Fun in the sun

People should really get awards for surviving northern mid-west winters I think. It's always a miraculous thing to have REAL spring arrive and realize we've survived another winter up here. It has been a very happy couple of weeks. I have been off work and the weather has been lovey. Harvey LOVES being outside. He doesn't listen that great all the time until I tell him we have to get shoes on so we can go outside. Then he'll sit quietly while I get him ready. Today I went outside with him when we let Rozzi out and when we all came back in, he FREAKED out. Just wanted to go back outside. He has been awesome in the stroller and letting me get a little running in too. It's been fun wearing him out outside and having him pass out for naps or at night :) Wins all around. I've just been snapping pictures of all our recent park adventures and so am just gonna dump them all here. Williston does have a good handful of fun parks which is really awesome. We've also made it to the pool a couple times recently which he also is loving and doing really good running around. I just can't ever take pictures of that. I need a waterproof case :) Anyway - Harvey/park picture overload coming your way...

At the park with the babysitter and family. Those kids LOVE him. 

He always has such a serious face!

Those were some toys another kid had that was nice enough to share. But when it was time to leave them in the sandbox, he wasn't too happy. We have gotten him his own set since. They had their first visit to the sandbox today. (Those pics are later). 

He is enjoying the sun from inside. This is a new favorite spot of his and it's really funny and cute how he nestles himself in like that. 

Also not outside but these pictures are so cute. And he's enjoying his first Popsicle and that's a sunny thing to do :)

He climbed under this rope like ten times and it was so funny to watch. It was pretty low to the ground and he just slithered right on under. 

And another non park "sun" thing photo ;)

These are from today. 

He's gonna have wrinkles by age 5 with how much his eyebrows are always furrowed. I probably take too many pictures of him. I actually wish I could record every second of his life so I can always remember him perfectly every step of the way. He is so much fun! 

Bismarck

We decided to take a last minute, quick, half weekend trip to Bismarck. It had been awhile since we went to the temple and things mostly fell into place to make it happen this weekend. Harv actually did pretty dang good on the drive down. We got down there about 8pm and checked into the hotel.  Harv was all wound up once we got there. I don't think he finally passed out till like 11. We could NOT get him to fall asleep. He was running around up and down the halls finding all the garbage cans and cupboards. And in the room he was a nut. Up on the bed playing. Down on the floor messing with stuff. Then back up bouncing on pillows and us. It was quite entertaining. That's mostly all of what I took pictures of.

And then he slept kind of terribly. As did I. He woke up about 3 and freaked out for awhile. After that he did sleep good till about 8. 

We didn't have a babysitter this trip so Tanner and I had to take turns. He went in the morning and I took Harvey to the pool. He had a lot of fun and there was a little family that had 3 kids swimming and they were just so taken with him. Kept following him around and grabbing his hands and feet etc etc. It was pretty cute. After that we got ready and waited for dad to get back and me to take my turn.

They went to a golf store and the little one was being a bit of a grump since he didn't get much sleep last night and hadn't had a nap. We went to HuHot for lunch after which was delicious. Tanner succumbed and did Asian for me. (And I think he even liked it). Then we wandered Scheel's and Harv was extra ready for a nap so that didn't last too long. And about 2.3 minutes after being in the car this happened...

Hahaha. His little face and little double chin are about the cutest things ever. This was after he woke up. 

So many Harvey pictures :)  It's a rough trip with a baby just to go to the temple. And there were a few times if I wondered if it was worth it. It was. Always is. 

A date

We haven't been the best at having regular dates, and I'm pretty sure I'm the one to blame for that. Well Tanner took things into his own hands this week and told me to get a sitter. So I did. Harvey started SCREAMING as soon as he saw us both walking up the steps. Despite how infrequently it happens, he knows what a babysitter means. I guess he cried for a little bit after we left but was pretty good the rest of the evening. 

We went to dinner at Outlaws. It's a newer restaurant that neither of us had been to and it was delicious. Then the surprise part of the evening was a Willistpn Concert Series concert at the high school. 

I'd never heard of them before. Tanner had. They are a folk trio that has been around since like 1959 (different members throughout the years). They actually were really good and it was a lot of fun!

We were two of MAYBE five people less than 50 :)

It was a great night and made me realize we need to do that more regularly!

Clay pigeons

Tanner got a new shotgun a ways back and we hadn't had a chance to get it dirty until last Saturday. A friend he works with has a mini shooting range set up by his house out of town a ways. There's targets and a table and a clay pigeon thrower. So we went up on morning. Harv napped on the way there which was nice. 

Tanner and Ben got the gun put together and Harv woke up just in time for the action. Although after about 10 minutes he decided he was DONE with wearing earmuffs of having me cover his ears. So instead of being able to run around outside he played in the driver seat of the truck. 

He handled it like a pro. I shot it a couple times too and it is pretty smooth and doesn't kick too bad. My aim wasn't QUITE as accurate as Tanner's. 

This was accidentally taken but I kinda like it. 

Before we locked ourselves in the car he played on Ben's 4-wheeler. He thought it was awesome. 

We keep getting text updates on Gus and he is improving a lot and doing really well. I'm kinda missing the little dude and we are hoping we'll get to go visit in the next couple of weeks. Tanners definitely getting excited for pheasant season. Nice to have a reason to look forward to winter up here!

Easter Week

The Sunday before Easter we decided to let Harv wear the outfit Tanner bought him while he was in Phoenix, since Easter Sunday was conference. Before church we went to the park to try and get a few Easter pictures. He just wanted to move and walk so it was hard to get him to look and it was bright so he was squinty. But I think they are still cute!

 

 

This picture after during church basically sums up how church has been going lately. Nursery is going to be a blessed time...I hope.

Tanner's parents and brother Carson and his wife Nat started driving up our way the next day. They were going to see Rapid City (where Carson served his mission) and Mt. Rushmore. They made it to our house Wednesday afternoon. I unfortunately had to work the whole time they were here though. Wednesday before work I tried to get some dinner made for them, and I only say that because I took this picture of Harvey "helping" and it just kind of cracks me up.

I didn't go in till noon so we had some hanging out time in the morning and they were nice and waited up for me when I got home and we did a lot of gaming, which was really fun. Tanner showed them around Williston a bit, where he worked, and took them to the ARC. He and Carson played golf while Mimi and Papa played with Harvey at the indoor playground. Not a lot of pictures documenting the week. Oops.

 

They left early Saturday morning. Way too quick of a trip, but so much fun having them up here. I forgot how much I LOVE having visitors! Saturday morning Harvey got his Easter "basket". 

Takin' some time away from hoops for the good word.

 

I'm finally doing this blog several weeks later, and it's safe to say he loves it still. Oh man. He is putting stuff through the hoop NON stop. He loves all types of balls. And he flips out whenever he sees basketball hoops anywhere. He gets pretty loud at church seeing the hoops in the gym. Our run this morning he kept pointing out hoops hooked on garages or in yards that I could barely even see. It's funny.
Sunday was Easter and we spent the day hanging out and watching conference. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen making, if I do say so myself, a PRETTY delicious meal. Tanner entertained Harvey with bubbles while I was cooking.

 There was a time he actually helped me too. He always wants me to pick him up when I'm in the kitchen. Not always an effective way to get things done, but I did let him help with dumping some flour in the mixer while making rolls.

And this is kind of a stupid picture to end with, but this was the final product of all the hard work. It really was delicious. 

Anyway - it was a great week. I love my family. And grateful the most to the Savior and His life. I'm not that great about being openly "religious", but I need to be better. It's great to have special holidays where we can focus a little more on His life and resurrection. But sometimes I'm guilty of letting life get in the way and I need to better at focusing on Him every day, and not just when we have holidays. He is the most important thing, after all. I do believe and know that. And that's all I'll leave you with for now. Happy belated Easter :)