{Science Center:: Birmingham}

The closest temple to us is in Birmingham Al which is about 1.5 hours from us. Our super sweet amazing friends the Partridges where heading out of town through Birmingham and offered to watch the boys for us so we could go to the temple together. It was so nice and just what we needed. We loving going to the temple and doing service of our ancestors. It was also AMAZING to see the Partridges. We love them and miss them like crazy.   

The other nice part about our trip down to Birmingham is that our Space and Rocket pass gets us into their Science Center. It is 4 or maybe 5 floors of awesomeness! We spent 4 hours here and didn't even make a dent in the things they have to do. It was so nice to spend the day with daddy and have him join us on an adventure. I think in the future to make temple trips happen one of us will come here with the boys while the other gets to go do a session. 

Ryker and daddy tested a LOT of experiments. 

While I chased after this wild man. 

The water table was a sure hit. They played until they were both soaking wet. 

Grayson is just like me. He LOVES to climb on anything and everything. 

Typical Gray trying to escape while the train was still moving.

I love Ryker's face in the wind tunnel. He had so much fun in this with daddy. 

Here is to hoping I can get the blog caught back up .... I'm only a month behind... AHHHHH! Christmas projects killed me this year. 

{Brothers :: Protective :: "Snow"}

We were playing at a friends house and Grayson was driving the big boys crazy trying to crash their train track and the other little boy hit Gray on the leg and I saw a side of Ryker I have never seen. He YELLED at his friend "hey don't hit my baby!" I was so proud of Ryker for standing up for his baby brother. It was super sweet but we did have a talk about talking nicely to his friends. I'm sure he was thinking "only I can hit my brother". 

It snowed in my kitchen... Oh wait it was just a package..

We got a cookie jar package and it was filled with peanuts and Ryker and Grayson decided it would be fun to dump them out... so since the mess had already been made I let them go to town while I made dinner. They loved it. They were even super helpful in helping me sweet it all up. 

Love these silly monkeys of mine. 

{First Boo Boo :: Stitch}

We had some friends over and my sweet Gray baby was having too much fun playing with the BIG kids and tripped and smacked his head on the edge of the window bench and split his tiny forehead open. It was scary for me. To see my sweet baby in so much pain and I did all I could not to throw up with all of the blood {yeah blood is NOT my thing}. The one good thing about this was that I had another adult here to help me get it all under control. I don't know what I would have done without Kelly. She was so sweet and held my baby so I could run around the house to find the first aid kit {I could not seem to remember where we put it here in our new home}. I am so blessed to have wonderful sisters who are ER nurses and see this kind of stuff all the time and answer the phone on the first call to help tell me what to do {YES I was in shock and didn't know if I needed to take him to the ER}. Thanks Shellie for helping me through this. Hopefully next time I wont be such a wreak. 

I packed the diaper bag full of snacks and books and the nook and headed to the ER not knowing how long we would be there but I was prepared. We were so lucky to get in and out in just over an hour and both boys were so good. 

They shot some kind of drug up Grayson's nose to make him not wiggle while they stitched him up. He was giggling at the DR while she was stitching him up. The thread kept ticking him. 

5 stitches later. 

Daddy gave him a new nickname - stitch.

 I love it. I think it might stick.

{Bike Ride to the Pond :: Grammy & Grandpa}

We have really enjoyed living in a neighborhood and LOVE that it has a pond with ducks. We go for a walk/bike/scooter ride there at least once a week. It is so fun to be able to just walk out the front door and have a fun little adventure for the boys. 

Doing normal things with Grammy and Grandpa make them so even better! These boys LOVED all of the attention and I loved all of the help, being able to sleep in, an excuse to go on new adventures, staying up late playing games, and watching my children's love for the their grandparents grow. We are so blessed to have two sets of grandparents who love us and want to be VERY involved in our lives. It means the WORLD to us! I don't know what we would do with our our wonderful families. 

That face. 

Grayson has just learned how to point and shake his head yes and no. 

Too cute. And he is so proud of himself when he does it. 

This crazy baby was chasing after the ducks like a wild man. If we would have let him I am sure he would have followed them right into the freezing pond.   

First time climbing a tree.

Walking EVERYWHERE! 

{Space & Rocket :: Grammy & Grandpa}

This place is AMAZING.

It was fun to actually be able to read things since there were so many adults we all took turns with the kids and Ryker {much to my surprise} had a blast here {I thought he would be too young}. We got to see a awesome IMax movie about the last trip to the Hubble and it was so fascinating and spiritual. Grammy and I were talking after the movie about how strong the spirit was and I had never felt that while learning about space and thinking about our planet and its creation. God is AMAZING and can create such beautiful things. I can't wait to learn more about space. 

Ryker thought it was cool to climb up the sunroof and play with the HUGE gun. 

Yes I was here. 

We even got to go on some super cool rides. My favorite one was being shot up into the air super high/fast. Ryker loved watching us do it. It was so fun being able to do it with Brady and Grammy stay with the boys. These rockets in the background are all real. 

Ryker was just a bit too short to play in this area and got stuck... this was after I had to climb up the slide to get him down.

Playing on "Mars" 

The fall leaves have been so beautiful here. 

They do a space camp starting in 4th grade I think if we are still living here when Ryker is that old all of the cousins should come and go together. They would all have such a blast!! 

Spending time with Grammy and Grandpa was just what we ALL needed last week.

{it was a sad/hard week at our house}

{Safari Zoo :: Grammy & Grandpa}

Ryker wanted to take Grammy and Grandpa to the Safari Zoo while they were in town. I am glad I thought to take some video... it does this crazy place much more justice than photos.

Grayson was hilarious growling at the animals and going crazy. 

When we walked into this building I thought this HUGE turtle was fake... until his head moved.

{Crunchy Leaves}

Daddy was super awesome and raked all of the leaves in the backyard into a HUGE pile for us to play in. 

We are enjoying the nice fall weather and the millions of crunchy leaves to play in. After Grandpa and Ryker were done playing in the leaves I made them hot coco with marshmallows {a first for Ryker}and now Ryker is hooked and wants coco all the time.