There's something about those lips!

I love baby lips!!! What is it about babies' lips that is so beautiful?! Maybe you could tell me...

Oh and his lips aren't bad either. This is the picture of perfection:

And here's a picture for Kristin. Does it make you sad? It's his own fault for not taking a nap! This is what happens when we miss our nap! Notice what's playing on TV...yup CARS! So you know he was tired.

And after I took this picture, I tried to move him to his bed, but he wasn't having it. So no, this picture does not make me sad!

Weekends and neighbors

We had an impromptu dinner with two of our neighbor families (the Ericksons and Robisons) on Saturday (dutch oven cooking, YUM!). Bret had been out changing the oil and talking to neighbor Mike when he decided he wanted to cook for quite a crew! It was quite nice because Bret took care of practically everything (and it's a good thing, too, because I had rolled my ankle). I did a little clean up. It was the least I could do since he cooked such a massive meal!

We had a lot of fun. We ate outside and then we played some horseshoes and had a fire pit going. Mike was tearing it up at horseshoes against Bret and then Ryan. We then decided to play Mike and I vs. Ryan and Bret so I could drag Mike down a bit. I don't know what happened, but Mike just went cold. It must have been the pressure of having to carry me the whole time...even though I scored 6 of the 11 points (kudos for me because I suck at horseshoes). Anyhow, Ryan and Bret kicked our booties!

We let Oscar out of the kennel, and the kids decided to replace him, I guess...

See Kendra, if four kids can fit in there comfortably, surely big old Oscar is fine in it! Now I just need to get a lock on it so it can be my new babysitter!

The pictures below are just for my memory purposes (this blog is what keeps me on top of my journaling). Grayson loves sitting in Mabel's car seat for some reason. Doesn't look all that comfortable to me, but hey, whatever floats his boat.

Then on Sunday, I left the room to get ready for church. I left Mabel laying on the ground while Aiden and Gray were watching TV. So of course, Mabel started screaming...sometimes you just have to ignore her to get stuff done. Vote for me for Mother of the Year! I guess she was really bothering Aiden because I came back in to check on them and Aiden had her up on the couch by him and he was laying beside her singing to her. I wish I could have captured that picture, but by the time I grabbed my camera, he was sitting up by her and Grayson was climbing all over trying to get ready for his close-up. It really was precious. Here's what I captured instead:

Not nearly as precious!

Handsome men!

I finally gave Grayson and Aiden haircuts. I've been putting it off and putting it off now for about a month because it's just so much fun to give kids haircuts! As it turns out, Grayson was waaay easier than Aiden! He sat there on the edge of the sink and kept grinning at himself in the mirror...this big old cheesy grin (kind of like the one in the picture below). Aiden, on the other hand, felt the need to continually shake his head all over the place, open his mouth and get hair shavings in it. Then he proceeded to spit all over the place. Joy of all joys. Oh well, at least they're finally done. They should be good for another 6 months!
Grayson's cut makes me sad, he looks so much older now.

Aiden doesn't look like a little girl anymore.
On a side note, here's a conversation I had with Grayson:

He was rambling on with his nonsensical knock, knock jokes. I gave him one of my best fake laughs and said, "You're goofy!" To which he responded, "No, Mickey!"

A Dinner Conversation

Aiden: I picked something up at school today. I thought it was a clover.

Me: What?

Aiden: Do I have red spots all over my face?

Me: Aiden, what are you talking about?

Aiden: Poison....Mary? (Maybe you needed to see his face when he said this?)

I guess this is what happens when you have a cousin named Ivy...he knew it was a girls name but didn't know ivy is also a plant. I thought this was cute. Later that evening I found out Ivy was the one who told him a clover was poison ivy? How she and the school incident are related, I don't know...she's about 3 years older than him and in a completely different school. If I could only figure out how a 5 year old's brain works, I could make millions!

Getting Personal

I received an e-mail from our Relief Society secretary announcing that our ward was going to do a 40 day fast for missionary work. There was supposed to be a sign up sheet passed around on Sunday to pick your day. I only made it through half of Sunday School and none of R.S. because Mabel was being a fuss bucket, so I'm not sure when the fast is. I wouldn't be able to participate anyhow, since I am still nursing.

My point in telling you this is that last night I was awakened a little after 3 a.m. by Mabel. She was such a good sleeper up until these darn teeth started coming in... Anyhow, after feeding her I couldn't get back to sleep so I lay in bed with my mind racing and this fast popped into my head. I started thinking about what I could do in lieu of fasting for this effort. And this is what I came up with: share the truth with others. And you know how you get some of your brightest ideas on those sleepless nights; I've had some doozies. But I feel really strongly about this. I rarely share my feelings about my religion with others. I haven't born my testimony since I was in primary (aside from the 'usual' at the end of my talks I've given in Sacrament meeting). I haven't done this because I don't like getting emotional in front of people...makes me uncomfortable. Since my dad's passing, that's kind of gone out the window, I have little to no control over my emotions anymore. Another reason is fear of rejection, I guess. I feel like if they reject the Gospel, they are in turn rejecting me because it is such a big part of me. Logically, I know this is ridiculous, but I guess that's the Adversary's plan of attack. Why not share something so important with others when I know how much it has helped me and can help them? It's selfish not to, really. Honestly, even as I type this, I wonder if I'll be able to hit that 'publish post' key. If you're reading this now, I did!!

***Warning to my family per your request. You know what I mean***
I want all of my family and friends to know I have a testimony of this Gospel. I don't know how people get along without it. At this particular time in my life I cannot express how grateful I am for the Plan of Salvation and for Christ's willingness to suffer and die for me so that I can be with my family in the eternities. What a bleak world this would be without that. I know that I will see my dad again, and while that doesn't make missing him any easier, it makes it okay, because I know that God knows best. I know that He knows me better than anyone. I know that when all else seems to fail, He loves me and cares about my well-being. I know that my church is the true church and it brings me happiness and peace. I believe there are a lot of good churches out there that teach a lot of good things, but they are missing the power of the priesthood. I know about the healing power of the priesthood, I've felt it. I know about the power of prayer. I have had soooo many prayers answered. When you're in the trenches, it's hard to see Gods power at work in your life. But when you get that still, quiet moment to meditate, say at 3 a.m., you can easily recognize his hand in everything.

Snow Day

After years of saying we were going to the snow and not doing it, we finally did it! Apparently we should have said we were going a few more times and not went; it was sort of a nightmare. The kids are still too young, I guess. Really. Too young for snow! I didn't know it was possible.

Anyhow, Bret planned it all out for my birthday. We headed to Flagstaff Monday and stayed the night in a hotel. Instead of going to one of the snow play areas (we figured they'd be too crowded), we decided to find our own place to tube. We found a hill that we hiked back into through about 3 feet of snow in some areas. We told Aiden to follow in our footsteps, but you know him! He had to blaze his own trails and kept getting stuck. The boys just had jeans on , so you can imagine what they looked like when we finally got up the hill...oh wait, you don't have to imagine, I have pictures!

Grayson was pretty much crying from the start and then Aiden started in. Bret and I laughed because Aiden tends to be overly dramatic and it wasn't a particularly cold day. We made it down the hill about 5 times total and that was it.

We thought building a snowman would make Aiden want to stay, but it didn't. Bret and I ended up doing the snowman by ourselves. We made it fast and then headed back down the mountain.

Oh well! Back to the hotel for a nice warm soak in the tub! Aaaaah...

As it turns out the snow play areas were turning away cars by the hundreds because they were so full. So we would have ended up doing the same thing...we just cut out the middle man.