Conquering Fear!

Are we camping? Nope just chillin at the park!

Gotta enjoy the sun while it lasts!

I don't know what it is about my boys, but they haven't always been the dare devils that other kids are, so these are some big accomplishments around our house. He's not screaming to get out!!Could he actually may be enjoying himself?
What do ya think? Is it safe?
SURE!!! This is FUN! Last summer we couldn't get him anywhere NEAR a sprinkler! But he loved the pool. This is a BIG accomplishment. Good Job Andrew!!
Today he conquered this bridge, he was so scared because it only had a rail on one side, after a few times across though and LOTS of encouragement, he was crossing like a PRO

He even let his feet leave the ground! Pretty brave huh!!

After a few times down the slide, Ben decided this was the ONLY way to go. He has QUICKLY become more of a dare devil then Andrew ever was, maybe it's because he has to keep up!

I'm Done

Oh the DRAMA!!!!

Yesterday while on a walk, Andrew sustained his worst injury to date...

It was HORRIBLE!!!!:)

This will be kinda long, but I think it's funny. Here goes. I need to preface this by saying that the post office is about a mile and a half away, about a half a mile of it straight up! and with both boys in the stroller, it's about 70 pounds, so by the time this all happened, I was HOT and TIRED!!Yesterday, the boys and I decided to go for a walk to the post office, on the way there Andrew said he had to go potty, he said he could wait so, we get to the post office and I'm getting our packages ready to mail when he reminds me that he need to go BAD!! So, I ask if they have a bathroom, NOPE!! What post office doesn't have a bathroom? They say to go to the restraunt across the street, I figure it's just across the street, I won't put him back inthe stroller, well, guess what, no public restrooms, ok, the next building then, a Dr. Office, NOPE no luck again, so, here I am hurrying around, and getting frustrated that nobody would have a public bathroom! Andrew's trying to keep up and he had worn flip flops, he was doing great too. Then, I spotted it, a 7-Eleven, I think, maybe I should put him in the stroller, just in case, no, it's just across the street, he'll be ok. Then it happened, just before we get to 7-Eleven, he trips and falls!!!! He scrapes his knee and foot. I feel horrible and I'm praying that 7-Eleven will have a bathroom, they didn't have a public one, but the really nice lady behind the counter saw we were in need and let us use theres. FINALLY! Unfortunately the stroller won't fit into their back room, so I take Benjamin out and leave the stroller in the store and now I'm struggling with him too. He's such a laid back kid. Andrew's crying the whole time because his knee hurts, then he doesn't see the sink and he's worried he won't be able to wash his hands when he's done. I calm him down, assure him there was sink outside the door and tell him I'll also clean up his knee. This calms him a little. He washes up, I clean him up as best I could and when we get everyone back in the stroller we bump and crash our way out. SO EMBARRASING!! We make it safely out, with Andrew still crying. And I realize that we still have to go back to the post office. UGG!Andrew insists he needs Daddy to look at his owie, well, I realize it is about lunch time and we're only about a 20minute walk to the hospital, I'll deal with the post office another time. So, we head to the hospital. It was a nice walk, Everett has a REALLY nice downtown area and so the walk was actually enjoyable, except for the few wails I'd get from Andrew every now and then. I finally catch on that these crys come after a breeze and I realize that the cool breeze blowing on his fresh wound probably didn't feel very good. So, I give him his hat to cover his knee with and we enjoy the rest of our walk,with the occasional whine from Benjamin because it's his nap time..oops, to the hospital so that daddy can look at his knee. We make it safely to the hospital and when Bob goes to look at his knee, he refuses, he will NOT move his hat because his hat is protecting his knee. After MUCH dicussion, Bob is able to look at it, it looked worse than it really was, unfortunatley I didn't have my camera then, oh how I wish I did. Andrew refused anything Bob offered him. He consented finnaly to the ace bandage that you see in the above picture. All these pictures were taken during the drama last night after his bath ;) Those are the pictures that follow. We couldn't help but giggle last night, he was being SO Dramatic!! Even today he's been hobbling around, not wanting anything to touch his knee. I love him:)



Yup, this is what all the fuss was about, Andrew's worst injury to date. How horrible;)

The Things I love

My boys, definetly my boys, they make me laugh everyday. I may not have the cleanest house, but I hope my boys have wonderful memories of mommy playing with them. Andrew is growing so fast, he's becoming very litteral. When you say things to him like the other day we were going to the movies (we have FREE family movies every tues and wed at the theater here) I told him we needed to go STRAIGHT into the theater. He didn't get it. He asked if the theater was straight. I told him we were going to sign him up for t-ball and he got VERY concerned, I saw the look onhis face of worry and concern and quickly expalined to him what I ment. The funniest thing though lately is his Tickle Buggy's. I don't know when he started calling them buggys at all, and one day I told him they were punch buggys, quickly regreting what I had said as visions of him punching people ran through my mind, but didn't say anything and hoped he hadn't really heard me. Not two days later we were out walking and I hear him call one a tickle buggy!!! I LOVE IT!! They have now officially become tickle buggies in our house and you get tickled instead of punched, I can't believe he came up with it ALL on his own. We haven't corrected it, because I like this one MUCH better. I have to say I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new stroller, I have a friend who walks EVERYWHERE with her daughter and I tried to take the boys with her one day in the wagon, NOFUN!! We were gone for an hour and walking pretty quick, I ended up with calouses on my hands, I loved the walk, but not pulling a wagon, so I broke down and got a double jogging stroller. I LOVE IT we go EVERYWHERE now. Thank you daddy for fixing the wheel, it was pulling and I didn't want to use it, so he took the boys out in it to figure out what was wrong, fixed it, and we've been walking as a fmaily ever scince!! YEAH!! I can't leave out Benjamin in my list of favorites. He is so full of energy and has a smile that warms your heart, especially when he's pretty proudof himself for figuring something out. Which he's been doing a lot lately. He too is growing up so fast, I can't believe it and don't want to miss a thing. He does like to play by himself, but I try to take every advantage to play with him. And I can't forget about Bob!! The love of my life, he works so hard. And the boys love him to pieces. He's such a great dad and husband and never complains. Things just seem to slide off his back, I love it, it keeps me grounded when things don't go the way I think they should. I LOVE MY BOYS!!

TAG

How To Play This Game of Tag: Post these rules on your blog...List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!
3 JOYS:
1. My family
2. The Gospel
3. Summer

3 FEARS:
1. Losing my husband or any of my children
2. Not having enough money to pay bills
3. Not Being Good Enough

3 GOALS:
1.To lose some weight
2. To raise my children with strong testimonies
3. To create Awesome childhood memories for my Boys

3 CURRENT OBSESSION/COLLECTIONS:
1. My Boys
2. Summer Fun!!
3. Internet

3 RANDON FACTS ABOUT ME:
1. July 4th is my favorite Holiday
2. I really don't like cleaning
3. I don't like seafood
I would like to tag: Becky Buttshaw, Cate Borland, Jenn Borland, Leauna Pack, Kenna Smith

Andrew's First Trip to the Dentist

Yup! Andrew's 4 and I finally convinced him to got to the dentist. Sorry no pictures, he hated it! He wouldn't sit in the chair, refused to open his mouth, wouldn't let them brush his teeth, NOTHING! Well, he did let them take pictures of his teeth, he wasn't very happy about it, but he did it. Then when the dentist came to count his teeth, he bit her!! I don't think he meant to hurt her, but he bit her. Then she wanted to 'paint' his teeth with vitamins and he kept asking why? We'd give him an answer and he'd say ok, then he'd be asked to open his mouth again and he'd ask why? It was a never ending battle and he had to be bribed, with a loopdy loop for his hot wheels, still he was hesitant. I wish I could say it was all worth it and he got out of there with no cavities, but no, he has cavities!!! I was surprised!!! So, he gets a special toothpaste in hopes of keeping them small and not having to pull them, she says they're not bad yet, that's a good thing. So they're going to keep and eye on them, we get to go back in 3 months. This should be fun.

Fathers Day

I know I'm a day late, but yesterday I just didn't get around to it. Around to telling Bob that he is a GREAT dad. He is so patient and loving and the boys just RUN to him whenever he gets home from work. I LOVE it!! I definetly have daddy's boys. They love being around him, on him, under him, just plain being near him. I'm sure it gets to be a lot, especially after a longday at work, but he doesn't mind, he says he would rather be at home with us than at work anyway. I'm glad. Yesterday, Bob had meetings before church! I know! It was fathers day and they still had their meetings. Andrew kept telling him that he didn't want him to go, that he needed to stay home. That he misses him when he goes to his meetings and to work. Then, on the way to church Bob was reminding Andrew to sing real good so that he could hear him. Oh did he ever! You know that one child that sings their heart out and they're about the ONLY one you can hear and they're off tune and don't know the words? Well, that's Andrew!! Minus the off tune and not knowing the words part. He sang his little heart out. I was so proud of him! I almost messed up the songs they were singing. But I know he brought a smile to peoples faces. Especially Bob's and that's whar Matters. We Love you Bob, you're the BEST daddy!!!!

LeTterBoxInG

My Sis-in-Law found this site and it looks like a lot of fun. Wanna join me?Check it out for your area! It's a sort of treasure hunt for kids I think it would be a lot of fun and you don't have to do it all at once. Have Fun!! Thanks Reagan!!! http://www.letterboxing.org/index.php

bENjaMiN'z WalKinG

Yesterday Ben started taking more than just two steps to flop on the bean bag. Sorry, I'm laughing so hard, if I wasn't you'd be able to hear Ben cracking himself up when he'd try to stand up it was pretty funny, he was laughing so hard he kept losing his balance. The last is Andrew's new form of Dancing, He's pretty proud of himself and made me video tape it last night. I don't know where he learned it, but he seems to pick up things I wouldn't.

F.H.E Follow Up

Thank you to all who helped with ideas for FHE. I thought I'd let you all know what has been shared and hopefully we can inspire each other to have fun!! A big one was reviewing your childs primary lesson, this was a hit because you can find them at LDS.org and they are already tailored to your childs age. Flannel board stories, moms with a wide age group liked these because you could simplify it for young ones but ask real in depth questions for the older children. The Friend always has FHE ideas as well as sharing time ideas. For older kids, knowing the monthly primary theme, song and scripture, then memorizing them for FHE was an idea. One lady would findout what the hyms would be for sacrament meeting the following week and teach her kids the first verse for at least one song, then they could particitpate in sacrament the following sunday. The Faith in God books are also great resources if your kids are that age. You can even go to the church website and they have ideas example.. it will say.. if you have a lesson on faith, your child can pass of this in their books. I thought that was pretty cool. Game books and Nursery books from Deseret Book are always fun as well. A big thing I got was that we need ot RELAX and have fun!! Even when we think they're not listening, they probably are. It doesn't need to be formal, we just need to set aside one night a week, hopefully Monday, to spend time together. Even if it's just reading a little out of the scriptures together. And even when they become teenagers and complain, we need to KEEP AT IT!!. Our YW presidentsaid that they will complain no matter what, it's their (teens) job tomake us think they're not enjoying themselves. I liked that. I'm trying to remember everything, I wasn't smart enough to write it all down, as I think of more, i'll post them. Also, I'm going to add the links I've recieved on my blog, take a look and if you know of others, please let me know.