Sweet Glasses!

Mom is very into colors. Not muted, dull, mellow colors, but bright, vivid colors are definitely her first love. This love of color has now crossed over to her reading glasses (and shirts and purses.....see picture below).

Mom needs these glasses to see things on her phone. Hailey just likes that they are pink.

Hailey and Benjamin were all into wearing them around while Mom & Dad were over one night.

Did You Think to Pray?

I noticed that the craziness of getting everyone up and out to school in the morning was having an effect on my remembering to have my morning prayer. I also realized that my children were also forgetting unless I reminded them each night. In order to fix this, I decided that for FHE we were going to talk about prayer and make our own prayer rocks. I know this idea has been used and may sound corny to some, but my kids have never heard of this and I needed to try it. I was grateful that they really got into the idea used their individuality to be creative in this project. Needless to say, it works for me. Each time I see my rock on my nightstand, I remember to stop, pray, and take things a little slower in the morning.

Benjamin really got into painting his rock.

(clockwise from top left): Jordan, Noah, Hailey, Ginger, Taylor and Benjamin

Katie Caron

Katie is our dog that we've had for about 7 years now. She has been the most amazing dog. So much so that sometimes we consider her a family member. We noticed early on that she likes to attack things such as flashlights, blow dryers, laser light pointers, vacuums, etc.

She loves water, so she will watch us take a shower and the kids take a bath (just in case some water flies out to lick up). She "herds" the kids around by grabbing onto the bottom of their pantlegs and pulling at them. Here are a few videos of how kooky she can be.

"Drying" herself off after getting wet from the sprinklers

Attacking Noah's remote control car

We have to close her in a room if we want to vacuum in peace.

There was a sandwich on the table in this video. She would snarl when Jordan came close since he was competition for the food. However, she was torn between protecting the food and wanting to lick his face. Jordan is trying to imitate her here.

Ben playing tug-of-war over his underwear.

Pinewood Derby

We recently had our ward's Pinewood Derby. I was really proud of Noah this year because he had a huge involvement in building of his car. From the initial design, to the final coat of lacquer, Noah was completely immersed in this with Taylor. Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead, so I had to rely on a friend's pictures.

The actual competition was a little crazy. I'm never experienced it run like this, so we were getting a little frustrated, but it was still a lot of fun to watch the excitement.

"The Car"

This race was probably the closest. Believe it or not, Noah's car is on the left and he came in 3rd in this heat.

Hailey and a friend from school.

Noah told me that we needed to cross all of our fingers and then hold hands. He got a little miffed at me because on one particular race I let go a little too early. Guess I should have crossed my fingers better so he would have won the whole thing.

Ben's New Buddy

Benjamin has found a new buddy. My friend Lindsey's little boy Brendan and Ben get along like no other. Usually, and maybe this only happens to me, I find that toddlers aren't usually the best at getting along this well with others. Sharing their own "favorite" toys (and don't they all become their favorite toys when other kids are around?) with someone else is extremely rare.

Lindsey and I have found that we really like to get them together because they entertain each other. We can actually get all kinds of things done.

Eating otterpops after running through the sprinkler.

Noah "The Writer"

Taylor told me that Noah mentioned last week how much he loves to write. I had no idea. I was so proud of this Writing Prompt he did at school that I felt I had to post it.

Do you have a place where you can relax, rest and do things you usually can’t do in public? I do. It is in North Las Vegas, Nevada and in a development called Beazer. It is my home.

I smell my mom making fresh homemade bread, my dad cooking burgers on the grill, the wheat being grinded, and fresh air. What I feel is my mom and dad’s hugs wrapped all around me, I feel relaxed and tired on my big soft bed. I hear peaceful quietness, the phone ringing uncontrollably, and the door opening and closing. Then I see the TV on channel twenty-three, my brothers and sister, my mom and dad, my dog, the sunlight like a blinking light bulb, and the basketball court outside.

Now you can see why home is my favorite place. So what is yours?

Not Too Bright

Okay, I understand I'm not exactly brilliant, but I didn't think this was going to happen. I'd checked our blog months ago to see what reading level we were. I was depressed then, realizing that while all of my family/friends' blogs were at a college+ level, I was sitting at high school.

I checked, rechecked and triple-checked. Maybe I entered the wrong address? Nope, it was correct. Whenever I use spellcheck, there are never any words to correct. I feel like my sentences are usually grammatically correct. What's happened since then? Has hanging out with a 3 year-old every day stunted my mental capacity? I know this shouldn't be the basis for my self-esteem, but it sure is a blow.

I definitely think I need to use this venue to apologize to all of the parents of my 4th and 5th grade students back in the early 90's. I hope I didn't ruin their chances to get into a good college.

Maybe I'll have Taylor start blogging again for us and have each post be a picture and one sentence. That might do the trick. ;)

Father-Son Campout

Taylor and the boys went on our stake's annual Father-Son Campout a few weeks ago. They had so much fun. I always imagine the men and boys roughing it out in the complete desert, getting all griming and dirty. However, when they came home to show me the pictures, I was a little surprised. It looked like a boy's idea of complete heaven.

Sleepy-eyed Benjamin first thing in the morning.

Horny-toad that became the fascination of every little boy there.

Ben was enthralled with feeding the horses there.

Jordan found the shed skin of a rattlesnake. Even though it was neat to see, the mom in me got a little nervous that snakes were even near their campsite.

I love this picture. His whole face seems to be smiling.

Even though I don't have any pictures, Hailey and I had a blast having our own "Girls' Night" here at the house. We ate lots of ice cream, rented some movies and even stayed up until 1 in the morning.

I am so blessed to have my daughter. She is the sweetest, most considerate and adorable little girl (hey...once in a while I need to brag a little).