A wonderful day!

This day has been absolutely wonderful!  Seriously, my living room is a mess and I do not even care because today has been so great.  Why?  Well, we had Jonah and Jonathan over for a sleepover and my boys love being with them.  It was so much fun.  This morning after breakfast we loaded up in the truck and headed for Scofield, and we could not have asked for a more beautiful day.  It was perfect up there!  Ok, to get the one bad moment out of the way - Caleb injured his back.  Somehow, we will not go into detail, he fell off a dock and hurt his back.  But even with that he was able to bounce back and play in the water and enjoy himself.  He still hurts but it will get better.  

With that out of the way we can get back to the beauty of the day.  

They could not resist the water.  I tried to deter them from getting "too wet" but in the end even I gave in.  That is what we go for.  The lake, the water, the dirt and sand and rocks.  The wet clothes lining the deck and the kids sitting in front of the heater in the cabin trying to warm up before they go out there again.  They said the water was freezing but that did not stop them.  Oh, and Haley is going to love this summer!  She was right there with them.  Maybe not up to her waist, but still loving every minute of it.

They played on the tube, paddling themselves around in the water.  They threw in rocks and found sink holes.  They played in the sand and went through three changes of clothes.  But therein lies the genius.  I thought to grab extra clothes going out the door from West Jordan.  So, those wet clothes did not mean much.  There were backups!  Brilliant!  I sat there on the beach with them all playing in the water and I relished every minute of it.  I thought about the laundry I did not have to do or the dishes I did not have to clean.  I thought about the messes that would wait and it was wonderful.  I love the cabin for that.  That we can just go out to the lake and play and not worry about all that responsibility.  It was super!  Not to be forgotten was that we also saw our first deer of the year.  Peter was the good eye on the deer this time.

But the time came to leave and my three boys were sad to go.  They wondered why we were not staying the night?  Come on!  We always stay the night.  But we needed to get Jonah and Jon Jon back home and so we headed out.  And driving through the canyon was this sweet sight:

They were so tired and they needed somewhere to rest their heads.  They love each other so much and it is fun to watch them together.  They loved playing in the water and coming up with spy games to play and light shows at night.  They are awesome!
When we got home the boys packed up their stuff while Haley and William followed a duck that was walking around our neighbor's yard.  Haley loved it and William had fun picking flowers.
Well, after Jonah and Jon Jon left the greatness of our day did not end.  We had a yummy pancake dinner and then William let us know he would need a bath after his sticky dinner was done.  While Haley and Willy took a bath Rob was a Knight in Shining Armor and cleaned up after dinner.  See, what a great day!  After that the boys hunkered down to watch their new favorite movie, "How to Train Your Dragon."  They love it and I loved it too!  It was so fun to watch together.
And now there is a sweet peace in my home as they are all asleep and happy.  What a good feeling to have.  Caleb went to bed hurting but still okay, a blessing.  Peter went to sleep happily thinking of Toothless the dragon and all the fun games he would play tomorrow.  William went to sleep with his hand sweetly placed on my shoulder.  And Haley went to sleep while Rob fell asleep in her room.  This family of mine is awesome!

Oceanside 2012

It is hard to narrow down a week long trip into a few sentences.

While reading this you will see that we got to see some dolphins. I think that was one of the highlights of the trip. We saw probably 10 or so dolphins, gently riding the waves and going around the pier. Then at one point they picked up speed and went to jump the waves with some surfers. It was so fun for all of us.

Caleb's favorites were: playing at the pool, playing with his cousins, seeing the dolphins and seal at the pier, playing in the condo and going to the beach.

Peter's favorites were: Watching "How to Train your Dragon," the Easter Egg hunt, the palm trees and surfers, and seeing the dolphins and the seal.

William's favorites were: Watching the surfers, seeing the dolphins, drawing in his vacation journal, watching "how to train your dragon" and playing with his cousins.

Haley's favorites were: Walking on the pier, seeing the pelicans, and playing on the beach.

Rob's favorites were: Taylor guitar factory, watching the pelicans dive into the water to catch fish, and being with his family.

Diedre's favorites were: Walking on the pier, playing with my kids on the beach, the Easter egg hunt on the beach, seeing my funny footprint in the sand, playing croquet with Caleb our final day, seeing the sunset our final night there, and seeing the dolphins!!!

Haley walking on the pier, she enjoyed putting her fingers in her ears.

Our visit to the Mormon Battalion, the boys enjoyed panning for gold.

Haley enjoyed the sand, surfers and the waves.

More of the ocean. That is what we went for.

Rob's sandcastle that lasted long enough to get a picture. No the waves did not destroy it, little kids did.

All of the boys loved the pool and the hot tub. Caleb would have stayed there all day if given the choice. However, the wind off of the beach made it rather cold poolside.

The Gray Egg Hunt

Croquet on the beach.

Diedre's unique footprint. So cool.

Right before we left for Utah. One more time to look at the pelicans, watch the surfers and see the ocean. It was a great vacation, it was so fun to see everyone and spend time together.

Those first sweet words

This is my cute baby and last night she started saying her first official word. Well, we have always joked that maybe her Santa interpretation, or her cat sounds might be her first word; but I think this is official. I know, I have vacation pictures to put up and details to remember from that. But this just could not wait. She is so stinkin' cute! We were reading a book that said baby a lot in the text. Suddenly Haley started on her own. We have all loved it. And now she even says mom and dad for me. And tonight when I was reading to her she folded her arms for a prayer. I said a quick one for her and then I told her to say amen. She did her very best amen, starting with the A sound and ending with the N sound. OH, we are making progress over here in Gray-land. It is so happy.

Enjoy the moment

My friend Alisa posted this quote on her blog today:

“The biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three on them sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4, and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in a hurry to get on to the next things: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.”
― Anna Quindlen

So, I decided to listen to her wise counsel and enjoy a moment today. There are many things on my to-do list but these two needed to be at the top.

Thanks, Alisa, for helping me take the time to enjoy the moment.

Walking a little bit slower

So, yesterday morning as we were getting ready to go to school I was carrying Haley into the living room. I was going about my way when I stubbed my pinky toe on the kids slide we have. I did not think much about it, how many time in the past have I stubbed my baby toe on the corner of a wall? But when I set Haley down and looked at my toe something was definitely wrong. It was pointing out at a 45 degree angle and well, that is not normal! But I could walk on it, not too much pain and I continued to help my kids get out the door. But after that I knew it was probably broken. The pain was a tad bit worse but I could still get around. I miraculously got an appointment with a podiatrist with an x-ray machine in his office and William and Haley took me to the doctor. The resulting visit left me like this...

I get to wear this baby around for the next few weeks, including California. Yippi! We came to find out that my baby toe had been displaced and needed to be realigned. So, he numbed me up, and pulled and tugged on the little toe until he got it straight again. Haley hated the whole experience. She hated what the doctor was doing to me and screamed the whole time. Oh well, it is fixed now and I need to keep it like this so that it does not pop out again. Peter thinks it is pretty cool that I will be growing new bone just like Harry Potter did. And Caleb is so sweet saying prayers for my toe and helping out where he can. Won't I look so awesome on the beach? I feel so stupid for having broken my pinky toe!

Time together = time well spent

Since Sunday we have been doing some projects together that have been really fun and have gotten some creative juices flowing.

Project #1:All day Sunday Caleb was begging for us to make a leprechaun trap. He knew that the leprechaun had already come, he just wanted to make one. So, after church we got out some supplies and went to down. First it was only Caleb who wanted one, then William joined in and finally Peter could not resist. They turned out really cute. The boys saw a few ideas from the internet but for the most part they are the boy's ideas. Caleb even wrote up some cute signs for his leprechaun to read.

Project #2: This project went so well. It was fun, we spent almost 2 and a half hours working on it, and the boys loved the outcome. I got the idea from the internet to make a body book where you can flip the pages and change how the person looks or dresses, whether it be the head, body or feet. Then I scoured the web for different paper doll printable that the boys could use. Astronauts, cowboys, knights, robots, santa, swimmer kids, soccer and football dudes. We all sat down and started coloring, cutting and gluing and before I knew it it was time for dinner. It was wonderful to pass the time so nicely. The house was a MESS of paper afterward but the final product was worth it. Here is a sneak peak.

From Peter's book, this is the first page without any flipping of pages to change the body.

From Caleb's book, a cowboy/robot/policeman.

From Willy's book, a soccer player/robot girl. The boys loved looking at all the books and changing the bodies around so much. A lot of fun laughter.

Project #3: Since yesterday was the first day of Spring we placed some beautifully painted flowers in our house. Again, idea from web, but essentially the boys painted a bunch of flowers and the glued them all to look like a little bed of spring beauty. They all got really detailed in their painting. Caleb was mixing his own colors, just like his dad, to make beautiful arrangements, Peter was doing different textures with dots and detail, William was having fun with his watercolors, and Haley was having fun painting the table. They turned out great.

I thought this project would not happen because of some crazy events of the morning but I am glad that we made time for it. Each of the boys have one and they are so proud of what they created.

Week in review

We did a lot of fun things this week but I do not feel like breaking it all up into mini-entries. Besides, I think I am the only one that looks at this thing anymore (speak up if I am wrong) so it feels as if this is really for my own enjoyment to look back and see what my family has been up to.

First off, as I mentioned before Peter is in all day kindergarten and he has been coming home so tired everyday. But he seems to be enjoying the time at school. With him at school so long it affords William, Haley and I more time together. It has been very pleasant. Willy and I have been able to do school time together, relax more together. I have been able to take showers in the middle of the day and be productive, it has been nice. A few of our activities included reading together, play-doh, dancing. One day we pulled out the eggs and dyed some for Easter. It was Haley's first time and she was thrilled with the liberties given to her. To place her hand in the dye, handle the egg without restraint, and watch the magic happen as the egg (and her hand) transformed into a different color. And she got to do it with her best buddy William (they really do get along well). William loved coloring the eggs too, he is at the point where he likes to mix the colors to see what happens.

That smile says it all!

Another fun thing we did this week with everyone was blow painting. William was studying the letter B this week so we blew Q-tips dipped in paint out of straws and had so much fun with it all.

I love Peter's puffed out cheeks, blowing as hard as he can. The boys loved doing targets and seeing how good their aim was.

William, preparing to blow with all his might. Paint on his shirt and all, everything is okay.

She could not be happier. Given the chance to paint like a big girl; whether it was the paper, the actual paint container or her brother's paper, she was loving it.

On with the week. The weather has been so nice around here and they wanted to play outside. Haley absolutely loves the outdoors, without shoes of course. They were all in the backyard and Haley discovered the garden boxes, with all of that fresh - easy to dig in dirt. She climbed right in and with the help of some trucks she had a great time. Oh, how fun it was to watch her play, and what a good feeling to know that she did not care about getting down and dirty. She was in the thick of grabbing dirt and dumping dirt. It was great.

Then after her mean parents made her get out and eat her dinner Caleb and Peter dove right into the dirt fun and were attempting to dig a hole to China. But they eventually stopped their endeavor and came inside for the night.

Now for today, St. Patrick's day. The boys had fun (aside from one small war waged between two older boys) and declared it the best Clover Day ever. Peter was thrilled to be the first child awake and to find all the fun things the leprechaun had done through the night.

The leprechaun played with all the kid's green toys, left them fun little activities to do through the day, even left them something called a rainbow plant that the boys planted and will watch grow. They also found tons of sweet green goodies to munch on and the leprechaun also found all the eggs we are storing at our house and did an egg hunt out of all green eggs. Genius. Plus the boys loved finding the toilet water green, a surprise they found later in the day of more candy, and they proclaimed the leprechaun "tricky."

Here they are enjoying their pots-of-gold cupcake after the clover hunt. So much fun.

And as a side-note for myself to remember my crazy crafty ideas for my kids, this project was completed tonight - ready to be given to my cute kids for Easter. I saw this idea on the Internet and ran with it. Little chicks that can hatch out of their decorated egg.

There is a chick for each egg and one for each child. It was fun stitching a design on each one. They are such cute kids and I like doing silly things like this for them.

A close-up of Williams, because one of his favorite things is a rainbow.