Breakfast with Brooke

 

We had so much fun getting together with Will's Brooke and her fiance for breakfast the other day.  I am always grateful for our relationship and we love to see them.  The boys just adore them and just chatter away with them about everything.  It warms my heart to know that both of my boys have a relationship with their birth mothers.  They know they are loved and wanted and that is so important to us.  Having an open adoption is truly something we treasure and one of the best things we have experienced.  There is nothing like it and we are grateful for all of the extra love our boys have in their lives.

Ben's Birthday Celebrations

 

It's hard to believe our little guy is two!  I feel like the years just keep going faster and faster! I don't know what I would do with out this sweet and sassy little boy.  He makes me laugh all the time and he gives the best hugs.  He has brought so much joy to our family and I am so grateful for the relationship he and Will have.  They love like brothers in every way.

The day of Ben's birthday ended up being rainy so instead of going to the discovery park like we had planned, we decided to open presents early and just play.  Ben has wanted a back pack since he has seen Will taking one to school, so he was so excited for his new shark back pack and wears it all the time.

He enjoyed his new t-ball set and thinks it is great fun to be able to whack something as hard as he can.

And Mom and Dad enjoyed the new doodle pad that just uses water so there is no mess ha ha!

Even though it was a bit more of a low key day than we had planned, we had fun celebrating and playing together.

A couple days later we had family over to help us celebrate.  Ben had fun eating his cake and ice cream with Lilly and Trevor.  We love that he has cousins so close in age to him.

Then it was time for the best part! Opening presents! Ben knew just what to do and was so excited about each thing that he got.  Spending time with family and celebrating is so important to us.  We love to all get together.

Labor Day 2020

 

We had such a fun Labor Day playing with cousins!  We took the boys to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point.  It had been a while since we had taken Will there, and Ben had never gone.  It was so cute to hear Ben's giggles every time he saw an animal.  He loved every minute and still likes to bring up when he saw them squeeze milk out of a cow and how he saw a horse pee...  "a lot!" as he would say ha ha!

Their favorite part was the pony rides.  They were all smiles the whole time they were on their ponies.  That is my favorite part.  It is pure magic to me to see their joy.

They also had so much fun feeding the animals.The pecking of the chickens was quite entertaining to them.

And the goats tongues on their hands made them laugh and laugh.  I think we spent more time feeding the goats than anything else.

And of course spending time with cousins is the best!  The boys are so lucky that they both have cousins close to them in age.  It is so sweet to watch their little relationships and how much they love to see each other.

I'm so grateful for the memories we are able to make together.  I truly hope the boys look back on their childhood with fondness.  We sure love our little guys.

Swimming Lessons

 

The boys had so much fun doing swim lessons this year.  It was Will's first year being in a class without me, and Ben's first year going to swimming lessons.  It was amazing to watch them grow and learn new things.  Will loved jumping off the edge into the deep end and he learned how to swim a couple lengths on his stomach and his back (with help).  Ben got to do the mommy and me class with me and he learned to float on his stomach and his back and blow bubbles in the water.  It is so fun to see them progress.

But of course their very favorite part of swimming lessons was slide day!

Ben's Birthday Celebration with his Birth Family

 

This is a post that is extra close to my heart.  We were able to celebrate Ben's second birthday with his birth family and it was beautiful and wonderful and so incredibly special.  These wonderful people mean so much to us.  It is hard to put into words all of the feelings I have about this, but having an open adoption is one of the most precious things to us and we value, appreciate, and love them so much. I can't even say how happy I am that my boys will know their birth families and be able to have a relationship with them.  That is incredibly important to us.

Every year for my boy's  birthday I make them a cake with whatever they want on it. This is something my Mom did for me and I love that I can pass this tradition on to my kids.

It was a special experience to have everyone gathered around to sing to Ben.  He was absolutely beaming.

Afterwards, Ben opened presents, which of course is the most exciting part.  He loved his new toys and had the best evening!

Reservoir 2020

 

We took the boys to go play in the reservoir. The water was freezing but the fun made it totally worth it! 

The boys are lucky to have a fun and silly Dad to play with.  He keeps the fun going!

Ben's favorite part was filling his bucket with water, digging in the sand, and floating in the water.

Will had fun splashing and running through the water and riding on his whale.  It was a wonderful and relaxing end to our week.  

Will's First Day of Preschool

 

Will has been so excited for his first day of preschool.  I can hardly believe he is old enough to be going.  He is such an outgoing and friendly kid, that even though he didn't know anyone in his class, he had already made a friend his very first day.

I am so excited to see him learn and grow.  This little guy is going to do great things!

Dinosaur Park

 

We took the boys to see the dinosaur park up in Ogden and boy were they awed by all of the big dinosaurs.

Grandma and Grandpa meet us there so that made the trip extra special.  The boys were so excited to spend some time with their grandparents.  They just wanted to make sure that grandma and grandpa saw everything and they wanted to hold hands with them and have their full and undivided attention.

Will loved looking at all of the fossils as well as the amazing collection of rocks they had.  He is so interested in rocks and has his own collection going, so it was fun for him to see some really big gems.

Ben really enjoyed all of the big statues they had.  He was quite impressed with how big dinosaurs were.  In one part of the park they had dinosaurs that would move and roar.  Ben could have probably stood there looking at them all day.  He was enamored with them.  It was quite cute.  I love going on adventures with these boys!

Fishing

 

We took the boys fishing for the first time and it was so much fun!  I've never really been fishing so I didn't really know what to expect, but we had a great time.

Ben was the first to catch a fish.  He was pretty proud. 

Will was close behind him though.  He was so happy he caught one, and even more happy that he got to hold the fish afterwards.  I love their happy smiles.  There is nothing better than seeing their joy!

Fossil Hunting

 

We took the boys up the canyon to go hunting for fossils and boy did they love playing in the rocks and the dirt.  We even found a few fossilized shells.  Will felt like a real paleontologist.  He was so proud of every fossil we found.

Ben just enjoyed digging and picking up rocks.  He wasn't too worried about finding fossils.  He just loved that he got to use Daddy's shovel!

Will filled up his bucket with fossils.  He is so happy with his collection.  He also loved picking up all of the big sticks he could find and swinging them around like swords.  Such a boy.

It was amazing to spend some time together as a family and just have some fun!

After our fossil expedition we stopped and had a picnic.  The boys were thrilled to be able to eat outside.

Afterwards, the boys played in the dirt for a bit more and got really dirty.

I thought it was pretty cute and kind of incredible how dirty they got.  I guess they just wanted to prove they really did go play in the mountains.  I love our family time.