Bubble Bath

Tonight we brought my bubble machine into the bathroom for bath time. Boston had so much fun. We did have to give him a shower after because he was all yucky from the bubble solution. Do you like the crayon on the bathtub walls? Those are snakes done in special bathtub crayons. He loves to draw a continuous line all around the bathtub to make the "snakes".

Safety note: Spencer was in charge of keeping Boston safe while I snapped photos.

P.S. The brown bathtub crayon got thrown away because it was too life-like.

Bubble Wrap

The fireplace guys came today and replaced the face of the gas fireplace (and found a metal teaspoon tucked in a little nook ... who could have done that). Now our house is finally finished. Yeah! They left behind a large sheet of bubble wrap.

Boston jumped on it

ran around with it

popped it

and played peek-a-boo in it!

The joys of bubble wrap!

Crystal Ice Festival Continued

We went yesterday down Green River's main street to watch the ice carvers. There were 9 semi and pro teams carving away with there chain saws and other tools. Fortunatly we made it just a few minutes before the drawing for door prizes. While we waited for the drawing we saw the sculptures; a dragon, a dog floating on a stream of water from the top of a fire hydrant, a buffalo, a cowboy on a bucking bronco, two dancers, and some fish. Then the drawing started and the grand prize winner .... 987677. Spencer won! 6 individually wrapped 8" buffalo salami

... only in Wyoming!!!

So if you're craving Buffalo salami come on over. And next year if you need a break from the SLC smog for President's Day weekend come on up and you can enjoy some fine ice sculpting. Also next year I'll remember to take my camera!!!

I smilin' at you!

Boston loves this shirt because it has a tie "just like daddy." When he sees Spencer in a tie he always asks "go to work?" If the answer is no his next question "go to church?"

Notice also that the shirt says "I'm the Boss" Doubly true!

His latest "trick":

Happy Valentine's Day!

To celebrate Valentine's Day we ate pink chocolate chip heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.

We made popcorn balls and took them to the neighbors. We put them on the doorstep, rang the doorbell and ran. Boston loved it. Then Jackson left a Valentine for Boston. He talked about it for the rest of the evening. It is so much fun to have him start enjoying holidays!

Popcorn Balls
2 cubes of butter/margarine
1/2 C corn syrup
1/2 C sugar
Mix and heat
Boil for 1 min
2 batches of popcorn
3 C mini-marshmallows
mix together
pour butter and sugar mix over popcorn and mix well
let it cool a little and then form

Crystal Ice Festival

Every year Green River has an Ice Festival on President's Day weekend. They have a softball game that they play in snowshoes, craft booths, ice sculptures (including an ice slide) We headed to Green River mid-morning to enjoy the Ice Festival. I read on the internet that the softball game is a big hit and draws a crowd. (I forgot that 20 is a crowd in Green River.) We saw 3 ice sculptures,

a seahorse, some fish and

some eskimos you could put your face in.

We had the ice slide all to ourselves for about 20 minutes. Boston would slide downa nd then run right back to the steps to go again. He loved it.

Spencer could not let him have all the fun. The big constest for ice carving are tomorrow but with church and work we might not be able to see any of that.

He's such a good helper!

The other day Spencer got the clothes out and was getting ready to wash them when he got interrupted. Boston loves to do the "wash wash" so he loaded the clothes. Spencer came back to do the laundry and found Boston starting the washer. He's such a good helper!

So Funny

We were driving down a dirt road. Boston "Daddy Hornk!" We look at each other, cconfused. "Hornk! Daddy" He wanted Spencer to honk the horn.

He calls my grandma and grandpa Heslop "Great Grandma and Grandpa Lips"

When he wants to be picked up "Get myself up."

"Push that button" when he wants you to turn off the computer and pay attention to him

Thank goodness he's so funny because he's also still throwing food, hitting us in the face and changing his mind about everything ("I want a bath." So you get him in the bath. Two minutes later "I want to get out." You get him out, water drained, and then "I want a bath." Followed by kicking and screaming.) Gotta love him!

Rock Hunting Finds

When driving down the freeways or roads you can see fields of what looks like brown rocks but when you get out and look up close you see all kinds of interesting thing. Here are just few of the things we have seen:

fossilized turtle shell

Trona
Green River is the Trona Capital of the World (bet you didn't know we lived in such an important place) Trona is used in detergent, baking soda/powder, glass making and many other things.

Some of the interesting rocks you find among the brown fields of rocks. The picture of course does not do it justice. You can find bright red, yellow, green or purple rocks. Some are smooth as glass others are grainy or crystally.

Moss Agate
Is used in jewelry and some people hunt specifically for this. We have seen many pieces of this. It is smooth and semi-transparent white with flecks of black moss in it. Sorry for the bad photo.

Some possible dinosaur bones. They are cylinder shaped and range in diameter from 2"-1/4" and 1"-4" long. They have a definite center some of which are full of crystal looking material. We have found 20-25 pieces in one area and none anywhere else. We don't know exactly what they are but we are trying to find out.

A definite fossilized bone.
We saw this yesterday on a quick trip to get out of the house. It was lying in a small stream bed. I saw it and said to Spencer, "look a bone". We usually see some sort of animals bones (antelope, rabbit, sheep) when we are out and that's what I thought it was. He picked it up and it was too heavy to be recent. We looked at it closer and it is definitely fossilized bone of some sort.

A possible Indian tool
Spencer has seen rocks shaped like this in a museum recently that were used to straighten arrow shafts or it could possibly have been a hammer.





Besides the rock we usually see a Golden Eagle or two (once we saw 5 in a day), a herd of antelope, and lots of other birds. We are hoping in the summer to find more lizards.

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

My parents came to see us last week. We took them to WWCC (Western Wyoming Community College). They have 4 dinosaur skeletons set up in their halls along with a few large fossils. They also have a room that has hundreds of animals mounts that were donated by a family to the college. It was sort of creepy at first but then it was neat to be able to look at the animals so close. There were some fanged deer in there that at first I thought belonged next to the Jackolope but then I learned that they live in Asia and use their "tusks" for fighting. It was a very educational outing. Boston loved running down the longs halls, climbing up the stairs, riding on the elevator and checking every picture that you took. (see photo with grandma) When we came home he talked about the dinosaurs with sharp teeth on their toes (claws). It was fun to do. We also played games, ate at the restaurant and talked and laughed. It is always nice to have visitors.