A Shocking Resemblence

 With his cute new freckles coming in and his always crazy hair...

 Lately when I look at this face...

 And see him do things like this....

I can't help but picture this....

But oh I love this kid!! Even if he's a menace. 

Happy Birthday Mattix Style

Someone in the Harris house had a birthday. Can you guess who it was?? 

My favorite Mattix Man has officially turned a whopping 5 years old and is pretty dang proud of himself. His birthday wasn't until Monday the 23rd, but we have been celebrating for a few days. I love throwing parties and I love making my boys feel so special on their special day however I can. This year though with just getting back from vacation and all the other family and life stuff going on we decided to celebrate kind of low key. Don't get me wrong we are pretty good at celebrating no matter the circumstances. 

We gathered as many as we could on short notice and had some fun at the park.

 He was spoiled rotten with gifts.

 Even got his very own pitching machine. Which he loves. He can hit balls in the back yard without anyone "good" pitching to him.

 He's been eyeing this pinata at Winco for months. Knowing our luck with pinatas Matt made sure to bring the duct tape to make sure the thing would last through all the beatings.

 Grandma brought the cake. One of her friends made it for him. Mattix and Nana worked hard all morning on the cupcakes.

 After cake and ice cream the boys all got to play with some of Mattix's new baseball toys. We have some pretty good ball players in our family. 

 Oh and what's a party with plenty of water??? Water fight anyone?

 Monday was Mattix's offical birthday. Daddy had to work so we had a Mommy and the boys day. We spent almost 2 hours at Toys R us and afterwards we decided to go across the street and see what the mall's splash pad was like. We were in luck, I had the swim bag packed and ready in the car from the other day when we had a change of plans. So it worked out perfectly and boy did they have fun.

 Every time he did anything biggish the whole day he would stop and ask me if he looked 5 when he did this or that. Made me laugh. He swears he's as big as a 5 year old now. Now if only we could get him out of 3T clothes. :)

 My rebels that decided to use the fountain (with a do not wade sign posted next to it) as a fun kiddie pool. I didn't notice they had run over and climbed in until Mattix was yelling so loudly across the thing, "Mom, Mason come over here and put your feet in. The water is so much warmer over here." Awesome as naughty as it was, I had to laugh and take a picture.

 Sun bathing like a 5 year old.

For dinner we asked him what he wanted for his special dinner. We seriously thought he'd say McDonald's or something like that with a playland. But he asked for Lasagna? Oh well it was such a yummy dinner.

I think we are pretty good at celebrating, don't you? 

Happy birthday Mattix. 

5 years old holds a lot in store for you!!

Surviving Many Miles in the Car

 I thought I was so prepared and knew just what to take to entertain the boys in the car. I was surprised and not surprised by the time we got in the car for the ride home of all the things that worked or didn't work.

 Of course there's the beautiful scenic roads you occasionally see as you drive along. Like this one coming into Hickery Valley, TN. I love when the trees are so thick and seem to hang over the road.

 And of course there's the old trick of driving at night. Total life saver on the way home.

 You won't see this very often either. Driving across the plains of Nebraska at sunrise. Holy Cow can you say picture perfect beauty?

But the rest of the time it's trial and error and a whole lot of noise and craziness. 

I did write this post as I was riding in the car. I wrote it down and swore I would blog it when I got home. Here is the top 5 list of things that worked and things that did not work. In no particular order...

Things that I will not forget next time.

1.  Laffy Taffy - I bought a pound of it at Winco thinking we'd snack on it. Turns out it's not only yummy, but it's entertaining. The boys would be quiet waiting for me to read the jokes. We'd all laugh and than they'd get their candy to eat. Than they'd be quiet, waiting for another joke. It was awesome. (Best joke-How do small children travel?.... In a mini van. It'd be much more funny if we still drove a mini van.)

2.  Who can ever go any long distance without a DVD player?? How did we even travel back in the day?

3.  Kids meal toys and other small new things such as toys from the gumball machines. They are new and fun and if they get lost... Oh well. Temporary entertainment. 

4. Red Solo Cups... Perfect size for their cup holders, they hold crackers, grapes, and other small foods. Life saver. 

5.  Episode movies. They are short enough to not lose their attention and most of them have like 2 hours worth of shows. 

Things that drove me crazy.
1.  Crayons. I need to find a crayon box that will only dispense one crayon at a time and will fit in the a cup holder. With the heat and the mess already in the car we were finding melted crayons all over my car. Not good for the carpet. 

2.  Garbage. There has got to be a better way to get the kids to dispose of garbage in the car. I felt like it was everywhere, but in the garbage bags. 

3.  The constant McDonald's signs that are EVERYWHERE. Reminding my children that they want McDonald's and oh yeah and they are hungry again. 

4.  Styrofoam cups are not a good idea. I thought that because they have them at the hotels with the lid for coffee that it was a good way to let the boys have a drink in the car. My boys thought it was cool to make holes in their cups and we had a big mess on our hands. 

5.  Fruit Snacks... Yes we love them and they are a quick and easy to travel with snack. But they melt and get stuck to everything. Do you know how many I found all over. And we were constantly pulling them off our shoes. Just a mess.

Fun at the Reunion...

 We finally made it to Tennessee for the family reunion. We stayed with everyone in the lodge from Friday to Sunday night and had tons of fun. Oh and we ate sooo good. When we first got there Friday afternoon it was raining but a little rain didn't stop us from having fun. Squirt guns and cousins are the best combo.

 Something we don't normally see in Utah. The yummiest Bluebell ice cream. We celebrated one of Matt's nephew's birthday while we were there. Talk about the coolest party ever. 

 My sexy stud with his Mtn, Dew enjoying the nasty lake water.

 We had plenty of cousins to play with.

 And sand.

 I asked Manning if he was building a sand castle, and he said "no a temple."

 I love that face.

 Matt's cousin Tamera Made the best egg rolls ever and Donna made the best speghetti. We ate so good!!

 With Matt's nephew Shawn on his mission Matt was volunteered to be the family auctioneer. We had some pretty cool stuff in the auction this year. We made just over $1,700 to go towards our next family reunion. 

 Look what I won!! I love it. I have big plans for this. I think it's beautiful. It's real cotton. You can't find that in Utah.

At the lodge we pretty much girl's camp it. Bunk beds spread out all over and we push them together and call it home for a few days. Our bunk we slept on.

My poor little guy. Tried to pick up a wasp and got stung. I'm not sure if it was a real remedy for a sting but it was a yummy distraction. Peanut butter on a sting. 

It was a super long trip to get to Tennessee and even longer when you take a road trip. But it's so worth it. I love Matt's family. It's fun to reconnect and have fun with them. It's just hard to pack up and say goodbye. Good thing for blogs and facebook. Now if only we can get them out to Utah. :)

M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I

 After Kentucky we took a drive down to Mississippi to visit Aunt Sara and spend some time with the family.

 It's so hot and humid there, there is one good way to cool off...

 and that's swimming.

 Oh the critter's you can find in those southern states. This poor guy got his tail tore off.

 You think he's going to hurt himself.

 Uncle Randy and Aunt Sara have their own fishing pond.

 Manning was trying to help Chad.

 Manning and Addison decided to do some fishing of their own.

 The swing is one of our favorite things at Aunt Sara's house.

 Brenda wanted to swing too.

 Mattix was so proud of himself.

 Manning was swinging and moved over to make room for Daddy to come swing with him.

 This worked much better.

Aunt Sara's in-laws are known for their corn mill. They make their very own corn meal. It's made out of popcorn kernals. I love it. It's so yummy. This time we went I finally got to see where it's made. I just wish I could of got a better picture. I thought it was pretty cool.

Oh did I mention the critters in those parts. This little guy Matt's brother found walking across the middle of the road. So he brought him back. Isn't that awesome!?!