Happy Easter!

Though we missed out on my family's big "Rich Family Reunion" this year, we still celebrated! I made Bunny Buns for breakfast and Ty went on an egg hunt in our front yard. I sang in the choir at church, and after church, we went to Sarah and Nick's for Easter dinner. Sarah's parents Chris and Cory were visiting. They were so nice and even gave Ty a soft little stuffed bunny. Ty, of course, loved seeing his cousins again.

Birthday Boy Part 2

On Monday morning (4/14/14), Ty's Grandma Diney flew in. That afternoon we went to the Denver Zoo. The idea was to keep his Train Birthday theme and ride the train there, but we found out neither the train, nor the carousel were running :( We settled for looking at animals. The zoo was almost empty, so we had a great time. We especially liked the elephant, who decided she liked us and put a show on for us. She started by playing with wooden toys from her little pond, then started waving her trunk at us, then came over to use and put her trunk through the fence toward us (but we had a barrier too, so we couldn't touch her). It was pretty neat!

Ty loves his Aunt Aubrey and Grandma Diney

We headed home to celebrate Ty's party that night. The Denzer's joined us for some of Ty's favorite food: Chick Fil A nuggets, fries, watermelon, strawberries, cheese, and olives. Tim had set up two train sets and finished decorating the cake.  After dinner, Ty opened his many presents and we ate some delicious cake. He got a lot of cute clothes, books, puzzles, a train car, a rolley suitcase, a soccer ball, and a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse CD. Ty loves spending time with Aubrey, Grandma, and cousins Seth and Shelby, so I think the party went perfectly for him!

 

 

 
Aubrey had to leave on Tuesday, and on Ty's actual Birthday (Wednesday) we went to the Butterfly Pavilion with Grandma, Sarah, and Shelby.  Besides real butterflies, they had insects, and a fish and water things. Ty liked touching the crab and starfish!  Mommy even got brave and held Rosie, the tarantula.

 

  

 

 

He also got his big present from mom and dad on his birthday, a "Ty-bike!" We just got it off of craigslist, but it is perfect for him. It has a push bar for us. The birthday was complete when this awesome cement truck arrived the next day from Grandma Sheila and Grandpa Tom. Overall, Ty did pretty well! I can't believe he's two!

Birthday Boy Pt 1

 Ty had a lot of support for his second birthday, and the celebrations lasted almost a whole week! Last Friday, Aunt Aubrey flew out for the weekend. We didn't waste any time; we went straight from the airport to the Colorado Railroad Museum. Cousins Sarah and Shelby met us there and the kids LOVED it!

 

 The engine below was the favorite because you could pull a rope and ring the bell up top!

Sarah and Shelby

Ty and Shelby are little buds.

They are just too cute!

 Saturday morning we met Sarah and Nick's family in Denver for breakfast at the Denver Biscuit Co. I guess they started out as a food truck and now share a pizza place for their restaurant. It was fantastic!  We then headed to Seth's soccer game. He did awesome!  And of course, Ty needed to play with his own ball. It was a great start for the birthday boy!

The fans cheering him on

Growing Up

Today is our little Ty's second birthday and he's just growing up and learning too quickly. I'll do a birthday post soon, but here are a few things we have been up to...

Jumping on the trampoline at the Olsen's house. Remember how I said he is learning quickly? Well, we keep him educated.  He now knows all of his colors and loves all sports.

 

 

 

Loves trains (so does his dad)

 

 Last week, we went to the WOW Children's Museum with Luke then had lunch. They both had a great time!

My Run This Morning

So...not exactly a productive post, but I love seeing these cute bunnies when I'm out, especially as Easter is next week. Can you find all 3?

Utah Trip

Tim had the week off for spring break, and since I'm not working much anymore, we planned another trip to Utah to visit family. We didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked, but here are a few.

Ty was pretty good on the drive. He watched a few movies on the dvd player. I love the picture below because he is so tired watching his movie but he's holding an apple and a slice of pepperoni!
Temple Square was our first stop. Ty is starting to recognize temples, so we thought it'd be fun for him to see a "Big Temple." We also walked around the new City Creek Mall and, most importantly, rode the Trax train in the free zone. Ty loved it!
On day two, I contacted my old roommate Megan to get Ty and Will together for a play date. Ty is less than one month older than Will, though Will looks about one year older than Ty. We met at Wheeler Farm, an actual working farm (and it's free!) Of course, the boys were most interested in the tractors.
That night, we went to Tim's cousin Gemma's play Mulan. She did great and came back to Grandma and Grandpa's. Ty was so excited he wouldn't hold still.

 

Above: Ty also liked the goats; Below: Megan and Will

Watching Bunnies. Ty really liked to "hop" like them!

Ty and Gemma

We traveled up north to see Grandparents and Marge and Todd. We all went out for lunch and dragged Tim's Grandma B with us. Ty took care of the driving.

Ty spent the next day with Gma and Gpa Larsen. We went to the mall and rode the train, the carousel, and played on the quarter rides. I feel bad that I didn't get any pictures of the grandparents or the fun we had :( We also went to the Olive Garden with Tim's Utah relatives.

On Friday, we headed down to Santaquin and played with TJ's kids. Jonas and Kate had school, so Hailey and Ty got some quality time together. What cute kids!

Kristen got the bounce house out and even though Ty would NOT go inside, he LOVED being thrown into the little step on the front of it. Look at that smile!

We spent Friday night with my Dad and his new wife, Sheila. Her daughter Chanel and family came over, so Ty had more cousin craziness.

We went on a hike up American Fork Canyon on Saturday morning with this beautiful view (below) then stopped at a new market for some a-maz-ing waffles. Mine had strawberries, salted caramel, and whipped cream.

All the Lotz kids and Ty:

It just so happened that my niece Kate was getting baptized on Saturday, so it worked out perfectly for our trip. We went to her baptism and hung out at TJ and Kristen's. Ben and Kaitlyn even came up.  The baptism was beautiful.

 We woke up early on Sunday morning and drove as far as we could while Ty slept and then stopped in a small town in Wyoming so he could get out and use up some energy. Tim and I tend to travel a lot and I have to say family trips are my favorite. What a great week!