Saturday, August 28, 2010

Families are Forever!

On July 9, 2010 this adorable little family was sealed together in the St. George Temple.
TaLu is my very best friend clear back from 3rd grade. We've done a lot together, and this was one more thing to check off our list. I am so happy I got to be a witness to this!
I had never seen a family sealing before. This was my first!!
We went through the session and then into the Celestial room.
I loved watching the kids.
For as rambunctious as TaLu claims them to be
the Spirit was definately there to guide them.
The day I went through the temple to receive my own endowments, TaLu's mom Patsy was there. When we came out of the session, she said to me, "We're gonna get Lu here one day."
And no thanks to me, she got her there!!
TaLu, Kade, Kadynce, Kymber, and Gage...
I am so happy I was able to share this special day with you! Congratulations!!


Monday, August 23, 2010

1st day of preschool

Cutler started going to Mrs. Kathy's preschool today. He goes 3 days a week for 2 hours each day. It's a nice little break for me, but it kind of messes up Lexie's nap since it's in the afternoon. We'll adjust.
I was nervous because he doesn't know anyone, and it's a new place. This morning we drove by her house to make sure I knew where I was taking him. He was so excited to see 2 slow guys out front. (the little green guys from costco that hold a flag and say slow, so drivers know kids are around) We have one and the kids think it super cool.
When I picked him up he said he had "so much fun!" There are a ton of cute little kids in his class, so hopefully he'll make some friends fast.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Cutler's Birthday

This not-so-little boy turned 4 on me over the weekend!
I guess because of when his birthday is, it never seems to fail that someone isn't going to be here for the party. So every year, his birthday seems to last about 3 or 4 days. This year was no different.
Friday night gramma Sherie, papa Kent, and Mel brought presents over...
They definitely did not disappoint!
Thank you!!

The Party
We were pretty low key this year. Thankfully Shan's family was in town to help celebrate. They were our only guests (+ papa Kent for a minute), but that was just fine.
We swam at my parents' house
& barbeque'd (steaks & hotdogs, watermelon, & potato salad)
the 2 most important things at a summer birthday party!

some just chilled & shared popcorn
picked the flowers (sorry mom)
or just looked 'tutu' cute!
the presents

who knew a 4 year old would be so excited about underwear?!!

We were actually a little worried about getting him a bike. We have Noah's old one but he has never shown any interest in it. We sort of thought that maybe if he has his 'own' bike then he would like it.
It worked!
and the best part is he can already ride it and he has someone to ride with!


birthday dinner

Who woulda thought?! I definitely wasn't planning on Wendy's, but it was his choice.


Happy Birthday Buddy!
We love you!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Happy Birthday!!

These two share a birthday! and Cutler loves his Uncle Rob!
Happy Birthday!!

More to come from Cutler's party.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

First day of School

2nd grade
Mrs. King

Doesn't Noah look all big and grown up?
Boy are we ready for school to start. It does seem extremely early this year, but considering all the days off they get during the year, I guess they better get started! Noah is excited to be going back, and so am I. He's such a good helper with the kids, and to do little chores for me, but it's time. He's bored.
We're hoping for a great year. I haven't heard one good thing about his teacher yet. And last night was back to school night and I have to be honest, I wasn't very impressed with her. I guess time will tell!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

The Ranch - Day 7

This was our last day in Florida. But we still had a ton of stuff to do. Our day started early with the Summer Club the sister missionaries put on for the kids. We met at the church at 9:00 and tie-dyed shirts. Seriously. I'm pretty sure it doesn't take a rocket scientist to tie dye, but it would have helped. No offense mom, but I don't think the lady/ladies in charge of this one really knew what they were doing. And I've never done it before so...I don't know. Anyway, we tied off our shirts, and then started dying them. Some kids just started dying their shirts, the tables, the shirts they were wearing. It was quite commical. I just tried to mind my own business and do our shirts.
Noah & I are trying to figure out which pattern we want to try.
Noah helping me dye. What a mess!

While we were gone doing this Colby went with my dad to fix someone's a/c. One way to the ladies house was a 45 minute drive. That's how spread out the homes are on the ranch. Colby loved spending that time with my dad, seeing him work, and working with him. He loved hearing my dad talk about the work he's doing, and how much he likes it out there.

Once we got back to the house, Cutler wasted no time getting back to catching...things.
Some of the lizards were so small that Lexie would try to step on them because they were a 'bug'. I wasn't about to clean up smooshed lizard so I had to teach her not to step on them.
My mom and the kids walked from our trailer back to the house so that Colby & I could pack all our stuff up and get it into the car. On the way they stopped to find shells in the dirt. They don't have rocks out there. When you dig in the dirt all you find are seashells. Then they made little creatures out of them. I'll have to take a picture of one and post it. They're cute. And the boys love them.

The Whip. There's this 10 year old boy on the ranch that makes these whips by hand, out of parachute chord. They're amazing. He sells them to save money for his mission. So my mom got this one for my dad for his birthday/father's day present. We all had to try and crack the whip, and it's not easy.
**the trailer in the background is not the one we stayed in. They're trying to get that one hauled off the ranch because it's just junk.**
I was able to crack it, but not without a price. I was doing a little wrist jerk practicing, and didn't think I really jerked very hard, but the whip came up and hit my face and neck. Right under my bottom lip, and then down my neck. It burned so bad I thought it was going to bleed. I just stood there for a minute holding my neck waiting for the blood. No blood. Just a lot of pain. The very bottom of the welt on my neck stayed for a few days. After that, I didn't really dare to do it anymore.

After a bit, my dad had to go back to work. He left, and my mom put us to work. No, not really. Lexie was having a nap so we tried to do things outside. Colby & Noah washed my mom's car
and I swept the back of the porch and down the stairs.
Cutler took a break from catching bugs and found a friend to entertain him
My dad came back for a little bit. Just long enough to get a haircut from me, then he had to go back to work. While he was working my mom took me and the boys to see the rodeo grounds. Colby stayed at the house with Lexie and tried to take a nap.

Now, the rodeo grounds are old. And they're trying to re-build some parts of it. But they can only do a little bit at a time. They hold all kinds of events here, but especially rodeo's. Duh.
This is the concession stand. The far left is where the freezers are kept. The tiny little building on the far right behind the tree is where the sister missionaries sold snow cones at the 4th of July celebration. (you needed to know that.) And on the far left, where you can't see is where all the tables are. Then on the even farther right, and sort of behind is the actual arena.
So, I'm not so sure I would sit on these bleachers. They're just a board resting on a cynderblock wall. With nothing underneath, or between the walls. I don't know if that makes sense, but they were pretty scary.

I just have to throw in a picture of some of the humanitarian projects my mom has done out there. Blankets, dolls, hot pads, burp cloths, beanies & booties, books, headbands, and toys. The mother goose book is actually a material pattern that they've just cut out and sewn. And the binder book is full of the ABC's, numbers and colors, to teach children. They take all of these things to a main building that deals with all the different shelters around. Then they distribute the stuff to the different shelters that need those certain things.  

We had the most amazing time on this vacation! I was worried mostly about losing a child, but thankfully that never happened. I think most of the things we had to deal with was because of the lack of sleep we all got.

We loved seeing my parents. Spending a whole week with them was so much fun! I loved seeing where they live, and how they live. Seeing the things they do every day, and the people they work with. I'm so thankful my parents are in a position to do this right now.
My dad has always wanted to serve a mission, a service mission. And right now, since there's not much work here, and not much to occupy his time at home, I'm thankful they are there. Serving the Lord. In my opinion it helps my dad and makes him feel good knowing he's a) working; b) helping others; c) serving the Lord; and d) needed. He's the type of person who needs to be doing something all the time. Doesn't do so well when there's nothing to do. And that's definitely not the case out there. There's plenty to do, and plenty to keep him busy.
My mom likes it there too. She's not as busy as my dad, but they're the lead couple so anything that any of the missionaries have to deal with has to go through her. She keeps herself busy with all the humanitarian stuff. And she's re-teaching herself how to play the piano.
I already miss both of them so much, and can't wait to see them in just a couple of moths when they come home for my brother's wedding.

The Ranch - Day 6

This was the day we had all been looking forward to since we got to Florida.
First, we had mom take us on a tour. Like one she does for people who come to check out the ranch. In the bus. She drove us around telling us about the ranch, and trying to find some alligators. We did see some small ones. I'm so mad I didn't take any pictures of the land on the ranch. Mostly our tour was just to see the land...and facts about the things we saw. We got all our 'facts' throughout our trip, which I'll share later. So, on our drive, there is the swimming hole. And it's just that. In some parts it's as deep as 12 feet I think, and they've built a diving board, and other things to climb & jump from into this water. It's all gated in so the gators don't get in. And once a week they put chlorine in it to clean it out. It's basically a manmade pond, that's fun to swim at. Colby is wishing now that they would have went swimming in it.
After our tour, we came back and had some lunch then drove over to Melbourne to the beach. We only stayed for a little more than an hour, but that was good.
The boys (all of them) had a great time!
Lexie didn't like the sand much. She preferred papa, or me. Or anyone who would just hold her.
I finally got her to go down to the water. A wave came up and I thought it would be fun to have it splash on her feet. Well, it was a bigger wave than I thought and splashed all the way up her legs and she did not like it. So then I was back to holding her again.
I just liked this picture
After that, she got hot, and tired, and wasn't having fun.

When we got back to the ranch the boys showered and we got dinner ready. But not before catching some more bugs. It's one of their huge grasshoppers. Those things are ginormous! Even Lexie liked being in on the action.
After dinner...
The best part of the whole trip.
Hands down!
Yes folks, that is an airboat.
We totally went on an airboat ride!
I still can't get over how much fun it was. Those machines are the coolest things. They go over everything. So Where you see us is right where we started. Then we went off to our right down into those trees. There's a little, and I mean tiny creek. Almost no water in it. We drove, or floated, or whatever you call it through that for about 10 minutes and then turned out into a river. It wasn't deep, but it was wide. And boy did we see some alligators. But they're fast, so I had a hard time getting a picture of them.
In this picture, above each of the x's is an alligator. It's kind of hard to see them, but this is what it was like. They were all out sunbathing, and as soon as they heard us, they ran into the water. It was so cool!

I tried to mark this one so you could hopefully tell how big he was. The left mark is his tail, the right his nose. He was probably 8 feet long. These things are huge.

Once we got back to the ranch we hung out on the porch for a while trying to soak everything in. I think the kids were just beyond tired, they were being so silly. Beyond exhausted. After the week we just put them through, the heat, the walking, not much sleep. They were troopers.
Oh my gosh. Lexie was being so funny. She had just started saying eeewww. The boys were showing her a dead bug and she kept saying it. With this little girl voice, it was so funny.

Oh my...we were wind blown from the ride. My poor mom, sorry mom. Your hair... is kind of sad.

Lexie didn't like the saddle nearly as much as the boys.
But she loved this alligator. Meet Gus. Gus was killed on the ranch a few years back. He's about 8 feet long.

This ended our first whole day on the ranch. It was action packed and we were all pooped. But we still had another whole day so we headed to bed to try and get some sleep. I hardly slept though. When my parents first got back there, they'd been there about a month, they had a snake in their house. So I kept worrying that one was in the trailer we were staying in and it was going to crawl up the bed and get me.