Suckers....

You know those sweet bonding moments you experience with your kids? Well, Dean has one that he has shared with all of our kiddos. Taybri's served two purposes though... Her first sucker with dad, and a comparison to big sister! We are still wondering who Taybri looks like in our family, she seems to have a little of all of us in her tiny features!

You want me to what?
This is the best day EVER!
Here it comes..... the sour face! Now the next picture is of Brylie's first sucker and the last one is of Taybri. (Yes, we put her in the same outfit on purpose...)

Well, the sour faces have similarities...

Go-Cart Fun/Happy Birthday Brant!

Today is my little brother's birthday! We don't see him much, but whenever we make it home, we sure enjoy playing on the go-cart he left at my parent's house! (Even though it's more fun when he is there, we appreciate him letting us use it when he's not!) Here are a few photos from this fall of the kid's enjoying Brant's go-cart. Thanks for letting us play with it Brant! And Happy Birthday!!!!

Quiet, reserved, Brylie is a maniac on this thing! It's so funny!

Cuteness

Just looking through pictures and waiting for new ones to load.... Answer me this: How can something so naughty be so cute?!

Do You See What I See?

It's part monkey, part human, possesses no fear, and loves to climb! Yup! That's Kayden! Let me show you how he accomplishes such a feat...

(These pictures were all taken from a distance, he didn't know I was taking them until the very end when he yelled, "Mom! Look at me!!" )

"I wonder if I could...."

Toad! Someone tell me how on earth we haven't had stitches or broken bones with this kid, yet!

Flys...

I LOVE the Fall. It is my favorite season, way too short though. The only thing I don't like about Fall, is FLYS! I HATE them (and my kids will tell you- that is not a nice word!). Dean says we get so many of them because of all the corn fields being cut, I say we get them because of his pickup! The flys are always buzzing around that truck... I've learned that those stinkin' flys are a little slow movin' in the morning (I guess the pesky fly and I have something in common...) maybe because it's a little cold, so after breakfast I walk around with my trusty swatter and get out any frustrations I may have that day. I show NO mercy.
Today, I caught one on the table. Which still needed to be wiped down from breakfast (hence the waiting until after breakfast part). After I finished my massacre throughout the house, I went to the sink to get a rag to wipe off the table. Kayden is sitting at the table with his airplane toy near the dead fly. And this is what I hear...
"Thanks for the airplane ride, but I need to go to preschool today. I have a field trip!"
"Your welcome. Where should I land?"
"Oh, I don't care, I'll just walk to my preschool, it's not very far away."
"O.k., make sure you have your seat belt on, we are having a rough landing!"
"Oh No!" There's a fly!"
"Smash it!" sound of his toy hitting the table over and over again...
"I sure got that fly good with my airplane, I'm a good flyer, huh!"
"Yup, you killed it!"

Well, as long as he's not playing with the live ones.... I'll guess I'll let him have his fun!
As a side note, Brylie can catch those buggers with her bare hands! It's amazing!

Chop! Chop!

A few weeks ago Brylie got asked if she wanted to donate her hair to locks of love. A girl in our ward was putting it together for her senior project. So, Brylie thought about it for a long time and finally decided to do it. Niki ( the one doing the project ) called one night saying she was ready to do her's, but wanted Brylie to come do it with her! So off we went. I think it gave Brylie the courage she needed to see Niki go first. She donated 15 inches and Brylie donated 11! They both laughed nervously through the whole thing. I think it's adorable ( on both of them! ).

Brylie's turn!
One pony tail down, one more to go!

Showing off their new do's. Pretty cute. Good job Brylie!!

First Day of School Photos

A little late... Purely for remembrance sake... Aren't they cute?!! I've got a 3rd grader, 1st grader, & preschooler this year!!

Good Luck Teachers!! mwahahahah :)

Torn....

Part I:

Taybri is growing and changing so fast that it is leaving my emotions very torn! It makes me so sad that my new tiny baby is not so new and tiny anymore, but it is great to see her pass those milestones and learn new things. I just have a hard time being excited or wanting to clap when she accomplishes something. I wish she would slow down just a little... I am just mixed with my emotions right now. Here are a few pictures of what she has been up to!

This is how the first few months were spent... Acid Reflux! She loved it as you can tell! Plus the baby acne in this photo! She's going to love looking at this one when she's older!

Loves peekaboo!

Trying out cereal... She loves it! And.. Hil & Marie, you may not recognize it, but she is wearing the outfit you gave me when I had Brylie! One of my favorites!Yup! That's homework she is eating!!
And to top it all off... She is rolling like crazy, crawling a few feet, and she got a tooth last night! She is 5 1/2 months old! I have a video of her crawling and rolling, but blogger does not want to load it for me!! I 'll keep trying! As great as it is, it makes me incredibly sad.... We are just glad she is part of our family!

Part II:

We have been discussing "chores" at our house for the past few YEARS! But it's time to get serious... But, I'm torn... There are a few cleaning OCD's I have that I would rather not let anyone else do. I need to overcome these so I can teach my children valuable life lessons. I am struggling! I feel like I am asking my kids to do things all day, but they are not necessarily assigned chores. They each have one or two things that they are responsible for during the week, but we are talking about a daily chore chart. When I think about it, I would rather just do them- sort of that 'want it done right, do it yourself' attitude... And then there are my excuses "They are at school all day, I don't want to make them come home to homework and chores!" or "It's summer, they are kids, they need to play!" I honestly thought I would love the day my kids could help out around the house, but now I don't want to give up my spotless dishes and toilets.... I know I need to teach them the value of hard work, I'm just torn on how to do it. I understand how crazy I sound, but part of FHE tonight is coming up with a chore chart - Dean is putting is foot down! Sooo. I need some thoughts! Thanks!

Applesauce....

I need to hurry and write this down before I forget...
A few days ago Kayden saw a dead praying mantis outside. So of course he stepped on it.
Kayden: Look! His guts came out!
Me: Gross!
And the wheels began to turn....

During lunch today while eating applesauce:
Kayden: This is sure good applesauce, I love applesauce!
Me: We need to make more applesauce this year.
Kayden: Does applesauce come from praying mantis'?
Me: No.... It comes from apples, why?
Kayden: Because that praying mantis' guts looked like applesauce....

I hope he never grows up....

Our Summer Vacation

Well, since school is about to start, I figured I better get one of our greatest parts of summer posted. We had the chance this year to go to Philmont in Cimmaron, New Mexico. It's the king of boy scout camps! It was amazing!!! We had such a good time and if the opportunity ever presents itself again- you can bet we will be there!
It was a long drive, but so pretty- as we pulled in there was a welcoming committee. The general young men's president and primary president were there to greet us and introduce themselves. Amazing people! There was also this wagon welcoming us into camp.

Then we checked in and got our tent assignment. They had two 'tent cities'. I will have to come back and update this post with actual numbers and such, but I think there were around 600 people total there this week. We were there with two other families from our stake. It was such a neat thing to get to know them better! The kids were always hopping from one tent to another and were soooo happy! We made some great friendships in our little city that I will never forget!

Here is Taybri hanging out inside the tent. The days were nice and warm and the nights were cool. Each tent had one outlet so we could use a fan and heater for her. Taybri was 2 months old when we went and she was the youngest member of Philmont that week. She got a lot of attention for that! She did so good! Brylie, Taybri, and I all slept in one tent and then Dean, Ryman and Kayden in the other.

Here is just one picture of what it looked like there. Not really what I was picturing for New Mexico- it was gorgeous! We were in the mountains. These are some of the buildings we had meetings in and some are historical buildings.

We got to be upclose and personal with the leaders of the Church that were there. This is Sister Wixom and her husband. She is the general primary president. She was always coming to check on Taybri and me. She is the sweetest person you will ever meet!! I can't tell you how many amazing people we met there! The week consisted of lots of classes for everyone! The kids got to do things like pony rides, crafts, air rifle shooting, hiking, tons of fun stuff during the day. We just sent them off everyday and got them back for meals and a few hours of family time here and there. The evenings were filled with programs put on by the staff there. They LOVED it!!! I wish I had pictures of stuff they got to do, but I was never really with their classes. They made some great friends. Dean had a lot of classes and training, and I also had classes and lots of free time for naps, crafts, anything! The classes were amazing. The Spirit was so strong there. I honestly feel like it was a small glimpse of heaven. We were surrounded by such amazing people. I don't think even after a week of cafeteria food and sleeping in tents that we were ready to leave. It is an experience that I will never forget and I hope my children never do.

On our way home, we had a little more time- so we made a stop at Dinosaur Land! Here is a picture someone was nice enough to snap for us looking at the fossils, you can't see it in the picture, but we are up on a ledge and I was totally freaked out! Taybri was such a trooper- it was HOT!

Then we checked out some museums! I think these pictures sort of speak for themselves....

Silly kids! We had a great week together. Everything was perfect! The did so good traveling in the car and we made some great memories. Just sad that it's over!!

Birthday Wishes.....

Today was my birthday! It was a great day filled with bandits, breakfast, phone calls, movies, milkshakes, raspberry jam making, presents 'wrapped' in coolers, Outback Steakhouse, cheesecake, flowers, and pure happiness! I saw something tender this morning though that I thought was a great birthday wish! Check it out but make sure your heart strings are tightened up because it's going to tug!!

More Catch Up: Ryman's Baptism

On July 31st, Ryman decided to be baptized. He actually should have been able to the month before, but we were traveling back from New Mexico ( a post I really need to catch up on! ). We were lucky enough to have a lot of family come again even though they had just made the trip a few months before for Taybri's blessing. It was so nice to have everyone here and I know it made Ryman's day even more special. And because we like to keep things exciting around here... Dean had signed up for a continued ed in Colorado Springs for the same weekend. His flight came into Twin Falls at 5:48 p.m. that day and the baptism started at 6:30. He walked in just in time to get changed and sit down as they got started. So, the only picture I got of them in their white clothes was right before he got baptized - not the best but oh well! Afterwards, Ryman's primary teacher was nice enough to snap another picture in a classroom for us.

I am so happy that Ryman decided to get baptized & confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He is such a smart kid with a good heart. It amazes me how much he already knows about the Gospel. We are very lucky to have him as a part of our family. It was a neat day. We are proud of you Ryman!

A Family of Pig Wrestlers

Tuesday night was pig wrestling at the Jerome fair. Brylie was on a team last year and wanted to do it again. Ryman and Kayden decided to join in on the fun as well. So, they got their teams together and had at it!!! They all did so good!! My friend Alayna said last year that she was going to make them tutus if they did it again, and they turned out so cute! The crowd went crazy when they saw them run out there! Here are some pictures & videos of the night...

Getting out of the pens, covered in mud. Brylie is saying EWWW! And the boy have their heads hung in disappointment. They didn't get their pigs in the barrel, but they all did so good!
The videos aren't the greatest, but you get a sense of what happened!