How Happy Would you Be . . .

This happened months ago, and I'm still laughing - must be post-worthy!

The background info needed for this post is that my brother Robb has a dog named Rusty.

My parents were tending the kids while Derek and I went out. When we stopped by to pick up the kids my dad told me that Emmy had asked him a question he couldn't quite answer. Knowing Grandpa can answer any question my kids have, I was intrigued. Here's the stumping question:

How happy would you be if Rusty was your dog?

Bad for Everyone

Today's conversation with Bay:

Bay: What are we going to do now?

Me: We're going to dust.

Bay: I don't like to dust.

Me: Me either.

Bay: Dusting's not good for everyone.

Me: What is good for you?

Bay: Church. Church and peanut butter.

Now I'm off to dust - even though it's not good for anyone.

Skeleton Sentences

Emmy came home from school with this today. I don't know what I like more - what she said or how she spelled it!

Skeletons

by Emily

translations below each line

Skeletons are ckreeppee.

Skeletons are creepy.

Skeletons are nis.

Skeletons are nice.

Skeletons are wite.

Skeletons are white.

Skeletons cant wock.

Skeletons can't walk.

Skeletons are in yoor botee.

Skeletons are in your body.

Skeletons are skaree.

Skeletons are scary.

Skeletons plteck yoor botee.

Skeletons protect your body.

I licke my skeleton.

I like my skeleton.

Evre in the wrld hass a skeleton.

Everyone in the world has a skeleton.

First Day of School

I'm thinking a better name for my blog would be "Better Late than Never" because that's certainly how I operate! I know it's October, but I'm finally getting around to posting first day of school pictures. I can't believe I have two kids who are gone all day - Tyler in 3rd and Emmy in 1st. They get on the bus together, are gone all day, and come home together.
We got great teachers this year and everyone has settled in and is loving school. Tyler still eats hot lunch most days, and Emmy is mostly a cold lunch eater. They play together on the playground - with Emmy's friends chasing Tyler's friends.
The biggest change has been for Bailey. Poor Bay has lost her best friend - she just doesn't know what to do without Emmy. And Logan isn't cutting it in the friend department. She follows me around the house all day asking if she can go to a friend's house. We have the discussion that you can't invite yourself to someone else's house every day! So we have friends over all the time, we go to story time at the library every week, and she's in dance, but it's not enough to fill her social calendar. I have a feeling Bailey will be more than ready to start school!
On a side note, I've noticed that Emmy is transitioning into an Emily. She's writing Emily on all of her papers - whereas in kindergarten it was always Emmy. She wanted her teacher to call her Emily. "Emmy" has been my favorite - I'm starting to get sad thinking she could be done being Emmy.

Weekend in Utah

We just came back from such a fun trip to Utah. It was my Grandma's 93rd birthday Saturday - so the family threw her a big surprise party. Derek and I left Friday afternoon and drove to Allyson's house in Logan. It is always so fun to stay there - she is the ultimate host. Everything's there waiting for you even before you think to ask for it - including made beds for all 6 of us - yes, Paul had set up the pack and play for Logan complete with baby blankets. The kids had the best time playing with cousins. We never heard a complaint from anyone - they were all having such a wonderful time with each other.
Saturday morning we drove from Logan to Lehi and took the kids to Cornbellys Maze at Thanksgiving Point. This is the funnest fall place to be. They had so many activities for the kids to do: a mountain of slides, jumping pillows, mazes, cow trains, hay rides, 3D haunted houses, pig races (with actual pigs of course - Bailey even got picked to be an assistant!), and tons of other things. You could play there all day with your kids. If we lived in SLC that would be definitely be a tradition for our family.
Then late that afternoon we were off to the party. It was at my aunt's house in Lehi and she had a house full! It was fun to be there to celebrate my grandma's birthday with her. My kids sure haven't grown up with her so it was neat that we could be there for this. It was fun to see all my cousins that I don't see as much I'd like to. It was such a fun night with dinner, cake, and games. My kids came home with more prizes than they get at Christmas! I'm really glad we could make it to her big day.
Afterwards we went to Orem to spend the night at my other grandma's house. It was also great to spend time with her. I just love seeing my kids get to know their great-grandmas better. It was certainly a busy weekend - and we crammed in as much as we could - but it was wonderful.

Newest Member of the Loser Club

Emmy is the newest member of the Loser Club (lost teeth, of course!). She's had her first wiggly tooth for the past week and every day it was getting more and more wiggly. She loved showing everyone how loose it was and giving everyone updates. Then last night during FHE she turned to Derek and said, "pull my tooth out". He reached over and had it out in 2 seconds. She was grinning from ear to ear! She's showed us all the whole in her smile a thousand times already.

She was so excited to have the tooth fairy come to her room in the night. Not everyone shared her excitement though. Bailey was very nervous about sleeping in the same room that some magical fairy stranger was coming. So Bay had to go to sleep in our bed and I couldn't move her into hers' until that scary fairy was gone!

I woke up this morning to Emmy right in my face saying, "She came! She came!". She was so thrilled with the treasures the tooth fairy left her. She's already on the prowl for her next wiggly tooth.

Bad Dream for Bay

A few nights ago Bailey woke up in the night and I put her back to bed. The next morning I inquired of her why we were up:

Me. Bay, why were we up in the night?

Bay: Because I had a bad dream.

Me: What was it?

Bay: I had a dream I was wobbly.

Me: Wobbly?

Bay: Yeah, I was wobbly.

Me: What's wobbly?

This part cannot be transcribed but let me tell you the girl started

shaking like she was having a seizure. Wobbly indeed.

Look Out Mia Maids!

Ok, this post is really old - this news actually is 2 months old - but if the old adage holds true, better late than never.
I got called to be the Enrichment leader in the end of February. I did one Enrichment - couponing - and quickly got released in June. It certainly made me wonder how bad that Enrichment was - - - I'm going with really bad. I mean, to be released after one?! Not even a chance to redeem myself! Yikes. But released I was . . . and Derek loves to point out that my Enrichment legacy is couponing. Yes I'm cheap, but I don't need the ward to know it. And I was loving Enrichment - loving going to Relief Society, loving not having to worry about getting a sub for Sunday, - Enrichment is a good place to be.
Maybe the Mia Maids in my ward have a spending problem because I got called to be the Mia Maids advisor. I've never been in YW before. I've always felt I am too selfish to be in YW - Sundays and Wednesdays seem like a big time commitment. I like to be with my family at night. And it's just not Sundays and Wednesdays - it's birthdays, girls camp, firesides, fund raisers and all the rest. YW is a big calling - and I wasn't sure I'd love it. Everyone I know who's been in YW loves it - they cry when they get released and beg to get back in. I wasn't sure I'd be that kind of leader.
But I have found out in 2 months why they love it - it is the funnest place to be in the ward. Hands down -it's the funnest. The girls themselves are so fun - and they can make any activity fun. I love hearing about school registration, sports, and all the rest of their activities. It turns out YW is a good place to be too.

Tyler's Baptism

Tyler got baptized August 1st. What a day that is, to have your kid be baptized! I'd felt the pressure of having him be baptized all summer. All of our FHE's have been focused on baptism. I want Tyler to really understand what it means, what he's promising, and that ultimately it's his choice. I was so proud of him to choose to be baptized. We had a wonderful day.
We waited until August so Derek's parents, who are on a mission in California, could be there. They got a 2 week vacation at the end of July and got to stay to see Tyler be baptized.
We had so much family come - it was wonderful and very supportive. We had all 4 grandparents, my 3 siblings and their families, 2 of Derek's siblings and their families, and one of Derek's aunts from Eastern Idaho. Surely Tyler felt very loved.
I had dinner at my house before and then we all headed to the church. They'd asked me to speak at the baptism - and I had no problem staying under my 5 minutes! I had worried that with a stake baptism we could be there all night waiting for Tyler's turn for the font. There were 7 kids being baptized that night and we lucked out that Tyler got to be second - we were all loving it when they called his name!
Derek baptized him and then afterwards he was confirmed at the church in our own room. Tyler had 10 men in the circle - such a showing of love and support.
Afterwards we had our family and friends come over for dessert. It was so fun to be celebrating Tyler's decision to be baptized.

Derek's Family Reunion

At the end of July we went to Derek's family reunion. This was so fun because we got to see Derek's parents (who got a 2 week vacation from their mission! YEAH!!), and also Derek's sister and her cute family who live in Dallas. It was fun to spend a weekend with lots of family we don't see often enough.
Derek's sister organized everything and she had so much planned: frisbee golf, tie dying shirts, pin trading, letter boxing, and games. She organized all the food for 24 people - what a job that must have been! We had a great time spending time with everyone.
My kids just loved spending all the time with Grandma, Grandpa, and cousins.

Redfish Lake

In January Derek and I (more Derek than I) decided we wanted to take the kids camping. We talked Derek's sister and her family into joining us and we booked a weekend at Refish Lake. In January it seemed like a great idea, in July it seemed like a lot of work! We spent 2 nights there and had a great time. I'm so glad Angey came - it was way more fun with cousins!
We left in the afternoon and had a long drive there. We were packed to the rafters! We took out one seat in our van for more room and I still had to have firewood at my feet for the whole drive (and having stuff at my feet in a car is a huge pet peeve of mine)! To add to our insanity we took Derek, Tyler, and Emmy's bikes - which started falling off the bike rack halfway there!
We got to the campground and set up our tent and had dinner. The kids just had a great time running around, picking up sticks, and throwing rocks in the lake. The next day we went to their Junior Rangers program which was excellent. They learned all about the native animals of the area. We hiked, played in the lake, geocached, cooked s'mores, and made ice cream. The kids loved every minute.
Everyone's favorite moment was when Derek was taking things out of our van and a chipmunk jumped in. The chipmunk would hop in and out, in and out, and I kept trying to get a picture of him in our van. He finally left and I never got my picture so I shut the van door. Then, here he comes again. He jumps right into the van - completly bodyslamming himself!
Taking the bikes was really fun - this is where Emmy mastered her 2 wheeler and now she's an expert at it. Tyler and Derek would go for rides and loved it.
The kids had such a great time - it was worth packing the food, cooking outside, outhouses, bugs, and putting up with all the dirt. We had a great trip.

Tyler's Birthday

Yes, Tyler's birthday was in June. Yes, his friend party was in July. Yes, his baptism was in August. Yes, I'm blogging about it now. Yes, his birthday has taken up my summer! Nevertheless, here it is:
Turning 8 is quite the big deal - so we tried to make it lots of fun. Since he was turning 8, it was time to jump into Scouts. So for his birthday we gave him the shirt, patches, and book that he needs. He opened it and said, "huh, a Scout suit", and promptly chucked it aside! That night we had tons of cousins over for his campfire birthday cake. The funniest part of the night was when he opened presents and 3 of his aunts gave him Bionicles. They were all different colors so it worked out perfectly (2 of his aunts also gave him Reese's Peanut Butter cups - how coincidental is that?!). We had a great time celebrating his birthday.
Three weeks later (yes, 3 weeks - I'm not proud of that!) we had his friend party. He had a Batman party and we had lots games and relays. I'd filled lots of water balloons and it turned into quite a water fight - I completely lost control when the 8 boys went for the hose! I sent home very wet, very happy boys. It was lots of fun.

Childhood Dreams

Many children dream of one day being something amazing . . .

. . . an astronaut

. . . a policeman

. . . the president

. . . a doctor

. . . something impressive.

Tyler and Emmy have their own dream . . . to have a video of them on America's Funniest Home Videos.

My kids . . . the dreamers.

And just to show their dedication to their dreams, they practice falling off of everything possible and begging me to get out the video camera. That would just be such a accomplishment, wouldn't it?

Dare to dream kids.

The Funny Side of Bay

Bailey is such a crack up -here are two of my favs.

The other day she was sitting at the barstool waiting for me to make her lunch. I handed it to her, and started to make my lunch. When I was finished I was headed for the table and she said, "Mom, sit by me" - I have the thought that it won't be long until she doesnt want me to sit by her so I should take advantage of this sweet moment . . . but I'm also thinking that barstools don't have backs . . .feeling torn . . . but sentiment wins out and I sit next to her. We're both on our barstools, lunch in front of us, and now she says, "Now rub my back." Sentiment met its match that day!

Last night we were having family prayers and it was Bay's turn to pray. In her hand was a set of those colored, plastic, keys babies play with. Here's her prayer: "Father bless the day (every prayer starts that way). Help us not to hit Tyler with the keys that I am holding in my hands above my head. Amen" I guess she must have been fighting off some pretty strong temptation and praying for strength to resist - at least that's what I'll tell myself!

Ironman Conquered!

WARNING: SERIOUS DEREK GUSHING!

This last weekend Derek completed the Ironman 70.3 triathalon. This is a major accomplishment - all in all, he swam 1.2 miles, rode his bike 56 miles, and ran 13.1 miles - for a total of 70.3 miles.
He has trained like crazy for months - he registered clear back in December and knew there was no turning back. He's done several tri's before but never anything this huge. But come race day, he was totally prepared.
What was so awesome about this race was the big time-ness of this. The current world champ of Ironman 70.3 was there defending his title - and Derek was in the race with him! It was just huge - and he wasn't a spectator, he was a participant. There are only 33 of these races in the world - and Derek did it. It was amazing to be part of.
The night before we took his bike to Lucky Peak to drop it off. They had security everywhere watching the bikes throughout the night, and rows and rows of bike racks. Reality started to set in on what he'd signed up for!
The race started at 2:00, quite unusal for a race, so Derek got to Lucky Peak about 11:30 to have enough time to get his swim and bike things all ready. We have a friend in our ward who also did the race, so his wife and I went to the swim together to watch. We got there early enough to see the 1500 athletes getting everything ready for this giant race. For the swim they had lots of different waves starting 5 minutes apart. The pros went first and then they went through by age groups. Each wave had a different color swim cap given to them. Derek was in the red wave. It was awesome to see the waves start and after swimming more than a mile see them come in all intermingled. We were able to see our husbands get out of the water, rip off their wetsuits and swim gear, put on all their bike gear, and take off for a 3 hour bike ride. After they left, Alison and I headed home to pick up our kids for the finish line.
My mom tended my kids so that I could be there to cheer on Derek - she's such a cheerleader she couldn't stand the thought of no one being there cheering for him. So she took over our typical Saturday schedule - which is baseball, baseball, and more baseball! She drug all the gear to Emmy's game, took kids to the park, McDonalds for dinner, and fit in a nap for Logan. Without her I wouldn't have been able to watch Derek swim. Thanks mom!
On the bike it sprinkled, but it rained through the entire run. Derek thought he would for sure walk some of the 13 miles - but he felt so good he ran the entire thing.
My parents came me with me and the kids to watch the finish line. This was so awesome to see these people finishing something so grueling. There were so many people finishing you would never look at and think they could do something like this. The announcer said, "Determination comes in all shapes and ages." - and he was right. These people were so inspiring!
Derek had hoped to come in around 7.5 hours - but after seeing how great he'd done on the swim I knew he would be ahead of his goal. We waited in the rain for him to come across the line and right after 6 hours - here he came! He looked so great as he finished this race - with his official time being 6 hours, 19 minutes.
He really deserves to have had such a great race - he's trained so hard and for so long - and in the process, he's lost 50 pounds (fifty!). It's just amazing how much his determination paid off. It was an awesome experience.

Wonder of Wonder . . .

. . . Miracles of Miracles!

You won't believe it, but I'm here to tell you it's true: Logan walks! I know, I know, it's truly unbelievable - but true nonetheless. The kid walks!

All of my kids have been super slow walkers, so the bar for Logan was already set really low - but he hit a new record. Tyler was my fastest walker at 15 months (yes, fastest!), Emmy was 17 months, Bay was 18 months (started walking the week she started nursery - I think it was because she was scared of going in there as a crawler), but Logan felt no pressure and felt no fear about going into nursery crawling - he just crawled right in.

So we didn't know when that kid would start walking, 2, maybe 3 years old . . . he'd already let us know this was going to be his decision. Then a few weeks ago he finally started showing some intrest in walking, and would go between people. A week later he would walk between furniture without being prompted, then last week he realized walking is better than crawling! Now he wants to walk all the time. He certainly struggles in grass or bark, and he's still mastering standing up without holding onto something - but he is now convinced all of the people around him walking are onto something!

I'd forgotten how fun it is to have a new walker in the house. It is so fun to see him just walk around as his entertainment - he just walks around because he can. He doesn't want to be held nearly as much either. It is so cute to see him walk a little unbalanced, but stay upright. It's so fun to hear him coming around the corner and expect to see him crawling and he surprises me by walking.

I don't know what finally convinced him about walking - it wasn't social pressure or fear from nursery! Maybe it was my threats that crawlers can't go to the water park or camping! Whatever it was - it's a wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles at our house!