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.

Pioneer Day 2020

The boys had so much fun doing carnival games on the Fourth of July that we decided to do them again for Pioneer Day, although I did try out a couple of new games.  We started off with a game where I hid an airhead inside a bucket of balls and they had to dig around in the balls to find it.  A very simple game, but it was actually their favorite.  They were so happy to find their surprise in all the balls.

Next we had them throw a ball into a bucket of water.  This was one of their favorite games last time we did the carnival so I had to include it again.

The prize that went along with this game was a box of snaps.  They just love doing snaps and were so excited to go pop them on the driveway.

Our next game was shooting pictures with squirt guns.  It was pretty adorable watching them try to make the shot.

The prize for this game was bubbles.  Can't go wrong with bubbles, they are just so fun for the little ones.

Our last game was the fishing game.  This is always a crowd pleaser.  I remember loving the fishing game when I was a kid so it doesn't surprise me that my boys love it too.

Their prize for this game was Kritter juices.  Will got a polar bear and Ben got an alligator.  They were pretty excited about it!

Later in the day we brought out the bounce house and the boys had an epic water gun fight.  It was pretty fun watching them run around and squirt each other.  

We ended the day with some kid friendly fireworks.  Once again Ben was not a fan of the noise.  He insisted on sitting in my lap and covering his ears.

He did love the parachutes though.  He was pretty happy when Will ran and picked one up for him.

Will is a fan of all things fireworks.  He had such a great time with every one that we did.

This is the happy face of a little boy who had a great day.  I know these sweet kiddos sure made the day great for us!  We love making memories with them.  It is one of our greatest joys.