Song of the Day

Just thought I'd share the song Chase & I made up on our bike ride this morning. We had gone a little too far from home, and he was thirsty, so we wanted to find a faster way back. We took a dirt road, that he ended up saying was the longest road EVER. So in our boredom we came up with this--(To the tune of "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission"):

I hope that we can find a shortcut,

To get us quickly to our house.

We just might see some snakes and lizards,

And gophers, rats, and birds,

And possibly a mouse!!!

Please don't roll your eyes. We were pretty proud of that!!! ;-)

Simple Joys

Years ago I heard a speaker in General Conference counsel parents to give our children "things that money cannot buy." I've had this as one of my (many) mottos for years now, and I hope and pray constantly that after all is said and done, despite this overindulgent world we live in, my children will realize that it's the little things in life--the things that don't cost a lot of money--that are really the most valuable.
Today's "simple joy" for me was a bike ride with my Chaser-Boy. He's my buddy, my right-hand-man, now that everyone else is in school all day. My wonderful hubby fixed my bike tire last night so we could ride the bike with the baby seat on it. So, after we got everyone else off for the day, Chase & I set out for some fun. The first words out of his mouth as we started down the street were, "Yih! That's what I'm talkin' about!!!"
As we rode along we talked about why a sidewalk is called a sidewalk, we thought of words that rhyme, he played "drums" on my back for awhile, we had fun watching lizards run frantically out of bushes as we passed them, and after waving to a stranger we passed he informed me that, "All those persons in cars is a Child of God." He told me he would like to "do some jumps," so I found some bumpy areas of a dirt road to go on =), and we also decided some sprinklers looked good for riding through. Unfortunately, we didn't have much success trying to ride up the grass hill they were on. We suddenly came to a dead stop, and fell over!!! Thank goodness we were on a slope, so it wasn't as far a fall. Chase thought it was hilarious!!! He'll probably ask if we can do that again next time!

These are the moments life is all about... Finding joy in the simple things!

Being the Youngest

Ashlee had a fun opportunity a few weeks ago to hold a 4 month old baby girl during Sacrament Meeting. (One of her YW leaders was speaking in church, and her husband would be busy with the 2 year old, so she asked Ashlee to keep the baby.) Ashlee was loving it!

Ashlee was next to the aisle, and Chase was more toward the middle, with Rob, me, and other kids in-between, so it was a little while into the meeting before he noticed the baby. He started to make his way along in front of all of us, and I thought he was coming to sit with me. I put my arms out to him, but he didn't even glance my way. I realized his eyes were fixed on only one thing: THE BABY. He could hardly make his way over everyone's feet, church bags, etc. that were in his way, because he wasn't going to look down for a second. His attention was 100% on THE BABY.

He was finally a couple feet from her and he just stopped and stared at Ashlee with this baby. After a few seconds he turned to me and said, "Where did she get THAT?"

It was so cute! I didn't know whether he was hoping he could find one too, or whether he was trying to figure out how Ashlee had one of these things that only Moms usually had. Even though he's our baby, I've always figured he was around other babies enough (cousins, etc.) that it's not too strange a concept to him. But watching him with this baby made me realize that he really doesn't get a lot of interaction with babies, especially not like kids do with a sibling.

After he took it all in for a minute, and we explained the situation to him, he plopped himself down next to her and played with her. He was fascinated as she gripped his finger, he giggled at her little sudden movements, he loved having her stare at him... He was in love!!!

So Sassy!!!

These are our miniature horses, Crystal and Sassy. We've had them a little over 2 years (they lived at G/G Nelson's until we had a place for them). They roam the backyard and look forward to having the kids bring them an occasional carrot or apple.
A couple weeks ago one of our pieces of pigwire fell down and Sassy got out. (Sassy is slightly shorter than Crystal, so apparently Crystal couldn't make it under.) Sassy didn't go far--she was just on the other side, but unfortunately we were needing to leave and couldn't leave this situation the way it was. Kaybree was a HUGE help. After we fixed the pigwire (hence the red rope holding it in place), she lured Sassy back in with an apple while I held the gate and kept Crystal in. I might have been there for hours if it weren't for the help of my little Kabes!!!

Peter and the Wolf

In February, Emmee & I went on her 3rd Grade Field Trip to Peter and the Wolf. It was a fun event, and I was in charge of six little sweeties. (Some other moms weren't so lucky!) The bus rides consisted of lots of those hand-clapping rhyme-thingy's that you do with your BFF (classic 3rd grade!), and of course TONS of giggles! On the way back to the school one of the girls commented that it would have been better if it was a movie. I took the opportunity to explain that Peter and the Wolf was designed to allow the audience to use imagination to picture the events of the story. I then attempted to have a teaching moment and ask each girl about her interpretation of the story. I asked Emmee what color hair her Peter had. She said it was brown with a white tail. After a brief moment of picturing a rebellious little kid with a bleached, braided ponytail, running through the woods with a gun, and wondering what in the world would cause Emmee to imagine Peter that way, we finally figured out that she thought the whole time that this story was about Peter Cottontail--yes, the bunny!!! =) I almost fell off the bus seat laughing!
Well, so much for teaching moments and encouraging kids to use their imaginations! Maybe imagination doesn't exist in our world anymore... BUT... we still had fun!!!

Arrow of Light

Spencer recently earned his Arrow of Light award, which is the highest award a cub scout can earn. (Yes, he's now in 11 yr old scouts--I admit I'm behind on my blogging...) Anyway, Spencer got to have an arrow painted on his head by Dad (Mom had the all-important job of holding up his bangs), and he was honored in front of the other cub scouts for all his efforts. He really worked hard to finish up his requirements for his Webelos badge and his Arrow of Light. Way to go, Spencer!!!

Dr. Dad

Rob taught the "fishing" merit badge to his scouts a few weeks ago, and told me after he cleaned up his tackle box that he was pretty sure he had lost one of his hooks. A couple days later, sure enough, Spencer went running through the family room and suddenly started jumping and yelling, "Ow! Ow! Ow!" When I said, "Oh, yeah--Dad lost one of his fishing hooks," Spencer smiled and said, "Well, I guess I found it!" (Amazingly, he was still able to keep his sense of humor.)
He hung out on the couch til Rob got home to help us deal with the situation. Unfortunately, fish hooks can only go one direction... so Rob broke the news to Spencer that the hook would have to be pushed the rest of the way through. Chase was very sympathetic--and very interested--as he watched Spencer's bravery. No picture could really do justice to what Spencer had to endure (if you click on this picture and look closely at Spencer's face, it will give you a small glimpse, though). I started to offer some advice from my experiences in labor (relax... breathe in deep... breathe out slowly...) but then I just decided to shut up. =) Spencer has again shown us that he is one tough kid!!!

B.A.D.D.

Am I the only one suffering from Blog Attention Deficit Disorder? I just hopped on to write something "real quick" and I get onto my blog and--oh, excitement!--someone has left a comment! Gotta read it!!! Oh, my sweet, long-lost friend--what nice things she wrote... How is she doing, anyway? Hop onto her blog "real quick"--oh, they're up to such fun things... Kids growing up so fast... fun events... birthdays... okay, I have to leave a comment on hers... I click on "post a comment" and--lo and behold--one of our mutual friends (another long-lost bud) has left a comment too... gotta go check out her profile... omygoodness, she has FOUR KIDS now??? How did that happen???!!! Okay, I have to leave her a comment too! How so very exciting this is!!! And look at her links! O wow--I didn't know that was her sis-in-law! Now I gotta check out just one more blog............

(And NO, this wasn't the post I was getting on here to do! Maybe I'll get to that tomorrow...?) AAAAGH! Too much fun!!!

humility, n. knowing you are absolutely fantastic, and giving the credit to God.

I heard this definition given the other night at Ashlee's New Beginnings program, and I love it! So that's my thought for the day (okay, for the month... I know I don't update my blog as often as I'd like to!) =)

My Ashlee

I just have to talk about Ashlee for a bit. This may get long... sorry! Well, first I have to write about a couple moments we had recently. On MLK Day I took her and Blake to the mall to spend some of their Christmas $$$. We went into Wet Seal to look around (an awkward little while for Blake--especially while Ashlee & I went to try on some things... He was such a good sport about it, though!!!) Anyway, we each had a few items, and the first thing I put on was gouchos that looked disgustingly hideous on me!!! I asked Ashlee if she wanted to see something gross, and she said, "Sure, I have some 'gross' to show you too." We were in dressing rooms right next to each other, so we both just stepped out. We shared a moment of laughter, me in my gouchos and her in her yellow ruffles... and then... Ashlee's door shut!!!! The look on her face was PRICELESS. Here we are, both in stuff we wouldn't want a single other human being to see, and it looks like we're gonna have to flip a coin to see who has to go ask the store worker to come open her door. Then she says, "Do you think I can fit under???" I look at the rooms and start laughing. But we decide it's worth a try--definitely a better choice than going out into the store!!! So she comes into my room, gets down like a seal, and goes for it!!! She really did look like a seal, scooting along, and... her butt got stuck for a brief moment... but she made it! I was doubled over laughing, with my hand over my mouth trying to stifle the sound, but not succeeding very well. WOW--that was funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The other moment we had last week was late one night, as I was attempting to help her finish a Romeo & Juliet assignment for her English class. The assignment was to rewrite a portion of the story as if it took place in the '70's. As we looked up some '70's lingo online, we were busting up over Romeo & Juliet using terms like "bogus," "spiffy," "totally," and "Rock-on!!!" I tried to get her to have Juliet ask Romeo if he had "let a gasser" (that term was on the list we found online =)), but she said her teacher told them to keep it appropriate. =) We were dying--it was so funny!!! Rob was in the other room watching TV, and he (later) told me that he had to mute the show for a moment and just listen to us. I guess it was quite a hoot. Sorry if you had to be there.... I just had to share!

lol

This was truly a LAUGH-OUT-LOUD moment. Ashlee was getting ready for a football game (yes, this was back in October or so...) and she was "decorating" herself for the occasion. Our bishop's son, Layne, is one of her good friends, and was on the football team. She got fabric paint and put his name & number on her shirt, then headed for the bathroom to paint the numbers on her face. She came out and hesitantly asked if the numbers looked okay. I fell on the floor laughing at her backward "67." She was less-than-amused as I made her stand there while I snapped a picture. She found out the hard way that painting numbers on your face in front of the mirror is... really hard. =)

Arizona Christmas

A Christmas Day event like this could only happen here in GOOD OL' ARIZONA!!! Chase decided the puddles from the recent rain were just too much to resist! One minute he's innocently strolling down Grandma & Grandpa's nice sidewalk, the next he's soaked from head to toe!!! So what else is there to do but grab the camera???

Just taking a stroll... right???

Moments later...

Forget all the new toys! All a kid really needs is a good puddle!!!

A little mud in the mouth never hurt anybody!

Doesn't this face just sum it all up??? PURE, SOAKING-WET JOY!!!

Making Friends

Shortly after we moved in, while there was still a lot of talk about how the kids were doing making friends, Kaybree came to me one day and told me she had made another new friend. When she told me the little girl's name, I recognized it as one she had mentioned before. I asked her if it was the same girl she had told me about a few days earlier, and she said yes, but then she explained that now they were really friends, because they had asked each other if they wanted to be each other's friend. I realized that each time Kaybree told me that someone was her friend, it was only after an official invitation to be friends had been given. =) A few days later, during another similar conversation, Kaybree asked me, "Mom, how do you make friends?" As we went on talking it was funny to me to think that she thought of me having to go up to other women and ask them to be my friend. So cute!!!

Friends

This is a picture of Kaybree with Ashley and Abby, two of the friends she had to leave behind when we moved. SAD DAYS!!! =(

New House

Over the summer we moved to our new home. It's everything we've ever dreamed of--and more. This picture was taken during the finishing stages, a few weeks before we moved in. Rob was the contractor and did a lot of the work himself, along with the help of awesome family and friends. He wore himself out in the process--we were so happy when we finally got to the end. They say if a marriage can survive what you go through building a home together, it can survive anything. So I guess we passed that test!!! The fact that Rob survived it is amazing as well.

We love living in the "country" now, having so much space for the kids to run and play. The boys take off on their bikes and find jumps in various places nearby, and they can toss the ball in the backyard without it constantly ending up in the neighbors' yards. We have 2 miniature horses that just roam our backyard now, and we've recently planted fruit & citrus trees. Our next big project will probably be putting in a garden, but that can wait til after the Holidays...