Four Reasons to Love the Si-man

REASON #1: He is a big helper! He wants to help me make dinner, unload the dishes, sweep the floor, change his diaper, and buckle his carseat.



REASON #2: He makes me LAUGH!


REASON #3: He let's Elmo be used as a bribe for many things, like getting him to sleep in his new toddler bed.

REASON #4: He wants to be just like his Daddy. This is a picture of the temple we sculpted for Family Home Evening.

Flip flops and Carhartts

A few weekends ago, we made the trip to Montana for Uncle Woody's funeral. We drove to Rexburg, Idaho on Thursday night and stayed with my brother and sister-in-law (Darian and Cassie). Then we left at 5:00 a.m. to make the 5 1/2 hour drive to Billings. Silas slept all the way to Bozeman which was WONDERFUL!

The only bad part of the drive were the roads! We left Utah with 80 degree weather and were loving wearing our shorts and flip flops. When we hit Island Park, it was snowy and all the way to Ennis the roads were covered with a layer of snow and ice causing us to go about 50 mph the whole way! When we got to Bozeman and made a pitstop, we walked out of the car in our flip flops and shorts through the snow covered parking lot. People in the gas station were wearing their carhartt coats and coveralls and buying coffee. Luckily the rest of the drive was without snow.

Despite the sad reason for gathering, we had a great time with friends and family and Silas sure enjoyed playing with his big cousins.

Tyrel, Megan, Silas, Donavan, and Jerod

Silas and "Teebo" (That's how he says Abuelito)

Tyrel and Sawyer on the quad

Silas and Uncle Joe

King Silas

Silas and Megan

On the way back, we also ran into terrible weather! When we were about 20 miles out of Bozeman, we hit a huge storm and slowed way down. This picture is from going through Island Park. One minute it would be like this and we could hardly see through the "blizzard" then 5 minutes later it was dry roads, then 5 minutes later, tons of water on the road and an SUV flipped over on its side. We were very glad to get out of Island Park! When we got to Rexburg, we felt like we should be done with our trip and turn to go home. But Tyrel reminded me if we did that, then we would be going home to an apartment half the size of our current one, we would both be in school still, and he would be working nights. I decided I could live with 3 more hours in the car!

A Great Weekend!

On April 17, Tyrel and his brothers Ray and Keslin went snowboarding. These are some pictures of what it was like up on the mountain.

Later that day, they went golfing and this is what the weather was like. They were sure worn out by the end of the day! While they were playing, I had a girls day with his mom and my sister-in-law, Janet, and Silas got to join us. We went shopping and out to lunch--it was a blast!

When we were all done playing, we went back to Ray and Janet's and Silas had fun playing with his uncles, Grandma, and Grandma's doggie!

The next day, our friends Shelley and Jerod invited us to go to the aquarium in Sandy and Silas absolutely loved it! Tyrel loved playing with Silas and he loved the South American exhibit. This is a pacu, a type of fish he ate and saw on his mission.

Silas loved playing in the little caves, driving the boat, and climbing up on the benches to see displays. Oh and he loved to see Nemo swimming in the tank.

Easter Fun

We had so much fun over Easter weekend that I couldn't help but put all of these pictures on here! Silas loved dying eggs and thanks Aunt Izzy for being so patient with him! As he would lower the egg into the cup he would say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Most of the eggs ended up cracked, and he even squished one in his hands...it grossed him out and he didn't want anything to do with it after it was squished. At one point he spilled the blue dye all over, it made for some pretty good pictures though.

Tyrel and I both decided that doing an Easter egg hunt with an almost 2-year old is one of our favorite parent adventures so far! We thought it was fun last year when he would crawl on the grass and grab an egg, but this year was way better.

On Easter Sundy we had dinner with my family and Grammy made a fun bunny cake that tasted really yummy!

"Spilling the Dye"

We Love You Uncle Woody!

This is a tribute to my Uncle Woody who passed away on Sunday. He has been battling cancer for about 3 years now so I am glad to see him free from his sufferings. I will miss him and the great blessing his was in my life. Here are some memories:

• When I was little, we girls had a date with Uncle Woody. He came over and we made breakfast for him. That night, we went ice skating and I was teaching him how to skate (he was a little wobbly). Some random girl tried to cut in and it made me so mad! I told her something to the effect of, "I think I can handle teaching him, he is my uncle, and he's my date!"
• When we went to visit Aunt Betty and Uncle Woody on the ranch, he was always wearing his overalls. He taught me how to milk a cow, took us on hay rides, and pulled us on tubes with his tractor.
• The men in my life not only had to go through Pa and Jon, but also through Uncle Woody. On my senior prom, he threatened my date and then turned to my friend Jeanna's date (he had only just met Jeanna) and threatened him as well. Tyrel also got threatened, but he and Uncle Woody got along great.
• Uncle Woody had some pretty good sayings that he always said at such appropriate times!

"If you're gonna be a turd, go lay in the lawn!"

"If you put your poop in one hand and your wants in the other hand, which do you

think will fill up first?"

I'll sure miss Uncle Woody and his one-of-a-kind personality! I find comfort to know that Heavenly Father has a plan for families, that the gospel is taught in the Spirit World, and that I will be able to see him again.

Making Jam

Strawberries were on sale 4 lbs. / $5 so we bought a TON! Then I taught Mom and Pa how to make jam and we spent our Friday making strawberry freezer jam. It was so much fun and it felt good to see all our jam sitting on the counter when we were done. If you've never made it before, I would recommend it. It is so easy and a great time to do it when the strawberries are cheap. Just follow the recipe in the box of Pectin and enjoy!

I Should be Eating Salad and Fish!

So we have been passing around a serious cold for the past two weeks. I am done feeling all yucky and like I can't even get off the lovesac, but now I can't taste or smell. I never thought I would say this but I miss being able to smell Silas' stinky diapers. Tyrel will come home from work, give Silas a hug and say, "He is really poopy!" And the whole time I didn't know because I couldn't smell anything. I also can't hardly taste anything...so why have a eaten so much Easter candy today!?!? Instead I should be eating healthy things I don't really like such as salad or fish...oh well, I guess there is something about chocolate sitting around that makes me feel like I have to eat it--taste or not!