Father's Day at our house...

What would father's day be without a picture of the honoree with his boys? Too bad none of them really wanted to get their picture taken, so this was the best I got, but they are still wonderful, handsome, and my favorite guys!

But before the big celebration, we had lots to prepare for...

We had to make cards...

(look at that concentration!)

Then we had to draw pictures and write notes to make this...

... turn into this...

I got this fun idea from one of the many craft blogs I read. I had the kids make their own candy wrappers and we put them on some of Daddy's favorite candy. Each wrapper had a drawing on it by the boys, and then on the other side had notes to him. Some said "I love you". Some listed reasons why he is a good dad. Some listed things that dad has taught them. Every one of the things that the boys wrote (or I helped them write) were their ideas. Some of the things they listed were... "You are a good dad because you play Wii with us.... drive me to school.... taught us not to lie or say bad words... taught me to read... take us for rides in your truck... and you still love me even when I spit up on your dry clean only pants!" (that last one was from Landon!)  :)

Since Landon wasn't able to color any pictures... he would have just tried to eat the crayons and paper... he just hung out and watched us while crawling around and finding trouble! He may look innocent, but he's not so much!!

We also took the kids to see the new Toy Story 3 on Saturday. It was so good!! We all loved it!! Landon however really enjoyed the left over licorice Sunday as we were making dinner for our daddy...

Look at how messy that little boy got!! But he sure loved it!

We had a great father's day with our daddy. We made him his favorite breakfast, went to church, came home and made him his favorite dinner.... steak and potatoes! He enjoyed some other gifts from all of us, and some relaxation time. 

We love our Dad, we think he is amazing!!

Fun in the Sun!

Vegas in the summertime of course means it's hot hot HOT!!! So you have to find ways to have fun and not get stuck inside all summer. So a few days ago, we did just that. We wanted to go do something fun during Brayden's last week of track break. So we met up with some friends and went to this fun park not too far from our house. You can't go to a park around here in this heat without something like this to play in!

There was a fun water play area and a huge playground that was covered and a nice area for the parents to sit in the shade and chit chat while all the kids played. 

The boys thought the water was a little cold at first, but soon got over it and had a blast running through the water.

Brayden thought it was hilarious to stand under these buckets and wait for them to soak him. Conner didn't want anything to do with the buckets, so he stuck with the sprinkler things.

Landon was not such a fan of the cold water..... and I'm just mean enough of a mom to make him sit there while I take a picture!  :)

NOPE!! Not a fan at all!!!! 

He was pretty mad, but before you call CPS on me or stamp "mean mom" on my forehead, he was only there long enough to snap this picture, he then decided to crawl over to me, and as soon as his little tummy hit the cold water, he immediately regretted his decision, and I picked him up... I felt a little bad for him! But then he almost instantly fell asleep on my shoulder after all the trauma, so it wasn't all a lost cause!

Conner and his friend John, they had so much fun playing together! We enjoyed a little picnic lunch and lots of fun with our friends.

The boys loved it!! (well except Landon I guess!) As soon as we got into the car, they asked if we could go back the next day. This is going to have to be on the list of things to do more often I guess. It was good times!! Thanks for coming everyone that did, and if you didn't we missed you and you need to come with us next time!

Swimming Lessons

The boys are loving their swimming lessons again this year. They are still going to the same lady that they have for the past 3 years. This year though, Brayden has moved up to a more advanced class, and Conner is still doing great in the beginner class.

 (Brayden)

Brayden is doing really well this year. But for some reason he gets really nervous sometimes and panics a bit if he realizes he's swimming on his own without his teacher hanging onto him. I think he's slowly but surly getting better. I don't get it though... he seems to have no fear doing a flip into the pool during playtime, but during class, he does better somedays then others. He is progressing though, so that is what is important right?!?

Conner is doing so good this year. This little boy seems to not have ANY fear. Which is a good and bad thing I guess. His teacher says that he does really well for his age, and is quickly learning the breath stroke and back stroke, which many kids his age have a hard time with apparently. He is getting better and better!

(Conner)

I love that the boys are able to take swimming lessons, but what I DO NOT love is sitting outside for almost an hour and a half in the hot hot HOT afternoon. Now that they are in different classes, we are there much longer then in the past years. Landon gets pretty restless and grumpy because lessons are during his usual nap time, and he just wants to get down and crawl around and play just like everyone else is.  But it's all worth it if the older boys are having fun and learning how to swim... right?

A conversation I never thought I'd have to have....

This is one of those times where I may one day look back on and laugh... but for now, I just shake my head and think... what in the WORLD!!!!

The other night, Patrick was working really late. I had fed the boys dinner, and was upstairs putting Landon to bed when I could hear the older boys giggling (in kind of the guilty way kids do when they are up to no good) and messing around, and then I thought I heard mention of... well their boys parts... and so I put Landon in his crib and go to see what they are up to. I get down stairs and they are in the family room watching TV. I ask what they are doing and they of course say "nothing!" I pry more and put on my "stern mom" face and ask again what they were up to. Then Conner blurts out... "Brayden peed on me!"  WHAT?!?!?! I ask for more explanation and only get the response from Brayden  of "it wasn't my fault, he made me do it!"  At this point, I'm not sure how that is at all possible, so I start getting mad and asking them exactly what happened. They then tell me that Brayden was in the bathroom and Conner decided he wanted to go in there too, (who knows why!) As Brayden is peeing, the thought comes to Conner's mind... "I wonder what pee smells like?" So he puts his head down next to the stream of pee to try to smell it!!!!! (WHAT THE?????) That makes Brayden mad (who can blame him!) and so he looses focus and gets pee in Conner's hair!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!! What do you even say to that!!! I got mad at them, and explained that...

#1- We DO NOT go into the bathroom when someone else is in there

#2- We don't put our HEADS anywhere near other people going to the bathroom or the toilet!

#3- It does NOT matter what pee smells like, you don't try to smell your brother's pee!!!!!! THAT IS GROSS!!!

I never thought those word would have to come out of my mouth! But they did!

Really?!?!? Is this the luxury of Motherhood... especially a mother of boys?!?!

From the mouth of babes....

A few days ago, just after Patrick left for work, Conner and I had the following conversation......

C- "Mom, is Dad going to come to my swimming lessons today?"
Me- "No, he has to go to work. Your lessons are in the middle of the afternoon, and that is right when Daddy has to be at his office."
C- "Well why does daddy have to go to work?"
Me- "So he can earn money so we can buy things like food for you to eat, and a house for you to live in, and, and toys for you to play with, and clothes for you to wear."
C- "But Mom, we already paid for our house."
Me- "Well houses cost a lot of money, so you don't usually pay for them all at once, you pay for them a little at a time."
(then he has this serious look on his face like that is the most ridiculous thing in the world...)
C- "But Mom,  then that would take all our money if we keep paying for that stuff!"

I'm thinking "why yes... yes it does Conner."

I love how kids look at the world with such simplicity!

What to do...

So what do you do when your weekend plans for a SUPER FUN trip to Utah to visit your friends gets messed up, then canceled due to your entire family getting the stomach flu?? 

Well, we did a little of this...

I love the position he fell asleep in. Brayden fell asleep in a funky position in the other chair in our family room too, but I didn't think to get a picture of it. 

A LOT of watching this...

I stopped counting after 10 or 12 movies in 2 days by either all of us or just the kids.

A bit of playing this...

...among other games.

Made good use of the art set we got for Christmas...

Drank a ton of this...

Unless of course you are a sick baby, then this is all that will do...

And a WHOLE LOT of this....

my whole hallway upstairs is STILL filled with blankets, towel, sheets, and various pajamas that had been washed. We pretty much never got out of our PJ's all weekend, really only to shower and get clean ones on occasionally. 

We definitely caught some horrible flu bug, but we weren't so lucky to have it pass over in just 24 hours like it did with most people. Actually it only lasted about a day for me, which was good, because it lasted a lot longer with everyone else in my family and I had to take care of everyone. Isn't the job of a Mom so fun??? The puking started on Wednesday morning and didn't stop till Sunday night! Patrick even passed out once while he was so sick. It was crazy!

I'm so done with sickness at our house! I think my washer and dryer may go on strike because they have been used so much over the past few days.  The Clorox wipes have been working overtime too!

I'm happy to report we are all FINALLY better, but didn't get to do a single fun thing all weekend. I was going bonkers being quarantined to the house. I ventured out to Wal-Mart twice... once for diapers and once for more Sprite and bread for toast! So I resorted to a little "retail therapy" by shopping online. I bought a new book, The Hunger Games, it should be here later this week. Some new capris, I really needed some and didn't want to miss the Holiday Weekend sales. And I almost bought a new entertainment center on Overstock for the new TV we are about to get... but I had to draw the line there, I think Patrick would have killed me if I bought that out of boredom!! And I spent lots of time on Ebay hunting for deals on things I wanted... but didn't get any.

Here's to hoping for a better week this week then last. 

I sure missed going to Utah though... *sigh*

Conner's a Preschool Grad!!

Last week was Conner's Preschool graduation. He has loved every minute of his 2 years in Preschool with his teacher Ms. Tanya. He just loves her and loved going to her house and playing with her dogs and his friends. He of course learned a lot of things as well. He can write his name pretty well for a 4 year old, and he knows his basic 123's and ABC's, he learned his colors and shapes, and some spanish, went on super fun field trips, and all sorts of fun stuff. We are going to miss preschool, but he is so excited to go to Kindergarten in August. Here are some of the highlights of his Preschool Graduation. 

Each one of the kids had a little part to play in the graduation...

Conner's was to lead everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance and he knew all the words and did a great job!

Then each child took a turn to tell us what they wanted to be when they grew up. There were some ambitious answers like Iron Man, Buzz Lightyear, Cowboys, or Astronauts.

 Conner said he wants to be a Policeman when he grows up!

Then his teacher called each child up and told something about them. She said Conner was such a kind and fun kid. He always wants to be first at everything... first to get his work done, first in line, first to sit down for circle time... he's like that at home too!!  :)  Then they got their report cards. He got great grades and is ready for Kindergarten!!

I tried to get a picture of his class, but this bunch of 4 and 5 year olds were kinda done with the picture taking... so this was the best I got. Conner loved all of the kids in preschool and would come home and talk about them and ask if he could go to their house to play. Lots of times he did get to go and play with them, and that boy loves to play with his friends!

One of the mom's found this cute idea to get a potted flower and have each of the kids/moms make a flower to go in it with a gift card inside as a Thank You to Ms. Tanya. It turned out great and she loved it! 

Thanks Ms. Tanya for a wonderful 2 years of preschool!!!  

Now he's 8 months!

Landon is 8 months old already! Really, how does that happen so fast!?!?

Here are some things about Landon at 8 months old:

*He army crawls all over... very fast!

*He loves to eat his fruit puffs and yogurt melts and can feed himself those things pretty well

*He has discovered the door stops and plays with them whenever he can

*He is quickly helping me know what in our house still needs to be baby proofed!

*He can sit up by himself, but hasn't figured how to go from sitting to laying very gracefully yet

*He is very ticklish on his ribs and by his neck

*has started to give "kisses" which really is just his little slobbery mouth wide open and landing on your cheek.

*He sleeps for about 11-12 hours at night

*He has discovered his... ummm.... "boy parts" (gonna keep this "G-rated") and his hand goes down there the instant that I take his diaper off. BOYS!!!!!

*He never sits still, not even to get dressed or for a diaper change

*He HATES Turkey Rice dinners... you would have thought we were killing him when we tried to feed it to him. That is the first food he has not liked!

*Takes 2-3 naps a day

*loves to play with the remote or our cell phones, he goes crazy if he sees one and can't get to it

*quickly spits his binky out if he sees you coming with his bottle

*kicks his little feet and talks if you ask him if he wants his "ba-ba"

*wears mostly 9 month clothes, but some 12 month ones too

*is still quite the little momma's boy and follows me all around

*loves to crawl into his brother's room and find things on the floor to play with and/or put in his mouth

*his hair is getting thicker

*still no teeth!

*loves to eat his toes... he always has his feet in his mouth

We just love this sweet little boy!!!!

Silly kids....

This week is the start of Brayden's last track break. 

He's home for the next month, which is a good and bad thing. I love not being in a rush in the mornings, but somedays he just really needs to be in school. He loves to be with his friends and keeping busy. So what does one do on track break you may ask.... 

Well this is what kept the boys entertained for a while today... It's Halloween in May!

The boys found some of their old Halloween costumes and begged me if they could put them on. I let them, in hopes of being a "cool" or good mom. They loved it!

Some things that I loved about it... Conner's 1 black sock, the Star Wars light saber as a weapon for the Power Ranger, and the Iron Man missile launcher as Batman's weapon of choice. 

Love these boys and their imaginations!

Patrick's mission...

It has been a little over 10 years since Patrick came home from his mission. It was shortly after that that we met and got married. Ever since we have been married, Patrick has asked me to make a scrapbook of his mission. Well, it only took me 10 years... but I finally did it! I spend all my extra time over the past month working on it. It was such a great experience to do this for him. Looking through all his pictures and listening to his stories behind them or experiences he had was kind of a testimony boost for me. Patrick served in a very hard mission and he was very successful there. He served in the Budapest Hungary mission. The church is not very big there, and the closest temple is in Germany. He struggled and grew a lot on his mission. He made lasting friendships with people he served with. It was a privilege to make this book for him.

I made this book for a few reasons. First and foremost: to preserve his memories of those 2 years in Hungary. His mission is a big part of his life so I wanted him to have something more then just pictures in an old school album. He was very good about writing in his journal while on his mission too, so that also helps to preserve those memories for him.

I also wanted to document his huge accomplishment of serving an honorable mission as an example for our boys. I hope they chose to follow in their father's footsteps and serve a mission as well. Patrick has told me time and time again that his mission made him the man he is today. I hope that for our boys as well. I hope that they will learn and grow and develop a greater testimony just like their father did.

I am so proud of him for serving the Lord for 2 years, even against many obstacles that were put before him before he ever even left home. I am so thankful that he served honorably and that he set a solid example for our boys to see.

Take a look at the book if you want. It's fun to see how young he looked back then and to see old friends from back in the day!

Click here to see it!

I am grateful for so many missionaries that chose to go and serve the Lord! But I am especially grateful for the one I married!

Crafty...

Well I'm not a super crafter by any means, but I really do like to do crafts once in a while. I got this idea to make these blocks for Landon's room way back when I was very first pregnant with him. My BFF Melissa made some for her girls room, and when I saw them, I knew that I wanted to make some too for my baby's room.

Melis is my crafting buddy! We used to be neighbors in Utah, and she is so dang creative and crafty it will KILL YOU! I miss crafting with her! But we still get ideas from each other and craft whenever we get together.

So a little while ago I finally did my own blocks! I thought they turned out pretty cute. Now to just find a cute little shelf to hang in his room to put them on... but for now they are just on his dresser.  

I wanted to embellish them a bit more, but couldn't think of anything "boyish" enough to put on them.  Flowers and bows just don't seem to fit into his room decor. (or lack of!) Anyone have any suggestions?

I scream... You scream... We all scream for ICE CREAM!

Last night we took the boys out for ice cream at the local DQ. It is a rare treat, so they thought it was awesome! They thoroughly enjoyed their chocolate dipped ice cream cones. This is the best way to spend the hot summer months here!

Landon was happy to tag along even though he didn't get any ice cream.

Maybe some fingers would taste good....

Ummm, but not as good as toes taste!  Delicious!!

He'll settle for eating his feet instead of ice cream! He loves to eat his feet!

Loved it!!

Today was just a normal day. I went to pick up Brayden and a neighbor kid from school since it is my week to drive the carpool. We dropped off my neighbor's daughter and then had to run Patrick's pants to the dry cleaners. (Landon so nicely spit up all over them yesterday in church, right before Patrick had to teach in Elder's Quorum! lol!) On our way home, I had let the boys roll their windows down. I'm a mean mom, and rarely let them do this because I find it super annoying that the wind blows my hair in my face while I drive. But today, I let them have the back windows open. As we were driving down the street, both boys were reaching their arms out the windows to feel the wind as we drove. As they do this, I hear Conner say, "Ahhhh, this is the life!"

I love how such simple things can make their day! 

It made me smile!