I took a few days off in May to have a little mini-stay-cation with the family. It was really a lot of fun. First, we got to take advantage of the gift membership to the Treehouse Museum that my mother gave me for Mother's Day. What a nice treat. Noah and Tayton both loved going there. There's something for everyone. . . chess, knights, blocks, trains, music, reading. It's very educational, yet very fun as well. A very enjoyable day. 
Then we went for a hike to Waterfall Canyon in Ogden. We took a wrong turn a couple of times, but eventually we ended up going the right direction. By then though, Noah was so tired of walking that we just couldn't go any further. At one point, I even traded and had Jon put Tayton on his shoulders and I put Noah in the backpack. . . oh my goodness. It's really hard hiking uphill with a 40 pound kid on your back. It was still fun though. I haven't been hiking in a long time, sad, I know. 
In the middle of this little stay-cation, the weather turned bad, so we had to curtail some of our other activities, so Jon took us on a trip to IFA to buy my birthday present. . . 4 chickens. 2 Speckled Susex and 2 Americanas. I'm not sure why, but I've wanted chickens for the last 6 years and finally we got some! YEAH!! They are lots of fun, but don't exactly made snuggly pets. Finally got the coop and now they have transitioned from their box in the garage to the coop and the extra run Jon built. Sonny, our dog acts like little mother and hovers over the chickens wherever they go. He just really hates it when they fly around, so he snaps at them, but other than that, he's very gentle and just likes to be close to them. 
The Airshow was held at Hill AFB over Memorial Day weekend. We attended a few hours on Saturday morning before it got rained out, but it was so much fun! Loved every minute of the time we spent there. I got to see the KC-135, C-130 and C-5 that I work on everyday. We also got to see some amazing acts, including some parajumpers, one of which jumped with the American Flag as they sang the National Anthem, it truly brought tears to my eyes and made me so grateful that I get to play a small role in defending our countries freedoms. They also had a Mig-17 and some other acts that were amazing. Too bad it rained us out and we missed the Thunderbirds. It is definitely something I'll put on the to-do list every year they do it. 
For my birthday, Jon brought the kids to my office with a huge bouquet of balloons. So much fun! I hadn't told anyone that I work with that it was my birthday, hoping to fly under the radar, but his entrance ruined it all. It was so much to have them join me for a few moments. They are the best thing in my entire life and I'm so blessed and happy to have each one of them. 
My favorite is each of the fun stages they each go through. Noah now talks my leg off every day and has started telling all sorts of tall tales that I just can't help laugh at. He graduated from preschool for the first time (we'll have 2 more preschool graduations before he starts Kindergarten). He was so shy in front of all those people that he just sat there and wouldn't participate in any of the songs. He doesn't have a problem performing for Jon and I, but he sure does get shy around everyone else. Tayton is in that Messy Marvin stage where she's always just a mess, but very happy about it. She's definitely not shy like Noah, at least not at this point. She's happy to talk to and smile at anyone and everyone that passes her by. We see that everyday when we take her out and random strangers always comment on how happy she is. Too bad I don't have any pictures showing her teeth. She's suddenly getting 5 new ones all at the same time.Here's a little video showing how the kids like to dance. Tayton's got the moves!!! You can hear Noah asking over and over again to see the picture he thinks I took when actually I'm filming it all.
