Calgary

And just like that, we no longer live in Vernal (or at least some of us don't - our house sale going through is taking longer than planned).   I drove up with the boys and we were happy to stop and see Auntie Wilma, and drive to Helena to stay in a hotel (Tracen was thrilled) and then stop to see great-grandma the next day and finally made it to Grandma's (and Papahashi's).  The drive actually went great, except for getting the boys to go to sleep in the hotel.   We were overjoyed to arrive and have been busy every second of the day, or maybe that is just how it feels with by boys who are constantly busy and getting into things.  Tracen keeps finding candy and no one knows where it keeps coming from, he must get it from his Dad.

Rai has enjoyed all the space to explore and the new things to put in his mouth and climb on.

Tracen loves all the attention and made play-doh and went sledding and to the library all in one day (thanks Grandma).

We ventured to the zoo and it was really cold outside, but we had a good time in the nearly empty zoo.  Tracen found the perfect solution to stay warm, his hands in his pockets and his toque over his face, he almost walked into a couple of things with his ET-like walk.  It was a fun day with Grandma, Erika, Candi and us.

All of a sudden Tracen has been really bothered by the smells of the zoo.  He has been to zoo's quite a bit and never had an issue, but he was very bothered this time and plugged his nose the entire time.  I thought he would forget, but he didn't, and even when we went in the gorilla area, he plugged it again.

The zoo keeper was very excited to show Rai Sheldon the tortoise, but Rai wouldn't give him the time of day.

There were no butterflies in the butterfly exhibit, but we did want to check out all the indoor enclosures. This area always makes me want to go to Hawaii.

The boys seems to always start missing Luke a lot around the end  of week 1 without him, and we are just a day away from 2 weeks (props to military wives).  Tracen has actually been doing pretty good, just a couple of emotional outbursts and crying for "mommy's house" or Daddy.  He is always making me laugh though, and we spend most of the day bartering over food and activities.

We have spent a lot of time on Facetime and Luke and I showed up in matching outfits this night.

Grandpa (Papahashi) and Tracen have done this puzzle together a couple of times now.

One of the {many many} perks of being at home is my Dad's new smoking hobby. And this is his preferred outfit, if you can find him.  Ribs, chicken wings, chicken... yum!

 

 

 

We got to have one family dinner with all our Allred family before Grammy and Papa went back to Az for a few weeks.  Tracen loves spending time with all his cousins.  We were just missing Martin in this picture of all the Allred grandkids. Tracen insisted on closing his eyes, or making a funnny face in all the pictures.

This little boy doesn't sleep at night, but he sure does love Papahashi.  Since being away from Luke, he really prefers any father-like figure. 

We spent a couple of days last week with cookies.  We tried out a new icing, and it was so fun, and I don't know why i don't have any pictures of it on here.

Erika teaches violin a couple days a week and Tracen is so intrigued.  When he was a baby he literally cried when she would play the violin, and now he says he wants lessons.