design by isaac

1. So Isaac, like most kids, loves to hang stuff up in his room. He also has his "special stuff" displayed on his shelves. As he was looking for some tape to hang yet another picture on his wall, he made this comment: "Remember when my room was new and there were no pictures and it looked boring? So, I drawed pictures and hung them up to design it. I did it so it doesn't look so boring and so it could look cool."

Here is a sample of his work. If anyone is interested - his fees are very reasonable:


2. Luke. Just when I think we are through the ugly, it comes back - full force. The last couple of weeks have been a bit trying with the little guy. Adam and I are wracking our brains, trying to come up with a solution. We've got nothing. We are trying, harder than ever, to be strong, patient and understanding... and trying to "pick our battles".

One thing about Luke though: he makes you laugh. It may be a 'crazy mom' laugh, but there is still laughter. Like, the conversations he has with himself when he is sitting in his room, upset. Say I deliver any type of news contrary to Luke's wishes. Well, then his ever so predictable reaction is to run - drama queen like - into his room and shut/slam the door behind himself. Then, I am almost guaranteed to hear something like this: Luke, in an offended voice, "Mommy, not let me have cereal... mommy say I can't have cereal cause I didn't eat my food." At least Luke gives me the drama I would otherwise miss out on from not having girls.

3. Upon having one of those "it's too quiet moments", I went on a search for Luke and discovered this:

Mascara. At least it was contained to just his face, so no real damage done.

4. The boys were thrilled to welcome our first (or second) snow storm this season. As soon as Luke noticed flakes falling from the sky, he ran to the 'winter apparel' bin and got himself ready to go:


After some help rounding up coats and a second boot, they were ready to play:


As I was hanging out inside the house, I thought I heard someone screaming. I looked outside and Isaac was urgently yelling for me to come and untie him from the trailer because he had to pee. Laughing, I hurried out (but, still taking time to grab the camera), and got a picture of his great idea - he wanted to jump from the top of the trailer and have the rope catch him. Thankfully, he tied to rope too long. And, thankfully he had a full bladder to prevent him from another attempt.

5. I had the young women in our ward over to teach them how to make pies. Once they left, my boys were ready to make some pies of their own:

Isn't he the cutest little baker?

Random pics:

Who knows.

Another cute picture thanks to Isaac.

a day in zion

We were able to squeeze in one more non-snow trip this year, just in the nick of time. Adam had to deliver some snowmobiles to the Pinewood's Resort, so that is where we ended up for a couple of nights. It's not too far from Zions so we spent a day basking in it's beauty. It's unbelievable just how beautiful it is this time of year - with the yellow fall leaves against all the red rock.

Isaac was very disappointed to have to come home - he really has a hard time with a trip ending (who doesn't?). He even came out of his room the first night back, crying. He said that he thought we were still at the cabin and then realized we were home.

memories

1. As I was driving with my boys the other day, I got thinking about how nice it would be to be able to record our entire 1 hour conversation on the way to grandma's house. To completely capture every word, tone, and detail in the way my boys speak. I try to record those funny little things that they say, but I sometimes panic that I am someday going to forget how they sound and talk now. I hate the very thought of it. I'm not sure why I feel such a need to remember everything to the point that it causes me stress. Maybe it's because I have a lousy memory, therefore I have a hard time remembering a lot of my past (except for the things that I wish I would forget) - and that bugs me. Honest to Pete, I don't know how many times I have had to ask Carrie, "was I there", as childhood moments are being discussed around the dinner table. Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely dense - I do have memories. They just aren't much compared to my sister's elephant brain.

2. So, this week it's all about Isaac. The first comment was made during the previously mentioned conversation on our way to grandma's. He noticed a smoke stack and asked me what they were making over there. I said, "I'm not sure."
So he started speculating, "Maybe gas, or gasoline, or metal. How do they make metal?" Leaving no time for me to answer, he continues, "Maybe they melt plastic and add wood."
I respond, "No, probably not with plastic and wood. They find different metals, or elements in the earth to make metal."
Isaac's conclusion, "Oh, it's probably in rocks." Not a bad conclusion for a 5 year old.

3. I heard Luke asking Adam to draw him a picture of Spiderman, to which Adam replied, "You should go ask mommy to draw it. She would do it a lot better than me."
Then, I heard Isaac say, "Yeah, she can use her mad skills to draw it." It is such a proud moment when your kids pick up on your lingo, and use it in the right context.

4. We went to Cooper's (my nephew) baptism on Saturday. After he had been baptized, he sat back down next to us. I watched Isaac sneak over and stand in front of him and my brother, grinning. My brother later told me that Isaac had asked Cooper, "Are you happy?"

5. Lastly, is a comment that Isaac frequently makes - who knows, I may have already written about it before, but, of course, I don't remember. So, there is no doubt that Isaac LOVES Asa. About once a day, Isaac will say something like, "We are so lucky to have Asa.", or "I'm glad we have such a cute baby." It's always nice to hear your children speak so lovingly of one another. I'll be sure to remind him of all this love down the road from now.

Pics of the week:

Usually it's Asa learning bad habits from his older brothers - not the other way around. They decided to reconnect with their inner baby and help Asa empty my cupboards.

Asa loves climbing into little spaces - just like Luke did/does.

After church this past Sunday, Isaac rushed into my bedroom and told me that I wasn't allowed to come in. After a while he came out and this is what I found - my bed made (no, it was not already made), with this heart stuck on a pillow. His teacher must have given them a challenge to serve others (he said he can't tell me). I just thought it was adorable how excited he was to do this. I was pretty impressed with how good of a job he did: blankets relatively squared up, and pillows in the right order. Maybe I need to make him responsible for making my bed every day so that it gets done more frequently.

halloween 09

I have enjoyed Halloween so much more now that I have kids that are old enough to be excited about it. I even dressed up for the first time since being married, it is that enjoyable. My biggest problem with dressing up is that I lack the creativity to come up with a costume (at least something clever - which is what I always want). So, this year I decided to let my boys decide what Adam and I should be. And, they decided Superman and a witch (so clever, right?).

We took the boys to a 'haunted' house for the first time. They were beyond excited. I heard Isaac on the phone with my brother (since he is my personal secretary) right before we were leaving, saying: "Guess what Uncle Neil, we are going to a haunted house! I've never been to one before. I think I might get scared, but I'm going to be brave." They were so cute as they talked of getting scared the whole way there. We requested the creepy tour, instead of the scary one, so it was perfect for them. They have been talking about it ever since.

The little trick-or-treaters

Batman, what was a ghost at one point (the costume was off before leaving the house), and a skeleton

A 6'7" man in a ridiculous duck costume (hilarious), and an adorable lion

After every house, Luke would run back to me and show me how many more houses we would be visiting... it was always 4 or 5.

The weird duck (ha ha) getting in on our pic.

My adorable mom ready to hop on her sled and find some sick powder (she was a snowmobiler).

Us, in all our Halloween spirit.

This was the highlight of Halloween for me. I would get more and more excited for Adam's costume as I came across red underwear, red socks, the perfect red sheet to transform into the cape, blue spandex. But, the final result was much more fantastic than I had envisioned.

The Daili Lama, Mona Lisa, a gypsee, superwoman, and a cute little cowboy

Okay, so this had me laughing so hard! My lovely sister, Stephanie, did the most wonderful job of taking away all of her attractiveness. I'm not sure what to even call her costume... What Not To Wear's perfect candidate? From the horrid hairdo, to the uncontrolled facial hair/zero makeup, down to the tapered pants and holiday sweater combo - it was perfection. And by the way, this is a great example of why no one should wear tapered pants. She actually has a nice little butt, but you would never know that in these horrible pants.

funny little man

1. It's mostly about Luke this week. He says some of the darndest things, and this week was no exception. First, are some phrases that he has recently added to his already expressive vocabulary. I have been hearing a lot of, "Oh, shut up!" (as in, 'no way', not 'be quiet'), "Oh, come on!" (as in 'you're kidding'), and "Oh my heck!" (Utah boy all the way). Some other things he has been saying a lot this week are some things that we frequently say to him - he's turning the table on us: "Daddy, you're a stinker!" (in a fun-loving way), "Mommy you're a mister!" (ouch), "Daddy you're a turd!" (once again, fun-loving). When all of these phrases are said in Luke's one-of-a-kind voice, you can't help but laugh.

2. The other day Adam set some ice cream on the counter, then had to leave the room for a moment. Well, 'Quick-hands Luke' seized the moment and helped himself to the ice cream. Adam came back and Luke's face was covered with ice cream. Adam started sharing the ice cream with the other boys and Luke asked him for some. Adam said, "You already have some on your face." Then Luke said, "Yeah, but I don't got any on my tongue."

3. For family night Adam gave a lesson about testimony. At the end of the lesson, he said, "I want to share my testimony with Isaac, and Luke, and mommy." Then Luke adds, "and daddy, and Heavenly Fadder (father)... and pumpkins." Always concerned for the pumpkins, he is.

Isaac and Luke both shared their testimonies, and I wrote down what I remembered:

Isaac: "I know Jesus died on the cross so we can live on Earth. Joseph Smith told us none of the other church's were true."

Luke: I can't remember his word for word, but he started by saying something about dying, then added, "And, I don't like skeletons."

4. Today Adam took the boys to the bank and while in line Luke was checking out a skeleton decoration. Luke turns to Adam and says, "Skeletons don't got a penis." He's observant, I tell you.

5. Here is an Asa moment that showed me he's a bit smarter than I give him credit for. I made some banana chocolate chip muffins for breakfast one morning, as I often do. I did some with chocolate chips and some without (for me, since I new I would end up eating half of them by myself). I gave Asa one without chocolate chips and he looked at it, took a bite, then started whining and just crumbling it. At first I couldn't figure out why he was so ornery, then I handed him a muffin with the chocolate and he ate it all up. I gave him another one, and he ate it too. I seriously think that he knew the muffins normally have chocolate chips and was ticked that I would serve him the lame ones that didn't have them.

Pics of the week:

Still not walking, but cute as ever.

Car phone. Ha ha ha.

Asa smothering Isaac.

This is Asa about 20 times a day. He climbs into one of the bouncer/walkers, gets stuck like this, and starts jabbering for me to come and get him out.

Luke has moved on from being obsessed with picking my garden, to picking up leaves. We have bags full of leaves lying around our house.

My boys want me to be a witch for Halloween, so I'm going to be a witch. They are as excited about my costume as they are their own. Here they are trying it on for themselves.

It gives me a glimpse at what cute girls I would have made.

I did it!

1. I actually managed to get through an entire day without raising my voice - a.k.a. 'yelling'. I know that shouldn't be such a hard thing to accomplish, but for my impatient, over reactive self, it is. I am continually praying for more patience and understanding with my boys, but I seem to loose focus of that goal pretty early in the day - usually about the time that they start arguing with me, arguing with each other, knock Asa over because they are being careless, or over react to something that has frustrated them (hmmm, I wonder where they could have learned that).

Well, I decided I better shut-up and listen if I am going to receive any help. So, when the little stinkers in my little angels appeared, I tried harder to think before acting (amazing concept). And, I did this for an entire day. Does this mean I handled every situation the best possible way? Heavens, no. But, I didn't yell. And, wouldn't you know it, there was a lot more peace in my home today. Now, if I can do it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next....

2. One of my favorite moments as a parent is to listen to my children pray. I love how easy it is for children to have faith in their Savior. I also love how unintentionally funny their prayers are. Luke, in particular, always seems to make Adam and I laugh (not aloud, though) with the completely random things he says. Most kids try to repeat what you are saying in a prayer, but Luke just uses any pause to add his 2 cents - all while mimicking any movement/wiggle that Isaac has just made. One thing that he continually prays for is to "Help Grandma Po-wee (Pulley) or Grandma Ubridge (Loveridge) not die." This is obviously a great thing to pray for and makes a lot of sense. But, the other day he prayed, "And, help save pumpkins." All those poor pumpkins.

3. We took Isaac and Luke on the Alpine slide & coaster. Or as Luke calls it, the pine tree slide. They had been so excited to do this for a while, and we finally found a moment to go before it closed for the season. Luke's quote before going, "I not going to freak out on the pine tree slide. It's super big fun... huge fun!" They loved the chairlift ride up. Isaac thought the snowmakers were fascinating and we had a wonderful discussion about how they work (or think they work). On the way home Isaac was saying that his favorite part was the coaster. Then he asked Luke what his favorite part was, to which Luke replied, "The clouds."


4. Adam and I celebrated our 8th anniversary last week. We didn't do anything too exciting - just went out to dinner. In fact we had to do that early, since Adam had to work on our anniversary. But, we're cool with keeping things pretty low key. It is a good time to reflect on just how blessed I am, though. I love Adam more than anyone I know, but I'm glad I still like him and enjoy spending time with him. We have seen each other at our worst, but we are united in the same goal, which gives us the strength to press forward. I'm thankful for these past 8 years and all the blessings that we have been given.

5. Random pics of the week:

Asa is really into wearing hats right now. Usually they are too big, so they cover his face while he crawls around, giggling.

wait. where did september go?

1. Summer is definitely over. We have pulled out our pants and jackets and the shorts are now buried in the bottom of our drawers. Our garden is gone now. This is very sad for Luke, who loved nothing more than to pick the slightest hint of a vegetable.

We are excited for fall and have enjoyed the beautiful colors. I just hope that we get to enjoy a bit more of it before winter takes over (we have already seen snow, and it does not get me excited).

2. Asa called 911 last week from our home phone. I found this out when a nice police officer knocked on my door and asked me if we were alright or if I was being held against my will. I guess the phone will have to stop being a toy.

3. Just when I start questioning Luke's comprehension/intelligence, he makes the most impressive observations. Out of the blue, the other day, he says, "When you poop you get goosebumps." He's a lot smarter than I give him credit for.

4. Adam got his goat (hee hee). He drew out for a mountain goat tag - a once in a lifetime tag. I was excited for him, because he has really wanted to do this hunt for a while. But, I wasn't too excited for the time that I thought it would require (it's not an easy hunt). He did a lot of scouting before the hunt started, which means he climbed many mountains. Most of the time he observed the goats they were in some pretty precarious spots - that is why I expected it to take a while. Well, lo and behold, the first day of his first hunting trip, he ended up shooting a goat. There happened to be a decent goat in a perfect spot, so he took it. He was happy, I was happy... we are both very happy.


5. Now for a 'Divine Inspiration' story - seriously. So, I hadn't been able to find my phone for almost 2 days. I had looked every I could think of, but no luck. I didn't even bother calling it, because I knew the battery was low and I figured it was very dead by now. Well, tonight I asked Adam to take the garbage out. Before he walked out the door with the bag of garbage, I decided to grab his phone from him and try to call my phone - just for the heck of it. As I am walking around the house, listening for any ringing, Adam comes back in the house with the bag of garbage and says, "You must be very inspired." Apparently, just as he was putting the garbage into the garbage can, he heard my phone ring. It was in the bag of garbage - I had not thought to look there. I got the phone out of the garbage and now 30 minutes later, it is alerting me that it is about to die. Coincidence?... I think not.

Random pics of the week:

That is a tape measure in his hands. I had no idea that A) Luke was measuring the width of my butt, or B) that Isaac was taking a picture of it. Subtle, aren't they?

Don't they look comfy?