six!!!...

A special little boy in the Smith household turned six this weekend. We have spent the last few days celebrating him and all the amazing things he brings to our family. I don't remember being as reminiscent of his actual birthday in the past as I was this year. Throughout the weekend, I noticed I kept thinking about that day that he was born. It was the scariest day of my life. I had never felt so helpless and terrified. But it was also one of the most wonderful. Six years ago, this little boy made me a mama.
The boys got gift cards to Build-A-Bear so we started the day there. Neither of them have really been into stuffed animals (or plushes, as Charlie calls them) so we have never thought to take them there. They really liked it. They were quick to decide on their animal. Charlie picked the monkey and Cannon picked the panda bear.
Cannon holding his panda's heart and making a wish. You can see he was very serious about this.

Charlie didn't like the noise the stuffing machine made.

Making sure his panda was filled just right.

Naming their new friends. Charlie had already decided right away that his monkey would be named Monkey Man. Cannon had no idea so we came up with Pongo.

Charlie had gotten a kid's meal coupon for Rainforest Cafe from school and decided that is where he wanted to celebrate his birthday.

Another failed attempt at a group shot.

Cannon loved when the little show would come on. The lights would flash and there were rumbling noises.

They sang happy birthday and Charlie got a birthday sundae. We were lucky enough to have our friend's Heidi, Tanner and Chloe at dinner with us, but of course I forgot to get pictures of them. So typical.

Then we headed home for cake and presents. We didn't really have a party theme going on so we went with the good ol' standby for the cake. Charlie can always use a little Spongebob.

It was a very, very good day.

alive and well......in minnesota!

I know some of you have been wondering where in the world I have dissapeared to. Well, the answer is that we packed up our family, said goodbye to Utah and moved ourselves to Minnesota! Eric got a new job here (with a scrapbooking company of all things!) and it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. He left the beginning of November while I stayed behind and got all of our stuff packed up. Then on the weekend before Thanksgiving, Eric came back to load up the moving truck and start making the 1200 mile trek across the country to our new home. I knew there was no way I was willing to spend 20 hours in the car with Cannon, so he and I flew. It was totally worth every single penny to do that.

Eric took a few pictures of their adventure. The weather was terrible and he encountered many storms and setbacks. Charlie remembered riding in the moving van from Idaho to Utah so he was excited to do it again. We tried to tell him that this ride was going to be much longer, but he was insistent on riding with daddy.
Snowy roads for miles and miles.

There were several long stretches where they never even got over 15mph. They eventually had to stop on their first day in Laramie, WY because the road was closed. It took them over 9 hours to go just 350 miles.

One of the many wrecks that they saw on their way

Our car after the long trip.

They made a stop at Cabela's on the way to get an elk sandwich. (Yuck. Good thing I was not there because I definitely would have vetoed this decision!)

Crossing into Nebraska....

Ahhhhhh. After 3 days of driving, they finally reach Minnesota.

Since I previously blogged about how much I loved the Utah mountains, I thought it would be amusing to share this photo. This is the big ski hill here in MN. How sad.

And this is the view from our new place after our first snow storm. We now have about 12 more inches since this picture was taken. It is beautiful. Very cold, but beautiful nonetheless.

We are getting settled in and exploring our new surroundings. The school district here is one of the best and that was a huge factor in our decision to move. Charlie loves his new school and he has an awesome teacher. Both of the boys have done great with the move and we are feeling good about our decision to move. Just another part of our adventure. Sometimes I wonder what could possibly be next. I never would have thought that we would be moving to Utah a year ago and now here we are in Minnesota. Life can be crazy sometimes. But we are embracing it and loving (almost) every single moment!

legoland!......

After begging to go to Legoland for over a year, Charlie finally got his wish. Pake (my grandpa) passed away and we went to California for the funeral. Since we were in the area, my parents wanted to take the boys there for an early Christmas present. Charlie was beyond excited. We couldn't really keep it a secret because he already knew Legoland was in California and once I told him we were going there for the funeral he immediately started talking about it.

These pictures are not great by any means. Let's just say that 2 busy boys running around Legoland do not have any time to stop for the camera.

First stop was miniland. I think this was the part Charlie was looking forward to the most. They had the entire vegas strip, the french quarter, NY skyline, San Francisco and the Sydney Opera House completely recreated in legos. It was pretty incredible.

Charlie was also really excited about driving the cars and getting his own driver's license. He wasn't too good at steering the car and I think he only got about half way around the track.

The park was not very busy at all which was perfect! We didn't have to wait in line to get on the rides and if we wanted to go again, they would let us stay on the ride and go again. The weather was also great. We couldn't have picked a better day to visit.

There is a reason they do not charge for kids under 3. They pretty much cannot do ANYTHING. Cannon was about an inch too short to ride any of the rides. He would get so ticked off when he would see Charlie getting on all the rides and he couldn't tag along. There were lots of breath holding incidents. Poor dude.

Charlie LOVED the rollercoasters. I was so surprised. As we were going up the first time he said, "I think I might be getting scared!" but then he chilled out and enjoyed the ride. He immediately asked to go again.

This is the only ride that Cannon could go on and he was totally in love. He smiled the entire time and then he started to put his arms up in the air and yelled "wheeeee!"

A lot of people told us that Charlie was at the perfect age for Legoland and they were completely right. He was able to go on all the rides and they were fun without being too scary. We enjoyed six hours of lego bliss and everybody left with a smile on their face.