We came home from Zion a day early and went to the zoo with Grandma Lori, Amy & kids. My kids are totally fascinated with all the animals. We had a couple too tired tantrums, but it was a fun day!

In church on Sunday (Mother’s Day) a comment hit home with me… something about wishing you will remember all the little things that you love about your children but not being able to remember the details. I know that if I don’t write them down, I will forget. So here is a few of my favorite things about my kids at this stage in our lives.
- I so love when they come climb in bed with me first thing in the morning, cuddle, and jibber-jabber about whetever is on their minds.
- Cole asks everyday to “check out the transformers on the puro (computer)”. Then spends hours navigating amazon for different transformers toys and occasionally calling out “Mom/Dad, you gotta check this out!”
- I love that he lives in a world of pure imagination – transformers, monsters, pretend dogs, superheroes, dinosaurs, animals, etc. Cole names his imaginary dog something different every day, live in dogtown, & I can’t figure out where he gets the names (my favorites are raver and to’o).
- I love that they are little sponges, immitating and learning with everything we do and say.
- I am so grateful that they all three play well together and love each other so much.
- I love the feel of their baby smooth cheeks & perfect kissing place between their eyes.
- I love how each of them snuggle so differently – Hallie molds into your body, Brighton snuggles into a little ball, and on a rare occasion Cole will let me hold him like a baby and rock him.
- I love that all of them are quick to hug & kiss me when they think I’m hurt.
- I love their laughs! Hallies squeaky toy laugh, Brighton’s contagious giggle, and Cole’s whole body laugh. They are all three severely ticklish like their dad & I find myself tickling them fairly often to hear my favorite sounds.
- I love to play “I spy” with them in the car. Hallie always says “I spy a yellow sign” and Brighton frequently says “I spy a house” or “Cole”.
- They talk on play phones (shome-Brighton or hone-Hallie) saying hello, whatcha doing?, yudoo (love you), bye.
- I love bedtime & crave the break I get when they are all asleep, but love hearing giggles coming from the twins room while they are winding down or first thing in the morning.
- I love the excitement, squeals, and running to me whenever I pick them up from daycare.
- I love that they role play. I enjoy watching the girls rock, swaddle, and kiss their babies (or tell them to “go to bed – right now”).
- I cherish the moments reading to them with them piled on my lap eating up every word, pointing out pictures they know, finishing my sentences, and fighting each other to turn the pages.
- Hallie scrunches up her nose and everytime you change a diaper says “soss” (gross).
- The twins can pedal their trikes that they got for their birthday.
- Hallie runs leaning, flinging her arms, and jumping with each step. She does everything with gusto and is a non-stop mover full of bologna. She pouts, throws her whole body on the floor when throwing a tantrum, & scrunches up her nose or makes a O with her mouth. I think it’s funny in gymnastics when she dives into a forward roll, constantly jumps, & kicks her legs backward on the beam.
- Brighton can seriously scale anything – she is a monkey using every little part of her body to go where she wants to go. She wants to be so independant and most of the time she really can do it by herself. She always wants to go first at gymnastics and does well at anything she decides to do. Her lean little body is decievingly strong as she can hang on the bar forever. I love her little personality – she thinks she is so funny, a little bossy, & is a total tease. I also love how she puts an “h” sound in front of many words “hokay”, “hum here”, “hall gone”, etc.
- Cole likes watching Dinosaur Train & Backyardigans (Pablo as he calls it). He reinacts the shows or incorporates them into everyday life. The other day we were driving and he asked if wanted to go to the o-cano (volcano), it has melted rocks, is really hot, and has fireworks. Yesterday he was calling the twins “injas” (ninjas) and was karate chopping the air. Other times he pretends they are robots or wants to have a tea party and says “pip, pip, cheerio”. It’s funny.

I love and feel honored to be the mother of these three amazing kids that are growing up so fast. I hope I can teach them all I need to and channel their energy in positive ways.

Here’s some random pics mostly from our May trip to Zion.

We celebrated Cole’s 4th birthday with a pirate party. The costumes were awesome, the pirate ship cake turned out really good, the pirate obstacle course and treasure hunt to the treasure chest pinata were a hit. Thank you to our wonderfully supportive family for coming and celebrating with us. Cole was totally spoiled with gifts; books, guns, clothes, t-ball set, mitt/ball, baseball bank, backpack, ironman car, bow and arrows, sling shot, knight set, bubble gun, dinosaurs, balls, golf clubs, and transformers.

I can’t believe Hallie and Brighton turned 2 on Saturday. They are growing up so fast! We had a family luau in celebration, which thanks to supportive family was cute and fun! The girls were able to wear their grass skirts that grandma Lori brought from Hawaii. We played hot coconut (like hot potato) and musical towels. The girls’ cakes were hula dolls – they took turns blowing out the candles. They were so proud of their cakes! I also made pina colada cupcakes and pinapple slush that turned out really yummy if I may say so myself. The girls loved all their presents (trikes, backpacks, dress up shoes, phones (shomes as Brighton calls them), bubbles, pinwheels, candy, bike horns, clothes, umbrellas, swimsuit cover ups, babies, and castle tent)… thank you to each of you! We are so blessed to have such great family!

Here’s a link to the smilebox my mom made!