Primary Program

Now, you may accuse me of picking on Nate a little, but he is the most hilarious child I have. The funny thing is he never tries to be, he just is. (disclaimer again) All of my children are hilarious in their own right. I just have one who is different in how things appear to be funny. Surprisingly enough, he did do better than expected. I watched Mitch fold his arms and sing. He was my perfect angel child up there. I watched as he studiously followed the note cards the chorister held up and Dad and Mom gave him a few "good job" smiles. He was very obedient as most always.
Paige was beaming up there too, other than the few moments we caught her rolling her eyes as she was watching her other brother. (she had a clear shot of him the whole time.) She tried to ignore him and keep her self composed, but she slipped a couple of red faced smiles in here and there. They all said their parts just perfect. Of course, there's always the littlest child that draws the parental aawwws! That was little Mr. Cook. I looked over and his mom and dad were happily smiling at him and the cute response.
I teared up a couple of times while the whole primary was singing, and especially when they had all the children who had turned 8 during the year sing "When I am Baptized". The tear jerker was they were all dressed in white. So beautiful.

Now you can't very well have a primary program that doesn't include that one child. You know what I'm talking about. I am proud to say that he would be my child. Harmless in his antics and not purposely trying to get attention, but they just can't sit still and you know his mind is going a mile a minute. Rather than explain, I drew some crappy pictures for illustration. 

T -Square

Nice smile Mitch

Someone was scared of Jesus. He was very big up close.

This will be short. We went to temple square a few weeks ago. The kids had their first experience with the church history museum. The little ones especially loved the interactive floor where they could try on clothes and TOUCH everything. Tori loved the paintings. Especially one in particular. It was very moving. There's a cool small scale temple that shows what the inside looks like. They all thought that was cool. it even faces the temple, so you can visualize where it's all at. I am looking forward to taking Laylie and Sam at Christmas time! That should be fun for them.

Love the Hair & ISU

Sam's hair will not stay down. It may calm down when he gets older, but for now it's just too cute sticking up. I plastered it yesterday to his head with very low hopes it would stay just how I combed it. That lasted about five minutes. Where I parted it was still visible, kind of. He's too cute.
ISU had their homecoming parade was last weekend. We took the kids. Paige's dance group was in it. Fun for her, but a long walk and mostly up hill. It ended up at Holt Arena. With all the masses of people (parade and football fans) up there when we arrived it was hard to find her. Did I mention I walked (purposely) right through the middle of all the tailgate cookers. MMMM! I love the smells! It was heavenly, and after we found her and went home, I made myself an awesome peanut butter and jam sandwich.

 She ate all her candy.

The boys watching the parade.

He's so serious. (This is my hair flat against my head.)

Top view. Notice the back pieces already not conforming.

He does not look like the child I see every day.

10 minutes later....his hair is up!

Sam and his hair enjoying the parade.

Blabber

K! So the school year has started, blah, blah, blah......I probably should post the pics I took, but I'll get to that later. The fair was last week and like a totally sane person, I decided to take them all by my self. Yeah for insanity!
This is how it went. We came through the gate closest to the animals. This of course took an hour because Laylie had to swoon over everyone there was. She was petrified of the Clydesdale's though. From afar they were cool. but an offer to pet them on the nose resulted in a wide terror filled look and and the beginning of watery eyes. We did happen to pass by a miniature pony though (a baby horse in her eyes of course). She went straight up to one and wrapped her arms around it's belly while rubbing her face all over him. The kids tents with their interactive displays and hands on stuff was perfect. They especially loved the funny distorted mirrors. We went on some rides and I took some great pictures of the kids with Maddie's camera. I'd post  those too, but Maddie managed to accidentally erase all of the photo's she had on there.We did end up with one though at the very end with Laylie curled up in the bottom of the stroller. You know the bottom compartment usually reserved for you diaper bag, or other items.
Now the reason for her I will sleep anywhere skill is because of her behavior almost the entire time. We were there for about five hours.  Have you ever seen a first time *leasher*? I know that's not a word, but you know what I mean.....the first experience you have with your dog when you try a leash. They realize they are confined and they flip, contort, writhe, lay on the ground, sit down, pull backwards fight, shake their head, and end up with the leash wrapped around them selves in almost impossible ways. Your thinking, if you just held still, it's not that bad. That was her.
We tried a little backpack with the "leash" attached, which, by the way saved my bacon. I tried making a super big deal about how she was going to get to wear her very own backpack. It was a cute bear. She was all excited until she realized it was a straight jacked for children. (Oh and by the way, we saw another mom with the very same one, only her child was behaving.) She looked at mine and I looked at hers and a brief, I FEEL YOUR PAIN nod was exchanged as we passed each other in the trenches.
My arms ached from carrying her so much. My feet were tired. The other kids were tired, but were happy. I got cotton candy mashed all over my shirt, hair and neck. My make-up and that "Yes, I've got it together" look were long gone. I think I pulled a neck muscle and my brain was sprained from constantly counting to five. My number six was safe in his stroller. BUT, will I do it all over again next year and for consecutive years to come? Heck Yes I Will! Because, my kids come away from it having had fun, and memorable family experiences. Here's to hoping Tori gets to come next year though.

Good Bye Squirrel

Over the years, Maddie and I have had a love hate relationship with her hair. I love her hair combed, she hates to comb her hair. She inherited my thick hair, but not my hard head. She has yet to click the "like" button on the, I Will Brush My Hair app. So we have gone the rounds over the years with me threatening to comb her hair if she doesn't.  Her sisters' love to have their hair done. Not her though. Some days at church I had to control myself from reaching out to smooth it down.  I'd look over and to my horror, discover she had combed over the top portion only. What was exposed underneath was a tangled mass of dreads. I think a squirrel was living in there.

Paige is not pictured because she was in the parade we were at.

She attended girls camp for the first time this summer and when she came home I found out she hadn't combed it once while she was there. So we promptly went into the kitchen and cut it into a cute layered bob. I did want to cry though. Nine inches of hair laying on my kitchen floor.......gone. Her hair has always been curly, and now that it's not so long and heavy, it's curling up so darn cute. The bonus is she is now combing it! I put some highlights in there too as a "coming of age" kind of thing. The parade photo is her long hair before and some after shots too. She is such a beautiful girl!

I'm Kind of Partial to Cinderella Myself

Guess what???? We're potty training! I have a permanent grin on my face. I'm like a kid in a candy store. She's finally ready. We tried this 3 months ago but all she did was sit there and SAY she went potty. I must say from my personal experience that girls are much easier than boys. Now when I say boys what I really mean is Nathan. Let's backtrack to Nathan for a moment. . . . .  Mommy: Nate, do you want to go potty and be a big boy? Nate: Yeah! (but I'm not going to make this easy) When I look back I distinctly remember an evil chuckle, but no one believes me. Nate for months had the liquid portion down pat, but when it came to the more solid matters,  not so much. I tried everything. We bribed with toys, food, a trip to Disneyland. I secretly would cut a hole in the bottom of his diaper and told him if he would just sit on the toilet and do his business he could just do it in his diaper. Everything was working out perfectly in my head......he'll go to the bathroom and then I'll show him there was nothing to be afraid of and my lesson on teaching by deceit would be driven home. Because isn't that how all good parents teach their children.
I read stories in the bathroom for hours on end. After WEEKS (well maybe just a half hour or so) of never leaving the confines of the bathroom,  I'd let myself out for some emotional counseling (aka: a carb). Guess who'd be stinky 5 minutes later. I know he was thinking Bwah, ha, ha, ha, ha, HA, ha! He also figured out my hole cutting rouse too, when one time I forgot to swap the diaper out for a "whole" one and it ended up on my carpet. That was the craps. Sorry!
He finally ended up seeing the light and at age 3.65 years my tough boy was done with diapers. Laylie has been much easier. We tried about 3 months ago and there was interest, but no delivery. I tried yesterday and we finally have delivery! Good girl. She woke up dry this morning too. Dad was in the garage almost ready to leave when she came bolting out to proudly show him her new tangled unmentionables and wanted him to come "wook in da toy-wut"! I think the minnie mouse and tangled undies are helping with her incentive. I'm kind of partial to Cinderella myself.

The 1 day trip

My little 8 year old niece was baptized this weekend. She looked so cute in her white dress.  She reminds me of my Paige so much. She was just beaming all day. I love being able to spend time with our "Salt Lake" family. Mom P gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. She stream lined it for the kids but said the adults could listen if they wanted to. It was so good. She's a fabulous speaker and I can see where my husband gets it from. Good job mom! Our older niece played a solo on the piano. What a talented girl.
Just a little shout out to Mike & Rhonda (in case you grace my page)....great dinner suggestion. I like Dickie's BBQ. I wouldn't mind going there again next time we're down that direction. Jay n Kate, and Tom & Isa need to come next time too! So my people will talk to your people and we'll bring our cups.
Ooohhh, k so, my sis in law had this very cute, very chic, large blocks in her kitchen. They say "family". I'm going to attempt to recreate them, but in my own style. Seriously, they we're adorable, and the fact that they we're so big added to my coveting them. Not her actual ones, some like them.  :) The only sour note of our one day trip was I FORGOT my camera. ugh!

Look how much I've changed

Hello, I'm a Sagittarius. I love long walks in my stroller and taking frequent naps. My drink of choice is Similac. I'm almost 8 months old now.  I'm rocking back and forth a bunch, & my mom is waiting for me to crawl. I have fabulous hair that sticks straight up at the very front and is now starting to show signs of curl. ( I know you ladies like the curls)  I love ripping books left within my reach and I show my good side when you dig your finger into my mouth to extract the paper I worked hard to acquire. I'm really good at spitting, jabbering and jamming my feet repeatedly into other peoples body parts that happen to be too close. Sorry Nathan, I hope your eye is OK. Next time back off!
I like to cuddle and I love my binky now. (It was a struggle, but my mom duct taped it to my mouth for a few months and I guess I do kind of like it more than I originally thought.) My brothers are teaching me how to scream and my sister Laylie shows me how to drink out of her sippy cup. I like watching my mom scrub carpet, so I help my obsession by scooting off my blanket so I can deposit my spit-up there. Then I smile, and sometimes if I'm feeling rather obnoxious I spread it around for her!
I can be quite the kidder too. Once in a while I pull a fast one on my mom and dad and fake like I'm choking on a cheerio. That one get's them every time.......aahhh priceless. Wait til my mom realizes it's time to lower the mattress setting on my crib and raise the bar up.      (No babies were harmed in the making of this post)

Baseball

Our summer has flown by. Paige, Mitch, and Nate all played t-ball (baseball for Paige). It does wonders for your backside to sit on those comfy bleachers. At least they were aluminum and didn't suck up the heat. Nate learned how to examine tiny almost invisible bugs near the bases and spent a good deal of time watching the clouds go by. He swears he almost melted with the heat.  Mitch was very attentive and very friendly. He wanted to schedule play dates with everyone he met. Now when I say met, I mean every player from every team that happened to cross his base. He made a LOT of friends!  Paige was more on the serious side with her games. They played with the pitching machine and she improved a lot with her hitting by the end of their season. She was also the only one on her team to catch a pot fly ball smacked out to the outfield. I think she was more stunned than we were. Her face was priceless!

Starting Anew

So I am starting a new blog. Change has been on my mind lately. The kind of change that makes you a better person, a better wife, a better mother, a better friend. I think everyone loves a little change here and there. It's what makes life interesting. I've changed the appearance on the front of our house this year. We put up shutters, got two new doors, (one being the front door which I LOVE -thank you Sir Justin Toll) and I put new plants in. It seemed to update our house from 1980 to 2000 over night. At least I thought so! I think Tori and I went outside to stare for 10 minutes each night for two weeks straight.
Anyway, I loved the change. Small but simple. It got me thinking about making some small steady changes to the inside of the house and that got me thinking about some changes I wanted to do for myself and my family. I figure I can be more grateful. That will be my focus for the week.

Paige & Laylie in front of the new door