Pics

A very quiet week

This week was full of all sorts of fun things at home. Yea! We went to storytime at the library, Alex learned to play a new game on the computer and I almost caught up on housework. I have started walking in the mornings with Alex and a few friends. Alex likes getting to ride in the stroller again, since he has to walk if we take his sisters anywhere. He loved going to storytime this week and was disappointed when his stamp washed off in the bath. He got a prize from playing the SuperWhy game on pbskids.org. It was a paper crown that I printed, cut and stapled together for him. He loved it to death; the crown made it through about 36 hours of Alex's enthusiasm before it succombed. A funny, random story: When I walk, I wear work out pants and a t-shirt. I have gray pants and several gray shirts. One morning, I happened to wear my gray pants with a gray shirt. Trust me, this was not a bad attempt at matching. I don't have enough mental energy to care what I wear when I work out. But, Ben thought it was funny and teased me. He called me "Miss Monochromatic." I, of course, told him it didn't matter and that no one would notice. Not two minutes later, Alex came up to me saying, "Mommy, look, you match. See your pants are gray and so is your shirt." Ben thought it was hilarious. Apparently, more people notice my workout clothes than I initially expected.

Salazar Family Reunion

We had a great time visiting Ben’s family in Houston last week. We learned several things on our trip: 1- Flying with kids is no fun! 2- Swimming in Grandma’s pool is our new favorite thing to do. 3- Naomi may take a while to warm up to people, but she’s a doll once she does. 4- Red snapper is Cielle’s new favorite food. 5- Emelia loves to dance, especially when Uncle Ryan is playing his guitar. 6- If you cook pork for a really long time, it tastes really good! Thanks Aunt Lindsay and Aunt Lisa for the awesome food! 7- Alex is almost as good at pool as his Grandpa Salazar. 8- Ben is no longer allowed to play church basketball. He almost agrees with me on this one since recovering from a partially torn Achilles tendon stinks. 9- Flying with kids and an injured husband is no fun! 10- Family reunions are definitely worth flying to!

Let's go camping!

This weekend was Alex's first official Father and Sons camping trip! Ben took Alex to Wal-mart to buy a tent, sleeping bags, tarps, and sleeping pads a few weeks ago. Ever since then, Alex has been talking non-stop about roasting marshmallows in a fire and eating s'mores. He was convinced that the fire would be in the tent, so we had to have a few clarifying conversations.

On Friday, the guys loaded up the car and had a quick pizza dinner before heading out into the great outdoors. According to Ben, Alex thought the fire was too hot and was perfectly happy to let Ben roast the marshmallows. He also thought that the graham crackers were an unnecessary part of the s'mores, so he just ate chocolate and marshmallows.

Sleeping in the tent was fun until about 11:30 pm, when Alex wanted to wake up and help Daddy make the pancake breakfast. Alex didn't really go back to sleep until about 3:30 am and then got up with the sun. He thoroughly enjoyed having pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast. Ben's Elders Quorum committee was in charge of breakfast and, despite a few last minute changes, it was a huge success.

All the fun and food wore the boys out. Everyone took naps on Saturday, except me, of course. I was too busy washing the camp fire smell out clothes! Overall, the camping trip was a great experience and we are already planning next year's adventure.