Our trip to Utah

The Wrenns took a family vacation to Utah for a week to go and visit family. It was a perfect trip. One thing we did differently in our travels this time around was taking it a little slower. Instead of plowing through the 11 hour drive all in one shot, we broke it up and planned to site see a little. We stayed in Saint George and took a detour to Zions National Park! The weather was amazing, we hiked in t shirts and flip flops and admired the beauty of the mountains there. The boys did so great hiking around too. We first did a 2 mile hike to the Emerald pools & back, William hiked the entire way and Zachary did a good portion of it. We all really enjoyed being in the nature there. Then we drove to the Narrows hike, ate a snack & walked for another 20 minutes or so along the river. It was so wonderful to finally experience Zions. Some day We will go back and experience it a little further :)

We made it to Mapleton just in time to celebrate my niece Reanne's 9th birthday with the family. My sister made this chocolate cake that was heaven on a fork & we visited for the rest of the evening. Sunday morning we woke up to dumping snow! What luck! A hike in the warm sun one day, perfect driving conditions, and then fresh powder for Billy to ski on! We went to church with Kristy and her family so William and Grant could go to Primary and Sunbeams together- so cute. Family dinner included My parents, Tracy, Grandma Mills, Aunt Brenda and the Bourgeous family, it was so wonderful to be around so much family. And oh how we have missed those Sunday dinners.

Monday, Billy had a great day of skiing at Sundance with a discounted ticket, free lunch and fresh powder. Couldn't have asked for anything more. Thanks Tracy!

The rest of the week flew by. It never snowed again and the warm sun returned which made driving conditions on our return trip a dream. William played with his cousin Grant everyday, all day, and had the time of his life. They got along so great, it was so fun to watch them. Zachary did his best to keep up and played really well with the boys as well as Reanne and Sierra. It's everything you could hope for when it comes to family :)

I got to hang out with Kristy, my parents and Tracy quite a bit through out the week, it was so nice. We went on a few outings but mostly hung around the house enjoying each others company. I got to see my Grandma's new house she just bought a mile away from my parents home. It was so wonderful to see my Grandma again and know that she is well taken care of and surrounded by family now. I went to Novell on Friday afternoon and met Tracy for her pilates class, it was fun to work out together & it really kicked my booty too.

Billy and I got to escape for an afternoon to Salt Lake City and do a session at the temple! It was so wonderful and such a great experience. Something we have always wanted to do, see the SLC temple and experience it's beauty. What a special place.

It was such a treat all the way around to take this trip. One last escape before baby boy #3 comes and fire season heats up. I wish the family was just a little bit closer together so I could see everyone more often, but I sure enjoy the times I get to be with everyone. Love you family!

(I realized after this post that I am the worst at taking pictures! Hardly took any our entire trip!)

Billys Birthday

Yesterday was Billy's 29th birthday. I made him a yummy lunch to take to work with a little happy birthday note. When he got home I surprised him and made arrangements for us to escape for a couple hours to Cold Springs Tavern for dinner for two :) Dinner was SO GOOD! The tavern has such tasty food. They bring you homemade bread to start off, we ordered artichoke hearts baked in this cream sauce for an appetizer, next salads & chili for Billy and then our dinners. I took about five bites of my blue crab stuffed ravioli & Billy ate half of his baby back ribs, baked potato and veggies before we couldn't eat another bite. (we have full meals for lunch/dinner today!). Our waitress, who happened to be the wife of one of the forest service battalion chiefs, gave us our appetizer for free and sent us home with a big helping of complimentary cobbler! Lucky night. We came home to find our boys having lots of fun with the neighbors, it's so nice when the boys can be babysat at home. That doesn't happen very often living back here. We had a little family party with funfetti cake & homemade chocolate banana ice cream :) tradition continues! Streamers & 12 helium balloons to enjoy all over the house, and some new running clothes for Billy. The birthday boy said it was the perfect day.

The boys and I also made homemade cards and I have to post William's. He did some great water color and then wrote his birthday note all by himself. I told him I would write down a message for Daddy and he said "no Mom, I want to write it all by myself" and he did! (well, i told him which letters to write). Can't believe how fast he is growing up.

Happy birthday Billy- I love you!

A back pack for William

William has been asking me for a long time for a back pack. I would occasionally look in stores, but most all back packs are just huge for a 3 year old. I mentioned to my crafty friend Jill that I wanted to try and sew William a back pack and she printed me a pattern. It's a pattern from made by Rae. Pretty simple looking, cute and functional for a 3 year old. My adult ed sewing class started this month on Monday nights so I took the project with me. I accomplished more than I thought I would the first night seeing as the first step was to use a zipper foot and attach piping and a zipper to my pattern pieces! Never done any of this before (used a zipper foot, piping or zippers) I was impressed with how it all came out! The next class I made the straps and tried to figure out how strap adjusters worked. Once I got all that figured out I sewed the rest at home when the boys went to bed. I think it came out pretty good for my first attempt as something new. William LOVES his back pack and has slept with it in his bed for the past two nights since I finished it. He wore it all day today, and yesterday and it is already filled with lots of "treasures". I think it looks adorable on him and the size is perfect. He told me today that I need to make a matching one for Zachary now :) Hooray for a project complete and a happy boy!

Sweet moment

Tonight while I was singing to the boys in their bed they were quietly laying side by side. Then they rolled to face each other and William asked Zachary "do you want me to hold your hand?". Zachary just nodded as William took his hand and that is how they fell asleep. My heart melted.

I just love my sweet boys.

Boys Room

A couple of weeks ago I decided I was finally going to repaint the boys room. It has always bothered me how I didn't spend enough time on the walls in there prepping, sanding, patching before we sprayed the room with paint 2 and a half years ago. Plus there was pieces of moulding missing and unfinished spots that I never got around to painting. After we repainted our condo in carp to prepare for new tenants, there was a gallon of neutral paint that didn't match on any of the walls, so I took it home and decided it would be the paint for the boys room. The color is almost the same as what was in there before, kinda funny, but I like it. Not sure if I will do something fun like a stripe around the room for an accent eventually, but for now it is done.

I put both of the boys names together on one wall so that I have the wall over the crib for our new addition in a few months. I also wired a light bulb to one of the paper lanterns as the main light in the room, though I need to find a brighter light bulb. Billy finished the wall off with a very simple moulding that is white and complete! I'm happy with the room and I think the boys are too. Although we are already talking about bunk beds.....

FHE

With the start of the new year, we sat down and had a family home evening to set some goals. One of our goals was to be more consistent in holding FHE. With the boys being so young, it wasn't something I made a priority in the past. Now that William is 3 and soaking everything up, with Zachary watching his every move, it's time to make sure we are holding a regular family night. So this last week we pulled out our amazing FHE binder given to us last year by Aunt Tracy and so lovingly made by her and Aunt Kristy! It is such a GREAT binder! So far both lessons have been a huge hit with the boys. We had a lesson on Noah the first week and the boys loved playing animal charades! Even Zachary got into it acting like an elephant and a lizard. William wanted to play until he had the chance to act out every animal in the stack, twice! It was so fun. This last week we had the lesson on David and Goliath and of course the favorite was chucking marshmallows at Goliath for like 20 minutes. Boy do the boys have good arms and pretty darn good aim too. It has been a wonderful addition to our weekly routine so far and I know it will continue to be. I will have to read this post once fire season starts and I have a newborn to remind myself to keep at it :)

Thanks again Tracy & Kristy for the great binder! Our family loves and appreciates all the hard work and many hours that went into it!

Christmas Highlights

I am finally sitting down to write a little bit about our Christmas time. We had a small early Christmas as a family before we left for our trip to Truckee. William was so excited for Christmas this year. We had a chocolate advent calendar that he got to open every day and he would always tell me "Mom, Christmas is a long time". I would agree with him that Christmas is a whole month long. The big thing that he kept asking for was a watch. We would sing Santa Claus is coming to town and even Zachary could "sing" along with a pretty good melody. They both understood that they had to be sooo good if they wanted Santa to bring them what they wanted. William did find a CARS watch in his stocking the night of our family Christmas. He was SO happy and excited! I also noticed that he takes after me in the present opening department :) He would rip his gifts open so fast and then hardly look at them and be on to the next. It made me chuckle.

Zachary really enjoyed ripping the paper off his gifts this year which was so cute to watch. He also got really mad when all the ripping was done because he still wanted to rip more, not because he cared to much about what was inside. Christmas is so fun with little kids.

We went to Truckee for 5 nights to be with Billy's family this year. It was so cold, but there was no snow. Billy actually went golfing the day after Christmas rather than skiing, which I'm sure made him a little sad. It was a good trip. The boys made a ginger bread train one night, William got to watch a lot of trains driving on the hill over and across Donner Lake, we skipped rocks on the ice of the lake and hung out inside a lot. Zachary's highlight was the fact that there was a big black lab in the house. He would hug, kiss & lay on that dog as much as the dog would let him. (which was a lot because she is now 8 years old and lots more mellow than in years past) One night he would only let the dog "hold" him while he drank his bottle of milk. To funny.

I also made Christmas baskets this year for all the girls I visit teach (5) plus one for the Bishop and his family. It was fun to do and even more fun to deliver them. I just love the extra giving during the Christmas season.

We got lots of Christmas cards this year which was really nice, I still have yet to take them off the door- they have been so fun to look at everyday.

We were excited to get home to warm & sunny Santa Barbara after our trip to the Sierras and it has been such a warm and beautiful winter so far. We did not mind coming home to the 77 degrees and even an 85 degree weekend!

Now onto 2012!