A Day Out With Thomas - May 23rd

We thought this train ride was expensive, but it has paid dividends for many months afterwards. Nearly every day Preston comes up to me or Doug and says, "We rode on Thomas today." We talk to him about it and he is always very excited. It was well worth the money paid for the happiness it created. Paige is shown here enjoying the last of a huge puff of cotton candy.

The train ride lasted about 25 minutes. We saw a lot of people looking out their windows as we puffed by their homes showing their kids the train. Thomas was at the front end of the train for show and another engine was at the back and actually pulled the train, but the kids don't need to know that. As long as they've seen Thomas attached to the train, as far as they're concerned they're 'Riding on Thomas'.

Preston sat with his face against the glass enjoying every bit of his ride.

After our ride we were able to go and climb on other trains that were in the yard.

There was a booth set up with all kinds of Thomas toys to play with. This was a popular attraction. Preston got upset that another kid was already playing with the Thomas train, so he found this boxcar that looked like the one we rode and he was thrilled with it. Even after Thomas was available (because mommy watched the little boy who was playing with it closely and when he had to go potty, mommy nabbed Thomas), Preston wanted the boxcar - and after all that watchful work!

Preston wanted to go around and around the table with his boxcar. He didn't care who was in his way. Adults move and are understanding, but never mind the little baby who couldn't walk yet. Yes, Preston tried to push her out of the way too. Her grandma picked her up when Preston came around and put her back when he went through. It's nice when people understand and help the situation instead of getting upset.

A long day for dad.

Paige spent a lot of time building the perfect Thomas train car. She had a good share of the pieces by the time she was done.

She's very proud of her work.

Bye bye, Thomas. We love you!

Park City

We took a two night trip to Park City to listen to a time share presentation. I know, we're idiots! And it was really fun up until the presentation. The girl was nice and friendly until we made it clear we weren't interested. Then all of a sudden she didn't seem to like us much anymore. I'm sorry, but I just hadn't planned on coming up to stay at this 5-star hotel only to be told we would be going back down to the Holiday Inn until our presentation the next day. I think I'll go ahead and keep my $25,000 instead of getting a nice luxurious trip every other year. Yeah, what a bargain.

So here is proof of our trip. It's just us with a different background. But as always, the kids are so cute. And our friends Royce & Danielle and their kids came up to stay with us on the second night. We had a great time with them. Unfortunately, we had already put the camera away. Sorry Royce and Nano.

Paige found this hat at Old Navy and begged us to get it. We finally relented and she has worn it quite a bit since. She likes it flipped down and she looks so cute in it. Thumbs up, dude!

The face of a child says it all ...

... especially the mouth part of the face. Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy

Sad Preston

Happy Preston (I personally think happy Preston is adorable)

Anyone up for a swim?

Paige loves this puffy swim outfit we got from Teresa. She's gearing up for summer with her goggles and swim outfit. I hope you enjoy her classy look as much as I did when I ran and grabbed the camera to 'capture the moment.'

Aside from Paige's demon eyes, this is a great example of the kids playing together. Paige coaxed Preston into putting on the other swim outfit and they ran around the room like crazy kids for a while. This is, again, a great representation of Preston's devious personality. You can see he's just about ready to pounce on Paige. Awwww, and she's having so much fun.

Will you color with me?

I'm sure you notice at certain times that all of a sudden your child changes in dramatic ways. This has been the case with Paige recently. She got a more simple color book and a big pack of crayons for Easter and has gone to town on coloring. She has suddenly gotten much better at staying in the lines and choosing appropriate colors and is much more interested in producing a quality picture. She picked out a few of her favorite ones to share with you.This blue bunny is Paige's favorite picture. She colors a lot of her pictures blue. She really likes that color. And she really loves bunnies. She has a white bunny that she got for Easter and named 'Pop'. Pop goes everywhere with Paige. It is pictured in one of my earlier posts.Paige calls this one 'Jumpy Squirrel'. It's inspired by the squirrel by the same name on Curious George.We are going on a Day out with Thomas on May 22nd. The kids get to ride the Heber Creeper (decked out to look like Thomas) and meet Sir Topham Hatt, etc. Paige colored this picture of Thomas for Preston while looking at an original Thomas and she did it with colored pencils, which is harder to do than coloring with crayons. It's pretty accurate. They are both very excited for the trip.And of course I have to share some of mine. I also enjoy coloring. These easy pictures are fun and Paige loves when I color with her.

Book Tag

This is what you do:

1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog
5. Tag 5 people

Here's mine: Life Everlasting, by Duane Crowther

"This distinction is made between the doctrine of the actual resurrection and translation: translation obtains deliverance from the tortures and sufferings of the body, but their existence will prolong as to the labors and toils of the ministry, before they can enter into so great a rest and glory... (partial quote by Joseph Smith)

I don't know a lot of people who blog, so I'll tag Cathy, Lisa, Dixie and Michelle Edvik (that's 4).

Pretty Paige

On Sunday the kids were sitting together playing the piano. I noticed Preston was looking intensely at Paige's hair. He reached up and touched her hair softly and then looked back at the piano. Doug and I looked at each other wondering what he was doing. Normally he likes to pull Paige's hair. He turned back to her and said, "Your hair pretty, Paige."