PINK CABOOSE

Tuesday was a hard day in Colby's life! He woke up on the wrong side of the bed and stayed that way all day. He was having a hard time obeying, and was in trouble because of it. He kept saying that his life was "bored" because he had to obey. I tried to explain that when you obey you are happier and you get to do more fun things, but he just wasn't having it. He finally told me, "it's no fun being a kid if I have to obey your rules. I'm running away!" He got up, put on his jacket and walked out the back door. At that point Cam started crying and telling Colby not to run away. But Colb walked out the door and then out the back gate into the open space behind our house. Cam came running up to me still crying saying "I'm really gonna miss Colby. I wish he didn't run away." So after a few minutes when I couldn't see Colb, I went out to check on him. I could see him about 50 yards up from out house sitting under some bushes! After about 5 minutes he came back to the house and told me that he really was running away and that I needed to leave the back door unlocked because he was going to sneak in at night and sleep in his bed, then he would sneek back out in the morning. I told him I would leave the door unlocked and that he was welcome to sleep in his bed and that he could come back and eat dinner if he wanted to. He said ok, grabbed a water bottle and went back out! In the picture you can see him under the bush! He stayed out there for about 30 minutes until he finally came back in. Cam was so happy he was back he kept telling Colby how much he missed him! Colb told me that he was just home to eat some dinner and then he was going back. I just figured that I would play along and not make a big deal of it. I don't know if it is all six year olds or just mine that is as stubborn as a mule. I really don't know if I can make it through this stage. And I know that there are many more hard stages to come. AHHH!!! I keep thinking to myself, Welcome to being a real parent!!! It's a good thing that the kids make us laugh so much and that we occasionally see their sweet side so that we remember how much we really love them!

Last week it was finally like Spring. Cameron played outside from sun up until sun down. Then on Saturday it rained all day. But after such a long cooped up winter Cam wasn't discouraged by a little rain. He discovered that the worms come up on the grass when it rains. He picked up about 100 earth worms and put them in a big cup with a little dirt. He would come walking up the side walk with a hand full of worms and dump them in the cup. Colby would walk around and point out the worms to Cam, but Colb wouldn't pick them up! That night Cameron begged me to let him keep the worms in the house because they would freeze outside! I tried to explain that the worms always live outside and they don't die. But I caved and let him keep the worms in the house. Them next day those poor worms had to bear the curious mind of a three year old. They were dumped from place to place and picked up and carried around. He played with them all day. That night he left the worms in the Frisbee with very little dirt, so they all died. When Cam discovered that they were dead he just shrugged his shoulders and asked, "when is it going to rain again?" So needless to say that when he woke up this morning and saw that it was snowing, he was really excited to go on another worm hunt!

On Sunday after Stake Conference we went for our usual family drive. The weather was so so so...nice. I think Spring has finally sprung, although I have my fingers crossed becuase this is Denver and the weather changes by the hour. But I hope it lasts for a while. The boys love to get out in this field and look for golf balls. Finding a golf ball is like finding a treasure! On this drive we ended up at a place called Perry Park becuase there are lots of deer. Which is why we go on so many family rides in the first place. There were deer everywhere! The bucks hadn't dropped their horns yet so it was cool to see them so close. If anyone is up for a visit, it is really nice here now. No more snow!!! Yeah for Spring!!!!!

Our last stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico. We didn't get to see much of it except on the drive to the airport. But by this point we were so ready to be home we didn't care. All total we were gone from our kids for 18 days. I look back and can't believe we left them for that long. I think they thought we were never coming back! They were so excited to see us and us them! This trip was the trip of a lifetime and we are so grateful for the opportunity to go. We learned a lot and have lots of great memories! We are already planning for our next trip!

Our second stop was Nice, France. It was one of our favorite places. It was amazingly coloful and so pretty. The history is amazing. We went to a 15th century city called St. Paul de Venche. It is completely walled and still has all of the walls. There are a couple of pictures attached. It was like being in a movie, so cool. And the view we had of the harbor from the boat was great. You only get a view like that from out on the ocean.

December 1, 2006

The first stop on our trip was Rome. WOW, is all I can say. What an amazing place. We are already planning our next trip. Definitely a must see place.

While Mark and I were on our cruise, the boys got to stay in SJ. Since they were there for 3 weeks, we enrolled them in school, and boy did they love it! Colby was in Mrs. Udall's class and thought it was amazing that she was my teacher when I was in 2nd grade. He also had JJ and Dawson in his class. Cameron got to be in Mrs. Raban's preschool class, his first day there he was introducing himself to the class and he said, "my name in Cameron Davis and my mom and dad are going on a cruise, but don't worry, my dad's gonna take me hunting when he gets back!" If that's not Mark's kid!!! They really loved being in SJ for so long, with so much family and friends around the boys were spoiled to death. Colby told G.Pa one day, "here I am stuck in this town without a toys-r-us or a McDonald's." So G.Pa drove them to Springerville to eat at McDonald's, but when the boys saw that there was no playground, they didn't want to go there! I don't claim any responsibility to the spoiledness of these kids! Lets just say that they are used to the city! Mark and I were and still are extremely grateful to everyone who helped with our kids while we were gone. Our trip was great because we didn't worry about the boys.

The Downtown Aquarium is the boys favorite place. Everytime someone comes to visit we have to go there. So far we have been there 6 times. Colby's favorite thing is the sharks, he is full of shark facts. Cam's favorite is the sting rays. He loves to buy fish to feed them. He asked if he could have a sting ray pet, and said that he would keep it in the little fish tank with Colby's beta fish!! I have so many pictures of the Aquarium, these are just the latest with Brant and Kacy in January.

January 2007. Lots of snow and a visit from Brant and Kacy. What a great way to start the New Year!!

When we got back to Colorado in January, we thought we had the wrong place. We knew that we had had a major snow storm, but we had no idea just how much snow there was. Wow was there a lot. The night that we got home we had another major storm that had us literally snowed in for a couple of days. It sure was pretty though. We made the most of our time being snowed in and really enjoyed some good family time. The kids built a huge snow cave and Mark and I got our daily workouts by shoveing snow! Of course we had to live in Denver the year they have their worst winter in 100 years, just our luck!