LET THE TRIP TO BOISE BEGIN (DAYS 1-3)

3/28 - This morning, Scot's breakfast wish was granted. My dad, the omelet king, worked his magic in the kitchen & cooked up some of the most amazing omelets. Is there an art to omelet making you ask? Yes...yes there is. Ethan, Grampa's omelet understudy, grabbed a stool closeby to learn a trick or two - it was pretty adorable to watch him interacting with Grampa while he was cooking. I'm anxious to see what Ethan learned when we get home. ( ; (NOTE: I rarely get photos of me with both kids because I'm always the one taking the pictures. I probably wouldn't have chosen this particular moment for a pic, but it's life & every morning begins with us looking this way).

Sarah, Ang, Mom and I got to go shopping for a while today - without the kids (well, Brynn joined us...but still). We had a fabulous time together, we only wish Camille was here with us too. Mom went through her mission wardrobe with us this morning before we left, so we're just trying to help her find the last few items she might need while they're in Geneva. She's pretty much set, and as she said herself - she's never had so many new clothes at one time in her entire life. I'm sure that's true, she made a haul.

After a long, fabulous day with the family, things quieted down at Gramma & Grampa's house and I got the kids ready for bed. Ethan asked Gramma if she would play him some music on the "pianyo" -the kid absolutely loves music. He and Gramma went to the piano to play and sing together for a little while, one of my favorite moments of the day to watch. Ethan loved to mimic Gramma playing the piano. So cute. His favorite song of the night - The Still Small Voice. We probably sang that song half a dozen times tonight. I love it. Have I mentioned that I love spending time with my family yet? I love it! I can't wait till Jared & his family get home from their trip, & Camille and her family recover from the flu so they can get here to join us.

3/27 - Today a group of us, that were available to go, went to the Discovery Center of Idaho - a kids (and adults) hands on science center. It's quickly become a favorite spot, so we made sure to add it to the list of must do activities when we visit Boise. The last time we were here, Ethan spent a ton of time in the miniature grocery store section, shopping, scanning and putting food away. Today he only spent a minimal amount of time there...this time he was drawn to the exhibits about how the body works - so maybe he has the Moody medical genes in him afterall. (It's hard to see, but the picture above was Ethan controlling a face - the movement of the mouth, eyes, tongue etc., and the pic of Ethan with me was on a bike that controls the movement of a skeleton next to you, riding the same bike. Ethan loved watching the bones moving & of course the skeleton's hat & sunglasses. - pretty cool).

One of my favorite spots is the bed of nails...most likely because it sounds dangerous (but isn't). Brynn even gave it a go - for safety reasons, she used Aunt Sarah as a spacer. Impressive. ( ;


The other location we parked at for a while was the wall of bubbles. I was taught that you can dip your hand into the bubble liquid and actually put your hand through the bubble wall without it popping. I, of course, didn't learn that by trying it on my own, some worker fella told me that...but still - people passing by thought I was really smart. Fooled them. ( :

My brother Matt and his wife Suzanne hosted the entire clan for pizza tonight - which was both delicious and fun for all of us. Thank you so much!! (picture is of Brynn with Uncle Matt, my oldest brother).

3/26 - We arrived in Boise late last night after what seemed to be a very long flight for Brynn. We decided to take the 9:30 (ish) pm flight because it was a larger airplane, and Ethan was a complete angel the entire time in the airport and throughout the flight. Brynn was an angel until about 10:25 pm when she was exhausted beyond belief, but couldn't close her eyes because she didn't want to miss anything. She still could manage a smile for the flight attendants, who adored her - but she didn't want me to sit down and I didn't want to stay standing up...but she won. I finally was able to get her to sleep about the time they were preparing for our arrival in Boise. We landed about 11:30 pm, got our rental car, our bags, headed to my parents house, got the kids to bed & finally were able to hit the sack around 1 am ourselves. Hmmmm, late flights - not the best, but imagine what a nightmare it would've been if we had been stuck in a car for 8-10 hours today with an additional 4-5 tomorrow (you have to plan extra hours on a roadtrip with small children). The thought alone is painful enough.

Ethan was THRILLED to see his cousins again. They wasted no time picking up where they left off - the moment Angela and her kids arrived at our parents house, the 3 older kids disappeared and only emerged as they needed food & drinks, or help going to the bathroom. It was a sunny day today, but not overly warm - and yet the kids quickly found their way out to one of the hotspots on Gramma & Grampa's backyard playground - the sandbox. This picture is of Ethan & McKinley burying Sage in the sand. They were having a fabulous time...and brought quite a bit of their "fun time" back into the house with them by way of sand. What a fun week this will be! I love to watch all the kids playing together, and it's not often that we get the chance to have all 16 grandkids together...it doesn't get much better than that.

While the other kids played out in the sand, Brynn ate lunch with her cousin River, who is just 6 months older - the closest cousin in age on the Hansen side. How adorable are they?