A movie night for Bradley

Yesterday we went up to Nate's parent's for a Bridal Shower for our neice. I had such a good time visiting with everyone. Especially Nate's cousin Emily, I really enjoyed getting to know her better- and so did Noah. I was so grateful for all the Dads' help with my kids outside too. I'm really excited for Maryn too.
Then the girls stayed the night at Grandma Ruthie and Grandpa Russ's with their girl cousins their ages. I'm sure they had fun- guess we'll see :)- they're not back yet. But Bradley and I sure had a fun night. He and Luke were such cuties on the way home. I forget how much they can really talk until the girls are gone :) They've got little motor mouths on them :) Luke fell asleep though, so he went to bed when we got home, but Bradley, Noah and I got to have a movie night!! It sure is fun for me to be able to have that time alone with him. He's such a sweet little boy.

A note from Charity

I found this cute little note when I was cleaning up yesterday. For a six-year old Charity sure is insightful. She really is a sweet heart- I'm lucky to have her.

Free Haircuts- you get what you paid for :)

I got sick of looking at the boys and thinking, "That kid needs a haircut." So I finally broke down and just cut their hair yesterday! Yep, all by myself. I have cut Nate's hair a few times--normally turned out okay (except the time our clippers wigged out on us- no pun inteneded! HA! jk. remember that Wendy?), but I have never done the boys' before. I was hoping I could just do the same on their's that I would have on Nate's, my only concern was getting them to hold still. I ended up just putting a movie on the computer here for them and let them watch while I cut. I must say- I think they look just fine! I really couldn't have expected more from a free haircut :) I think they really turned out alright! I was pretty proud of myself :)

Sunday-- HELP!!!!!!

I had so many things to say about today. Nothing that will make my kids look very good though, and nothing that will make me feel less embarrassed, so I think I'm gonna just leave the details out. Let's just say it was an interesting day at church...... Not my favorite Sunday. I'm hoping that it wasn't a sign of how the next 10 Sundays are going to be (yes, that's how many more I have without Nate), but really I'm hoping it was just a fluke and we'll have better luck next week.
This morning I was thinking about something we learned in Sunday School class in our ward in Taylorsville. I don't remember the actual lesson, but someone made a comment about how hard it is to go to church when you have young kids and how it hardly feels worth it because you're constantly having to get up and go out in the halls, screaming kids, potty breaks, etc. And I always remember what Brother Mark Neilson (he was actually our home teacher too) said- he said, "The whole reason we come to church is to worship. We don't necessarily come to hear the talks and lessons, they can help, but we come to worship." He said that we are there to be there and in Lord's house and showing that committment.
Not long after I sat down in Sacrament Meeting today, I realized why I had been reminded of that lesson. (That's one of the few lessons that will come back to me every so often when I need it) Anyway- it was a good thing I had been reminded of it today because I don't know if I would have made it through church otherwise. But really, when I look back on the day- it was awful, but at least I was there. I hope I didn't make everyone in my ward crazy by staying there, but I am glad I didn't leave. I have "something in me" that won't let me leave church early anyway- and I really don't want to teach my kids that we leave church early, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were people that would have rathered I not stay. I also kept thinking about how Nate always says that we're here to GUIDE our children, not CONTROL them. That's a tough one at church since you have everyone there watching you "guide" your children out into the foyer, but anyway- it's good for me to remember that too.
So anyway. I guess it was kind of good for me to sit there and watch Bradley throw tantrums and lay on the floor in the middle of the hallway, because it gave me some time to think, and re-evaluate what I need to be doing to handle his little issues. I think there are a lot of things I could do differently, and I am going to start this week. And hopefully we can get things straightened out before next week. I love going to church, and I love teaching my kids that that is what is best, and so I just want to figure things out. If anyone has any good ideas for keeping kids happy at church.....send them my way......I used to feel like I knew what I was doing, and that Nate and I had things under control pretty much, but HA! looks like it was just Nate that did :) lol jk. Guess I just got too cocky......

*****On a much more positive note- I want to thank Dad and Pam for saving the day!! What a blessing it was to have them pop in with dinner!!! Thank you SO MUCH!!! ********

AND ALSO CHARITY'S TALK WENT SO WELL!!!!! She did awesome! And I have to say what a pleasure it was to sit in the back and listen as she READ her talk all by herself- awwwww........

(sad that I actually still complain about the bad when there were such wonderful things that occurred.....I need to work on that!)

Nate on his Birthday

Nate has some really good friends in OK with him- they were all in school in AK together. They called me the night before his b-day and asked what cake and restaurant Nate likes so that they could take him to for his birthday......They took him cupcakes in the morning before school/work (sorry, I don't know what they call it), and then dinner and ice cream in the evening......talk about good friends!! I was SO GRATEFUL that someone was doing something for him. This is a picture that Chris sent me of Nate on his birthday.....looks like he had a good time! How cool!

Feeding the Ducks at Murray Park!

After the picnic thing the kids and I (as promised) went to the park to feed the ducks. It was pretty cloudy, and sprinkled on a us a little, so not too hot at all- it was GREAT!!



It really felt so peaceful there! More peaceful than I have felt in a long time. And it was a really fun time we all shared- I like doing stuff with just my kids and me.



And does anyone know what happened to the old playground they had there??? I thought maybe I was mistaken, but I looked at my old pictures and it's definitely a different playground. I was somewhat disappointed at first (I'm just WAY too sentimental), but this new one's pretty cool! The kids had a blast! Brad even braved the wind and sprinkles (have I mentioned his wind phobia?? I really think it's from that big wall of sand we had come barrelling at us a little while back) he had a good time!


Luke of course didn't even know I was there the whole time- just toddled around with his little bag of cheetos-- who knew a bag of cheetos could be such a great companion!

The little spinning things they have are awesome!! Wish they'd had those when I was a kid!




And the baby ducks!! How cute!!!

Tree Climbers!

We went up to Bountiful on Saturday for a little picnic with the Mottishaws. I love my cousins so much!! It's always fun for me when we get together.

My kids couldn't get enough of the trees.





Thanks Kirstin and Deven for playing with us!!! It was great to see everyone on Saturday!!

Hut Sut Ralston

This is the song/dance that Charity and Kelly prepared for the reunion. They were a little bummed that they didn't get to perform, but here it is for your enjoyment. Oh, this is a song that my Grandpa Mottishaw taught my 2 cousins and me when we were younger. It's an unusual one :) but we think it's cool. I wanted him to be able to see this.

Nate's Birthday Party :)

We decided we had to still celebrate Nate's birthday, even if he wasn't here. We made cupcakes (what can I say it's the year of the cupcake for us)

frosted them






Ate them :) mmmmmmmmm (they were especially good this time too!)

and smiled really cute :)

the poor little guy REALLY wanted one!!

Then we had a fun movie night on the "transformer couch" (that's what we're calling it now- it's really just a sofa bed, but the kids had never seen it out before :) fun times.

Hopefully Nate felt our party from here, and felt the love :) We'll have to send him some cupcakes in the mail because it's been 3 days and we still have a few left :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATE!!!!!

Nate is turning 29 today!!!!

I hate the thought of him not being with us on his birthday, but hopefully he will have a nice one and will enjoy it regardless. He always seems to get a little jipped on his birthday (whether it's my knack for ruining his cake, or someone being sick) seems like more than half of his birthdays since we got married have been a little subpar. Well, anyway-

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABE!!!!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

If you want Nate's number to call and wish him a happy birthday- just give me a call- I'll be here all night.

Cute boys

Is this not the cutest face ever?!!! (Noah is totally loving the tub now that he can sit up!)


Or maybe this one :) Can't decide (Luke's such a GOOF!!)

The Best Water and Juice Stand Ever!

Okay, so this probably isn't "blog-worthy", but I thought it was cute and I want to remember it. I am still kicking myself for not getting a picture, but my camera was dead and charging from the bathtime pictures (how does that always happen at the same time as my Kodak Moments).

Today, while I was on the phone (for probably too long :) I'll admit) I looked out my front window and much to my surprise I saw my cute little Kelly (I had no idea she was out there, much less that she had been out there as long as she had) busily scurrying around. My first reaction (gotta work on that) is to be mad that she didn't tell me what she was doing and that she was going to be out there. Because I'm usually okay with them playing in the front just as long as I know so that I can keep track of Lukey (he escapes faster in the front than the back for some reason). So anyway, just as I was about to go lecture her, I noticed that she had made herself a cute little "Lemonade Stand". It wasn't your typical stand though- she had used an upsidedown Laundry basket, with a towel (the one we had just used to dry Luke after his bath lol) on top, and then she had most of my kitchen cups (yes, she must have been out there for a while- I'm guilty) filled up with WATER she had gotten from the faucet outside. They were all random sized cups, and it just looked so.... cute! She also had a little step stool out there for her to sit on :) I hurried and made some juice so that she could at least have something worth selling (since that's what I thought they were trying to do). Then, after they had finished filling the cups (more now) with juice, Charity showed me her sign that she had been working on (spelled out all cute): "Free Juice We hope you like it" I just about died!! It was so stinkin' cute of them to think of that- to give it away for free!
Then the whole thing just got really funny when I saw Luke dipping his grubby little fingers into each cup (lol). Then the pouring from cup to cup started....it was all downhill from there for the juice..... but anyway. The girls were so adorable. I felt bad because I think everyone was out celebrating the 24th because there were only a few cars that even drove by (which is a little strange for our little intersection here), so there weren't any takers :( but anyway. I just love these moments.

July 23rd

Yeah, the title of this post is not a typo- This year we did our Pioneer Day Celebrating on the 23rd- how weird :)
I had been feeling bad that we didn't go to a parade on the 4th, so the Bountiful Handcart days parade sounded like such a great idea- they do it in the evening, so I didn't have to drag my kids out of bed at the crack of dawn. My mom went and set up chairs in the morning, and we met her there just before the parade started. It's a pretty fun parade- really long- they throw tons of candy out to the kids (so did the people sitting next to us- I think that's a fun idea- maybe I'll try that next year). They actually had a float that launched stuffed animals out to the kids as well- that was a real thrill :)


My kids are not big fans of the sirens :)- they like the trucks, just not the noise





Look at that cute double chin!!!



They started out right next to me, but slowly drifted out into the middle of the road- it worked out good that we were on the "wrong side" of the road because they did have this buffer zone between them and the parade- now that I think about it, it would have been a lot harder to keep Luke in a smaller area :)


LOL I just LOVE his face in this one :) I think he's trying to get the water bottle in his mouth, but it just looks so funny!


We sure had a lot of fun. It's been a while since we saw such a big parade.


Luke's the master at scavenging for candy. Especially when the people next to us think it's fun to watch him run to it and pick up like he just struck gold :) Reminds me of that Seinfeld stand-up thing- gotta get candy, gotta get candy, gotta get candy


After the parade we went up to Grandpa's and we all (Nana came too) drove over to the Mueller Park Fireworks, which turned out to be pretty good. I could have done without Noah screaming all the way there and back, and the other kids screaming during :) (again with the loud noises), but can you really skip the fireworks??? Nana loved the fireworks- that made it all worth it :) Then after the fireworks we went back to Grandpa's to do sparklers. The boys had all fallen asleep by the time we got back, so we just let them sleep while the girls had all the fun. And they sure did!! Grandpa had the really LONG ones that last forever. I love sparklers- takes me back!


Here's Charity showing off her cute little glow anklets and bracelet "Do you like my cute pose mom?"