Random January Fun

Omar and Helaman came up with a plan to plant seeds in 2-liter bottles. So of course Isaiah wanted to do it too! We went to home Depot and they picked out their seeds while dad was at work. Helaman really wanted to plant a tree, or red roses. Since neither of those grow well from seeds he settled on big sunflower seeds. Isaiah is super excited to grow peas. He says he loves peas? I have never seen him love peas, including that night for dinner, but he thinks he does!

After dinner Omar brought in a tray of potting soil and they had a blast filling their bottles and planting the seeds. Nothing has germinated yet, but it's only been 12 days, so we'll have to keep hoping... Omar is the cutest of all about the whole thing. He comes home every day after work and checks on the seeds. I sure love that guy!

I took the boys hiking during Omar's Taco Bell Thursday lunch a week ago. I was feeling stir crazy, and the weather was beautiful! They were really excited to go and loved finding cacti, mines, and crazy crumbling abandoned buildings. Helaman loves to call upside down triangles with rounded corners "u-tovers", and there were lots of trail markings with those. He was thrilled every time we saw one. And for every u-tover we passed we had to find one cactus or we couldn't turn around.

We hiked a lot further than we should have, they didn't want to turn around, but I knew they were going to be too tired! I ended up carrying Isaiah a lot of the way back to the car. The trail we were on wound around the mountain, but they had run out of patience by the end and we cross-countried it as the crow would walk if carrying a baby and being patient with a straggling preschooler. We still had lots of fun, and even found a non-fenced mine that freaked me right out with my two crazies!

We made it with no mishaps all the way to the almost end, when Helaman biffed it, back on the wide nice trail, when he lost his balance turning around. Sounds like something I would do! I was really glad to have a first-aid kit in the back of my car. Not that he was very hurt. It was just really comforting to him (and me) that I had everything under control and the tools ready to comfort and heal. As soon as we broke out the band-aids the world was right again. And they still remember it as a fun activity they are dying to do again. Well, that and the Subway helped. Helaman loves Subway, Omar does not. So they were excited to go because we never do.

I love hanging out with my boys and that we can go hiking in the desert in the winter. (And only in the winter! I'm scared to death of rattlesnakes.)



And finally, this is what happens to the cute little train set when mom leaves and the boys play. Look close, those are machine guns. And yes, they shot them! Scary right?