Of course going to Branson wouldn't be complete with out taking in a show. I really wanted to see Shoji Tabuchi and his bathrooms, but alas I didn't think the boys would enjoy it. So we did the next best thing and went to the Dixie Stampede. It really was a great show and the food was excellent.

And what would a vacation be without and old tyme photo. Not of Dave and I of course! I just love this picture.

Not quite sure why I didn't get one of Turner by himself. What a bad mom. I just remember it was hot and I was getting tired, apparently it was affecting my brain.

On our way home from Branson we saw signs for a Safari. In the middle of Missouri who knew. We figured it would be a fun diversion and decided to stop. What fun! They have five acres filled with animals. Most of which are free roaming. You can take your own car or ride the bus which we opted to do.

We bought lots of food to share and the animals come right up to the bus and take it straight from your hands. The boys loved it!

Turner was fascinated with all of the animals.

Some how our four hour drive from Branson to St. Louis ended up turning into a seven and a half hour drive, but we made it home and all is well.