Phoenix Zoo Trip

My boys love animals and especially the zoo.  Every couple of days they are asking and begging to go to the zoo.

 Brody is always happy to go to the zoo with us.

Each trip is always fun and different. 

 My boys, especially Hunter, is obsessed with snakes, lizards, turtles, and bugs.  He loves cockroaches and talks about how sweet and cute they are in his baby voice.  He wants to catch lizards all of the time. 

Hunter's favorite animal at the zoo is the komodo dragon and sadly this week they both died.  So the boys had to spend some time climbing all over the statue pretending they were still alive.

Handsome Boys

I love getting these two little guys dressed up for church

 They are so absolutely adorable and I love when they look all fancy.

Baseball Games

The boys are always so excited when the weekend comes and daddy is home. 

They love helping him with everything and always want to follow him around.

The weather was fantastic so we pulled out all of the baseball equipment and started to play.

The boys loved having dad toss the ball to them.  Each of them did really great hitting the ball and throwing it.  The boys just want to spend every minute they can with dad.

Friday Fun

The boys love the "dump" park.  It's built over a dump and the boys always love that they are walking and playing on trash.

 

 Hunter is pretty adventurous and likes to climb everything now.

 Cameron likes to pretend to make food and run a restaurant.

So stinking cute.

 Hunter and I started going to a pre-kindergarten class together for the last few weeks.  He loves learning and it is fun to watch him think and process everything.  Cameron has had a lot of fun playing with grandma and grandpa.  Last week he went to the pet store and apparently charmed the workers and pet a snake, lizard, and all kinds of animals.  He went to the airport this week with grandpa and had breakfast.
Tonight we had one of the boys favorite people for dinner, their cousin Bremen.  We of course had to have spaghetti but Hunter also wanted to make cake.

 We made a chocolate cake, with a mousse feeling, and chocolate ganache.

 Hunter was my helper on everything and is always so excited to crack eggs.  Luckily the cake was delicious.
Hunter is still loving putting together our alphabet wall.  I always let him come up with the idea of what he would like to make with the letter.  He came up with a kite for the letter K.

 Trying to get the kite to fly.

He was surprised we couldn't get the kite to actually fly so we had to pull out our actual kite. 

Playing Around

I am always coming up with new fun things to do with Hunter.  We decided to work on patterns and shapes.  We drew out pictures and then he made them with Popsicle sticks.

 Hunter feeling triumphant.

 Creating a mustache from his marker.

 Cameron really likes to help out at the house.  Here he is helping me unload the dishes.  He is adorable.

Adventures Around Town and Fun at Home

I wanted to be sure to get the boys flu shots early this year so we headed out early this morning to get their shots.  Their shots were close by the temple so we decided to go to the visitors center and then walk around the temple grounds. 

Cameron always begs to go inside the temple.  He talks about how he gets to go inside when we have a baby and when he gets married.  It is so funny.

Hunter loved looking at the reflecting pool and seeing all of the pictures in the visitors center.
Close near the temple is my grandma's grave and as she died around this time last year I really wanted to get out and visit her grave.  She is truly one of the most amazing individuals I have ever known and I feel like she is still a huge influence on my daily life and actions.  Because of her I work every day to be more patient and kind with my children and all those I meet.

I miss my sweet interactions with her and think often of her words of encouragement and the great influence they have had on me.  I want so much for her to still be an influence on my children and I talk to them often of my grandma.  The other day I was making one of her recipes and telling Hunter about her and he said "oh mom I have a great idea, how about when grandma gets resurrected we have a party and make this recipe for her.  She will love it." 

The boys helped me make these flowers and then we each wrote her a note and drew pictures for Grandma.  I am so grateful for the legacy of love and faith that I have in my life from all of my grandparents and parents.  It truly inspires me to reach beyond my capacity and be more.

Next, our adventure took us out to the Bass Pro Shop.

The boys were excited to see the fish but really wanted to feed them.
Hunter and I made another letter for our collection.

Z is for Zebra, if we went in order we would be done but we are having to much fun jumping around from letter to letter.
After Cameron's nap we went to the city pool the boys like to call the waterpark.  When we came home Hunter kept talking about chalk paint (I'm not sure where he got this idea), but I looked on pinterest and found a recipe so we made some chalk paint.

I think it is so cute when they come up with ideas that they want to do.

Hunter was content to paint with just his red.

Cameron wanted to mix every color together.

Cameron kept telling me to "come see my masterpiece".  I thought it was adorable how he called it his "masterpiece". 

Hunter loves to tell people he is an artist.

The boys couldn't wait to show dad everything they painted.

Balloon Badminton and Feeding Ducks

Cameron and I found these fly swatters at the store and decided that they would be fun for a little balloon badminton.  The boys thought they were fun to swat around.

The boys love sports and I am always trying to come up with new sports or games they can play inside.
Then, we decided to head over to the desert park to feed the ducks.  The boys loved the desert park this spring and it is so close to our house with a lot of fun things for them to do. 

 Cameron was so happy to feed the ducks and Hunter decided he would rather feed the fish the bread.

 Pointing out the different types of birds and climbing around on the rocks.

Cameron throwing rocks in the lake and being the bread guard.

 We are so excited for fall and to be able to spend more time outside.