Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day! To all the beautiful women I know!

I had Rett take a quick picture of us on me and my boys. I'm so grateful to have these three little rascals as my own. They are such a blessing in my life. They make me laugh and cry, they teach me about so much. They make me think and ponder why things are the way they are. They make me a better person. And I am so grateful to be their mother! I love you boys!

Heaven on Earth

Crew and Drake...Sleeping on the top bunk bed together!

So, we have had a rough couple of weeks with fighting. I don't know what is going on. I think Drake is finally figuring out that he has some agency and can choose to do what he wants. He's kind of been a stinker with me. And he's definitely fought more with Crew lately. The last couple of weeks has been really bad. And I can't figure out how to help it not happen, so I usually just let them fight it out and figure it out on their own. And they usually do. But it's not always peaceful in our home. I try to teach them how important brothers are and to be kind to each other. But again, they really just make their own choices. And punishments don't always keep things from happening the next time. Sometimes I feel like I live in a war zone! They can go from playing great, to major fights, and back in twenty minutes or less! Name calling is often. And not giving in because they want to play something their way is a big problem. I know they love each other, but remembering to show it has become more difficult as they've grown. 

So, late last night, when they should have been asleep, and instead were on the top bunk, I felt a little bit of Heaven on Earth! Crew was teaching Drake about addition with two digit numbers. Specifically tens, twenties, and so on. It was so cute. I couldn't break up the sweetness that was going on. And even cuter, was that they ended up both sleeping on the twin sized top bunk bed. I had to sneak in for a picture this morning. I love it when they are happily getting along. It makes my heart melt. I really want them to be friends and learn to be kind. I want them to know that they are more important than any friends at school, than getting their own way, or than stuff. But that's taking time to learn. But little victories like last night help make it all bearable. Honestly, the small bits of peace in our home are huge moments for me! They really can be sweet and show each other brotherly love! Even if it is few and far between! I sure love those two big boys!

This is Zink in Texas. Our trainer took the picture. Isn't it beautiful? The blue bonnets are all over down in Texas right now (Or recently when they were there). I was so glad to see this cute picture of Zink. And so grateful to her for taking the time to take the picture and share it with us. Zink came home last weekend and is doing great. Rett is excited to get started on the circuit with him. He's getting to the point where he will be very competitive with the older dogs. And we are excited to see his results this year.

Easter

We had a good Easter. The boys had lots of fun dying eggs. And we had some fun little breakfasts over the weekend. I tried to get a picture of the boys on Easter Sunday morning before church. And I decided it was nicer today, so the top picture was actually taken today. I love my handsome boys. They look so sharp on Sundays. 

Happy Birthday Crew!

Crew turned 7 this week! It's crazy. Sometimes it feels like he was just born! I can't believe we have a 7 year old. And to think, he has one short year and then he'll be baptised! Wow. 

For his birthday, all he REALLY wanted was a sweat head band for basketball. It was a small request, so we made it happen! He is very into basketball these days. It's his passion. Really, all sports are exciting to him. And he's quite the little athlete. But he is a really good basketball player. So he had another basketball cake, just like last year. But this year, he's discovered his favorite treats are Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Reese's Pieces. So we made the cake with Reese's Pieces for him. And boy was it yummy! Crew had his grandparents come and we had a very nice little birthday party. He was so excited. He'd been counting down the days for a while. And that morning he woke up and was singing himself Happy Birthday! He had a special spotlight at school. And all of us, even Dad, were there. We read a chapter of his favorite book, about basketball players and Labron James. And we shared his favorite treat, Reese's Cups, with his class. We were supposed to have pictures too, but our tablet froze up, so it was a no go on those. But we were still happy that we could all be there to spend a minute with him during his school day. He asked if he could have something special for lunch that day, so we made his favorite, egg salad sandwich, and gave him a few extra treats in his lunch box, and then wrapped each lunch item up. It was a little silly, but I think he liked it. For his BBQ dinner, when we asked him what he wanted to eat, he said eggs. Because he really loves eggs. Strange, I know. Eggs and oatmeal are honestly his favorite foods. Crazy boy. And I guess we should be glad, because they are pretty healthy favorites! We told him we could do deviled eggs, but not oatmeal, and that he needed to choose a main dish as well. So he settled on hamburgers, hotdogs, beans, eggs, french fries, and chips. It was way more food than any of us needed. But it was good fun. 

We are so grateful for Crew. He is such a good kid. He is a great friend. He is a good big brother and helper at home. He is always excited to be able to wear shorts and play outside. He is so nice to everyone around him. And he has an excitement about life that is contagious. We love our little Cruiser Bruiser, and we are so glad he's a part of our little family! HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY CREW! Never forget how much your Dad, Mom, and Brothers love you!

Spring Break

We went on a very spur of the moment LONG road trip with the family last week for Spring Break. We have always wanted to go back to Rett's mission area in Ohio and Kentucky, and haven't made the trip. That desire, coupled with Spring Break and a dog box to buy helped us decide to go ahead and make the trip. Kentucky is also where my Dad served his mission so we liked that thought too. And we are so glad we decided to make the trip. It was wonderful! And the boys did so much better than we ever thought they would for the VERY LONG drive!

We left Friday right after Rett got off work, and drove through the night. We made it to Kansas City, Missouri Saturday morning and stopped to visit some church history sites.

First we stopped at Adam-ondi-Ahman. This is near Jameson, Missouri. It is a historic site that is where Adam and Eve lived after being kicked out of the Garden of Eden. It was a neat little place to visit. And I am sure, with most of the places we saw, would be beautiful given another month or so. A lot of what we saw was still coming out of the winter with not much color or growth going on. But it was a good little place to let the boys get out and run after being in the truck all night long.

This is a little store in Far West, Missouri. It was a cute little store. 

Next, was a stop in Far West where the corner stones of the temple were laid by the Saints. It was a really neat site. Rett and I enjoyed thinking about how we had never been in the same place as Joseph Smith would have been in. The boys didn't really comprehend a lot of the significance of these stops, but were glad to be out of the truck and running around.

Our next stop was Liberty Jail where Joseph Smith was imprisoned. It was a really cool historic site and visitors center. They had a neat little program and we were so glad we made this stop. It was neat to learn about the history there and we really enjoyed this stop on the trip.

We had really hoped to see more temples on our trip, but adding much of any time out of the way seemed a lot to ask for the boys. The Kansas City, Missouri Temple was right on our drive though, so we were able to make a quick stop and take a picture.

After staying in Kansas City, Missouri Saturday, we made the rest of the drive to Kentucky. We stayed in Louisville on Sunday night and started another round of sight seeing.

First stop was the Louisville Slugger Museum, where baseball bats are made. This was a neat little tour and museum. Although Crew and Drake aren't super into baseball, they still liked this stop. We learned lots about how baseball bats are made. We got the little bats they give you at the end of the visit and we are lucky Dad didn't throw them out the window. We learned our lesson about letting the boys have them in the cab and they went into the back not too much later!

Monday we also visited Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby where we were able to go on a tour of Churchill Downs and visit the Kentucky Derby Museum. This was also a really fun visit. We were amazed to learn that only cash is used for wagering and that a ton of money is circulated on that day.  I can't remember the figure, but it is A LOT! The horse we were able to see and pet was a resident thoroughbred who is a retired companion pony. The statue in front of Churchill Downs is the famous Barbaro, who was buried there. 

What would a Sage family trip be without SOMETHING that had to do with dogs....Well, Rett snuck in this little purchase that he's been wanting for a very long time. And when we found it online and it was right where we'd be visiting he just couldn't pass it up! It was a great deal. Now the dogs have a safer, insulated ride in the truck! 

This was my favorite part of the trip. We got to stay and visit with Rick and Connie. Rett met Connie on his mission while tracting. He knocked on her door and started teaching her about Jesus Christ. She joined the church and was baptised. We kept in touch with her through the years. We were better at it before kids came along. She even came to our wedding. We think of her every year at Christmas when we use the beautiful Christmas Tree Skirt she made us for our wedding. And we surprised her with Whit, who she didn't even know existed because we are such slackers! She graciously opened her home to us and spent the day at Cincinnati Zoo with us on Tuesday. It was so wonderful to see her and her family. And we were so blessed to be able to spend some time with her. The zoo was fun, and was one of the things Drake so wanted to do.

Boys packed in the back seat. Whit did great and surprised us all. He did lots of sleeping and playing with his brothers. The big boys were busy with their technology. They watched lots of movies, listened to music, played games, and entertained themselves really well. We even learned about geography! While on our trip we got to drive from Idaho, through Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and to Kentucky and Ohio. AND BACK! When we got home we'd put over 3900 miles on the truck! We got to see a lot of neat things and places.

 

I loved these bridges. They were super cool looking! I think there were two that looked like this, one in St. Louis and the other one somewhere near that.

 

This was as close as we got to the St. Louis Gateway Arch. We were on the road, so the pictures not the greatest, but we took one anyway, because we saw it!

 

 

Again, if it had been a month or so later, I can only  imagine how amazingly beautiful it would have been. These rock walls were all over near Paris, Kentucky. They were really neat. And the rolling hills filled with horses were amazing. That's one of the things Rett really wanted to do was visit a horse stable where he'd done some service on his mission. We tried looking before we left and didn't find out until it was too late that you needed reservations to get a tour. But it was really neat land to drive through and see anyway.

 

Another thing Rett really wanted to do was go to a Cincinnati Red's baseball game. We happened to be there right in time for the season opening night game. It was a little wet. And the game was delayed two hours and forty minutes! Of which we were there waiting the entire time! But they finally started the game at almost 10pm and we did pretty well for having the boys up that late. By the sixth inning it was still 0-0 so we headed for our hotel, but we did learn the next morning that the Red's won 1-0. And the rest of the family got to attend our first Major League game! The boys did fall asleep at a couple of different times before we left. But they had a good time. And Whit actually slept through the entire thing! Including the long delay, the noisy fireworks, and loud crowds. And since it was the first night game of the season we got to enjoy some beautiful fireworks. Drake didn't let us down with his obsession of mascots, so we had to get a picture with one of the Reds Heads. We bought the boys a helmet full of nachos that were way too much money, but super fun to eat! We also hit a sporting goods store before the game and had to get everyone a Reds hat.

 

 

 

 

All in all, the trip went as well as could have been expected. We were able to have a great time and make lots of great memories. The traveling and weather was great. The drive wasn't too bad. What would a road trip with kids be without someone getting sick. Crew didn't let us down there and through Missouri on the way home got sick to his stomach. Lucky Mom and Dad got to put our parenting love to work cleaning Crew and the truck up to hit the road again. We drove through the night Saturday too and made it home about 2am. And once again, kids were up bright and early! Sleeps overrated right?

 

We so enjoyed the church history sites, where we were able to strengthen our testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and have a greater appreciation for some of what the early Saints went through. We also got to help the boys see how much fun it could be to serve a mission someday and to see the joy that Rett was able to help bring to Connie by sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with her. We were so blessed to be able to see so many fun things, get to spend our spring break on a fun trip, get to visit Connie, and were very blessed to make it there and back without any car trouble or accidents. What a fun time!