Busy, busy, busy!

We are in Utah for a little while. We are having a fun, busy time. I will write more later, but here a few pictures of the highlights so far.

Boys are disgusting!

Happy 4th of July! I hope you have had a fabulous day.

Our ward has an annual breakfast and baseball game on the 4th of July. We went to the church to eat breakfast but we came home before the game (El Guapo had to go to work and I did not want to deal the children by myself while they played in the dirt and complained that they were too hot) but we went back for the BBQ lunch. The only one of us that really enjoyed themselves was Lucky. He loves animals (really any living creature, we have found him with a fly that he happily caught in his hands) so when he saw two doggies there he was in heaven!



Lucky decided to share his chips with one of his new friends.

He took turns feeding the dog a bite of the chip and then taking a bite for himself... of the same chip. Gross!!!

Speaking of disgusting things -- I have been meaning to show you how Dusty eats his spaghetti. It is his favorite food. He shovels the noodles into his mouth. He has actually been very good about using a fork lately, but sometimes he regresses and uses his hands.

Dusty saw me loading this video and said, "Make me dinner, I want misasghetti!"

When we ate spaghetti the other day Lucky thought that Dusty was so silly and started to mimic him. At first he pretended.

And then he really went for it.

Boys can be very silly and disgusting... and I would not trade these moments for anything!

Family Movie Date

The boys have been waiting for WALL-E to come to the movie theater for a while now. They were so excited when I told them this morning that today was the first day we could go see it. Ned said that he thought it was so cool that we were going to be the first ones in the world to see it. (not even close, but probably one of the first few hundred to see it in our town) We went to the matinee so Daddy could go with us.



The boys have been practicing their Wall-e impersonations. This video isn't very good, but it gives you the idea...




The theater gave all of the children free Wall-e watches. Ned and Lucky love them.

Even Lucky was excited to see the movie. Every time he sees a picture or preview for Wall-e he squeals with excitement.

He liked the movie at the beginning but fell asleep about half an hour into it. He did love the candy, even though the chocolate melted all over his hands.
I loved watching the boys watch the movie. The very best part was going together as a family!

My Own Little Sweatshop

Yesterday was a very long day. We were up at 5:30am to get ready to go to the temple. We took our children over to my friend's house where they stayed for 6 1/2 hours. We came home and had two hours until that same friend brought her children to my house for another 7 hours while they went to the temple.


I'll be honest. I was not looking forward to my babysitting shift. My children got up a lot earlier than they usually do (they get a tad bit whiny when they get up too early) and when The Three Amigos spend too much time with the Morty children they tend to fight like siblings. Oh, and there are 6 of them, all 7 and under!


Well, it was actually a fairly pleasant experience. They played pretty well, and they all ate their dinner. Even Little Girl Morty that said, "Gross!" while I was cooking, asked for seconds.


At one point later in the evening I could see that the sweet children were turning a little sour. I knew I had to come up with something for them to do, quick. I remembered the jar of coins on my dresser that El Guapo has been filling to feed his soda habit.


"I will give you all a penny for every toy you pick up." I announced. They all went to work. It was done so quickly, and well enough that I was able to vacuum the living room and playroom, that I had to find more for them to do. I decided to have them clean windows and dust my shelves. They loved this idea, but probably not as much as I did. :)






All of this cleaning, and it cost me less than three dollars!


There was only one fight during all of the cleaning.
And only one timeout the whole evening. (Only one of these boys was in time-out, the other was keeping him company!)
My floor is vacuumed, and while my windows may not be very clean and my house wreaks of Windex, I think it was a very productive day!

Dusty wins by a knockout

My children have a new favorite game. They all race back and forth between the front and back door. It always ends in someone getting hurt or someone crying because they wanted to be the one to say, "On your mark, get set, go!"



Well, they were all playing last night (when they should have been brushing before bed) and Ned ran into Dusty's head and knocked his front tooth out. It was very loose, but I thought it would be a few weeks still before he lost it. He has lost 5 teeth now, but this was the first top tooth. I have been dreading this day since Ned started losing his teeth. I just feel like it changes their faces so much and it is the beginning of the awkward phase of life.

The sweet little baby face is gone, and I am left with this snaggletooth grin. I still think he's pretty darn cute!

Flashback Friday-Two years ago today.

Two years ago today I was preparing to have my third baby, Lucky. I was so excited to meet our baby.

I wanted to get some pictures of our family of four before we became five! We did not get any good pictures, but these show what life is really like anyway.

Looking back at these pictures I can't believe how little the boys were. They were so cute and little! Dusty is only a few months older than Lucky is now when we had Lucky. Yikes!

My mom was in town. She came earlier than the baby did so she could stay with the older boys at home. We were so glad she could come.

These next couple of pictures show how big I really got. I was HUGE. As big as I look in these pictures, they still don't do the belly justice. I was always asked if I was having twins. When strangers would ask me how far along I was I would lie. People would tell me I looked like I was ready to pop when I was only 6 months along.

Ugh! It makes me fell tired, achy, and very nauseous just looking at these pictures. I think I am done having kids. Three is plenty... right?

I love these pictures of Dusty. He wanted me to hold him, but I was too big and tired to do it as often as he wanted me to. I had the camera and decided to take pictures. I am glad I did because it was something that happened so often at the end of my pregnancy, it is fun to see it in pictures from my point of view.

hold me...

please...
um, mama?...
I can't believe she won't hold me...
mama, please hold me...
HOLD ME!!!...
Lady, you better hold me right now!...
Oh, and be nice in your comments please. I already know how big I was and I am a tiny bit sensitive about it... so keep the "you were as big as a house" comments to yourself. Thanks. :)

I didn't even know her...

Through a blog called 5 minutes for mom I read about a family that lost their baby girl on Sunday. She drowned in their new spa. The mom, Stephanie, is so amazing. She continues to post on her blog daily. After reading a few posts I noticed that she lives in the town I lived in during high school, and she is LDS. I realize that knowing that families are forever, and the comfort of our Heavenly Father's plan is what is pulling her through. I know these things too, but I can't say I would handle it so well.
A few years ago my cousin and his wife lost their son. I remember wondering how long it would take me to stop thinking about him and his parents. I could not get them out of my mind. I was so sad. I thought that if it took me this long to grieve a baby that I had only met once or twice, how would I handle the loss of my own child. It is heartbreaking.
I am so sad for Stephanie and her family. I don't even know them, but I think about them all day. They have been in my prayers, and I hope that they will continue to be comforted.