Bearizona

So for the last 10 months tickets to Bearizona have been hanging on our fridge. Aaron got them from a website that gives tickets away to members of the military. We finally had a free weekend and took the chance to get there. Its in Williams so we made a weekend of it. It was a cold and rainy trip but we didn't mind at all because it made it more of an adventure. So Bearizona was pretty neat. Its kind of like a drive through zoo for wild animals that are native to North America. 

Daisy was into it.

The wolf enclosure was fun. They walked right up to the car.

One of them sniffed our backup camera, it was really funny.

Here are the white buffalo. I don't think I have seen white buffalo before.

There were lots of animals like big horned sheep, mountain goats, bison and of course...

Bears! There were lots of these big guys walking around. I never got a good shot but if you look close you can see one.

After you drive through the 3 miles animal habitats there is a normal zoo and a petting zoo to walk through.

The weather was nice, it stopped raining long enough for us to walk around and then it started to snow as soon as we pack up the stroller.

I think it would be safe to say that Rockwell was the biggest fan of the animals. Daisy had fun too, but Rockwell just giggled and giggle at all the animals.

He even pet the goat.

Daisy stayed in the stroller and was more concerned about the goat poop on the wheels. She did like looking from a far though, like me.

                             

This picture does not portray the mood Daisy was in. She was such a good girl and was very interested in the animals.

All this little boy wanted to do was run around. 

Our favorites were the otters. They were so cute and social-able. The guys was pretty interested in us too.

After Bearizona we drove into Williams for dinner. Daisy and I got hot cocoa and it was delicious.

We walked around Williams for a while too. A lot of shops were closed due to the weather and the busy season doesn't start for another month, but it was really fun to walk around all the old route 66 things. Someday I will buy this little boy a coon skin cap because this was one of the cutest little boy things ever. It was just a good day.

Start em Young...

We went to a car show in Sun City a few weekends ago. I think Aaron's plan is to get Rockwell to love cars as much as him so he has an excuse to by project cars for his son every few years.

Sunday Mornings

We have one O'clock church this year. I am not going to pretend that it is my favorite time to go, if I had it my way we would go at eight, but I don't and we will survive. Most morning this is how Aaron looks till about eleven. This picture made me laugh. 

Daisy's doctor kit came with these cool glasses and she wanted pictures. From around 5 till bedtime is usually the rougher time of the day, but lately I have been enjoying it. I have kids at my house most everyday all day, so when its just me and my kids here its kind of fun. We play.

Bloggin...

So for the past few weeks all my sister and Mom have not been blogging, understandably so, they are all very busy. But its been a few months now and I am getting bored of posts about Christmas...So I am requesting some updates. And in the mean time as motivation for my family I will do some updates. I know they are all dying to know what we are up to;). So onto our life...

For the past month not much has changed around here other than Rockwell walking and climbing on everything...

like the slide...

and Daisy's bed...

He has also found and inner power that has been unleashed in the form of screaming and crying just because he can. I knew the day would come. I still like him though :) He loves bubbles and anything with buttons or wheels. His favorite thing to do is play outside. He is a very hot and cold eater. He will eat anything and everything one day and the next he will dump all his food on the floor. He finds the sound of cheerios hitting the floor to be much more fun than I do. He also loves to play with Daisy. LOVES IT. I do feel bad for him though because most days Daisy has two friends here to play with and he is just too slow and too little and the annoying little brother. Luckily he is only 14 months old and forgets in about two seconds that a door was just slammed in his face as three 3 year old girls were screaming "NO ROCKWELL!"

One day Daisy and her little friends ran out into the living room and screamed then ran back into her room, they started doing this over and over enough so that Rockwell noticed and started to scream and run too. He would get so excited and scream when they ran into the room, then he would chase them as they ran back to the bedroom. But each time he made it to the door he quickly would receive a door slam. He never cried but just kind of walked back out to me like, they won't let me play. It was so funny and sad.

Then there is Daisy. I like talking to Daisy. The other day I was telling her that she needed to eat her green beans so she could grow big and strong to which she replied "I don't want my belly to grow big...like Grandpa Steve".

Daisy is kind in her own way. She for example takes great care of Rockwell. If you watch the above slide video I think you can see her helping him up the slide and wiping grass off his bum, yet when he gets to the top she can't resist the urge to push him.

Or like this morning our friend Allie kicked her and was sent to time out. Daisy was very pleased that Allie was receiving her punishment and made that clear, yet while Allie was crying in time out Daisy walked over to her and started singing "I Am A Child of God" to help Allie stop crying.

It is also nice lately because Daisy can be talked down before an tantrum escalates. Not every time, like today no talking down, but more and more I have been able to reason with her which is so nice. She also dresses herself most everyday. She is learning so I must practice self control and let her explore all the different outfit options. Most of the time things are clashing, but I like her dressing herself and she is so very proud of herself.

She also plays really well and has a very active and healthy imagination. We have quiet time most every day since naps are pretty much gone now and she will play in her room for long stretches. The other day I poked my head in to see her playing with all these guys just screaming and laughing. It reminded me of when I was little and my sister would make fun of me for talking out loud to my toys.

Most days my kids get to play out in the back yard. However the other day we learned that fire ants have made a home in the rocks. I felt bad I didn't realize right away why she was crying until she screamed ANTS. I have never been the victim of an ant attack and it looked pretty painful. She was over it pretty fast though and so far we have not had any problems with her thinking there are ants crawling all over her all the time. Which is probably what I would be doing if it had been me.

We are lucky to live in an area where there are lots of little friends for Daisy. The other day we got to go to a little birthday party for our friend Charlie. It was very fun.

I love that they play together. 

I hope they will always be good to one another.

Thoughts

Tonight I am sitting at the table with Aaron as he studies homework. I am looking at everything he is learning and I don't have much of a clue what he is studying. I want to say it makes me feel stupid but it doesn't. I could learn these things if I had to. Anyway it got me thinking, what do I know? My professional skill set is well, rather limited. I have half a teaching degree with absolutely no desire to be a teacher. I also have limited work experience. I have every intention of finishing my degree, but I don't know in what. I love school. I love learning and get a little rush when I get a good grade. I keep having to tell myself that there is a time and a season to our lives and right now my biggest job is learning how to be a mother and raising decent little people. As I sit here I am trying to compare my skill set as a mother and caregiver to Aaron's as a father and provider. Both different, both essential. It's just so common to diminish what a woman does when she chooses to stay home with her kids. I may not know what size bolt or belt is needed to fix a problem in a car. Or a great number of thing that are required to make money. But I do know that Daisy doesn't like tomatoes, that bristle brushes don't get tangled hair out, or that Daisy is a happier girl when I give her lots of hugs and kisses. Or that Rockwell needs to avoid whole milk, and he likes to sleep with two blankets not just one, or that he loves the toilet and I need to make sure he doesn't fall in. Or that he won't take medicine unless the dropper is put in on the side of his mouth. My skills are not complex, I don't need to memorize the names of medications, or figure out formulas. I just do all the little things and right now that is all I need to do.

January

Last month was a blur and that's okay with me. I have been in a funk the past few weeks. Aaron has started school again so he his gone all day everyday or so it seems. He is really only gone all day Monday through Friday. But our kids see him Sunday night then not till Friday afternoon. And this month Aaron has had three drill weekends to make up for past ones missed. So we really haven't seen a lot of him. I most certainly like having him home more but I am thankful he is working so hard. However I can feel myself getting burnt out. I watch three other children part time. So most of my days are filled with three 3 year old little girls and two baby boys. I wouldn't have it any other way but it does get old wiping little buns all day. So I have resolved to be a little less burnt out. My plan is this, no phone and read the Book of Mormon in the next 30 days. Our Relief Society is doing a reading challenge and I think its perfect timing for me. Since my evenings are kind of free, I generally have an hour after bedtime and before Aaron gets home to do whatever. Usually I unwind perusing through Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Some nights I waste hours doing this. Its nice, in a way,to get out of my house through Facebook or Instagram and see whats going on in the world, but I think I do it too much. I do it more too when I don't want to do anything else. And lately since I have been feeling burnt out I am on my phone more than I should be. So I am taking a break, not cold turkey because I use Facebook for church stuff, but I am cutting back and the time I usually put towards meaningless Internet wondering I am going to read the Book of Mormon.