Family Home Evening in Fall

Tonight for Family Home Evening we decided to take a drive up the canyon and look at the leaves. Last year we went up too late, and everything was dead, so this year when I heard that it's supposed to get cold on Wednesday, I decided that we'd better hurry and go look at the leaves if we were going to. And I was really glad we did.

We drove up Provo Canyon and then took the Squaw Peak turn off and drove all the way up there. In the valley the leaves haven't started changing yet, and I had my doubts about how much they'd be changed in the mountains, but I didn't need to worry. There were beautiful colors everywhere.

Ivan slept through most of the drive, but Lincoln had a good time. I told him to look for the color red out the window. He did a really good job pointing out red. He's so smart. He also really liked saying "Go up hill." and "Dribe (drive) down hill." I think it's funny that he can tell whether we are going up or down.

At the top of the mountain I got out and collected a bunch of leaves of all the different colors. When we got home, Aaron helped Lincoln glue them all to a paper to make a pretty collage, while I made dinner.

It was Linc's first experience with glue, and he really enjoyed it. Haha. He also liked "push. down. hard." (pushing down hard), on the "leabes" so that they would stick to the paper.

I am so proud of his little art project. I hung it on the wall in the kitchen so that Lincoln can see it from his booster seat. He's pretty proud of it too, and that makes me happy.

What are some other fun Fall art projects that a two year old could handle?

Car Ramp Model

Sunday morning I was working on the finishing touches of my Sunday School lesson. Aaron had the boys in the back, he was supposed to be getting them ready for church. Pretty soon they came out very proud of themselves. They had built this:



A car ramp out of card board. It's actually pretty cool. If Lincoln is still playing with it after a few days, we are thinking of building one out of wood for him for Christmas. The only problem will be where to store it because it takes up so much space.

General Relief Society Meeting

Tonight was the General Relief Society broadcast. I hate going to things by myself, so I decided to see if my neighbors wanted to car pool with me. I figured if I gave them a ride, they'd feel obligated to sit by me at dinner and during the broadcast :) and it worked too. Two of my neighbors Katie and Cindy decided to come with me. We also met one of our other neighbors, Lori, there. Dinner was good, and lots of fun.

The broadcast was even better. I loved all of the talks, but I think what I got out of it as a whole was that I have a strong desire to be a better Relief Society sister. I want to participate more, do better at visiting teaching, be more aware of what I can do to help my fellow sisters, and be willing and open to guidance from the Lord.

After the broadcast, Katie and Cindy and I went out for ice cream. Unfortunately, the broadcast got out about the same time as the BYU football game. And anyone whose ever been in Provo after a BYU football game knows that they don't want to be. We tried The Malt Shop first. PACKED! Then we went to Sonic, only to find not a single lane was open, wow. So we decided to go into Macey's and go to the Deli and get ice cream there. It's cheaper anyway. I had promised Aaron I'd bring him home some ice cream. Katie and Cindy each got small cones, but there was no way I could hold two small cones and drive at the same time, and there was no way that Cindy could hold all three cones while I drove. So I was scanning the list to see what my other options were and I saw "The Kong (comes in a cone with a cup)" perfect, I thought, it comes in a cup, so Cindy will be able to hold it for me while I drive, and then Aaron and I can split it when I get home. So I ordered it. The lady behind the counter made it and turned around to hand it to me and my jaw dropped all the way to the floor. IT WAS HUGE!!! I was almost embarrassed to walk out of the store holding it. In fact, on the way out of the store, we passed a little girl, probably 6 or so, sitting in a shopping cart and as I walked by she yelled, "Whoa, that's huge!" My sentiments exactly. Poor Cindy too, because it dripped all over her on the way home. Aaron was pretty surprised to see it when I walked through the door. Haha. We promptly put it in a salad bowl, and it filled the whole thing. So ya, next time you need to feed an army for cheap: The Kong $1.29

Awesome Ward Party

We had an awesome ward party tonight over at Exchange Park. It's only about a block and a half north of our house, so we decided just to load the boys up into the wagon and head over. First off, I have to say, I love our wagon. I bought it from my friend Esther for $5. Yup, that's all it cost. Personally, I think she got the worse end of the deal, but I was more than happy to take it off her hands. :) It made the trip to the park so easy, because both kids like to ride in it, and it's a lot easier to steer than our double stroller.

The theme of the activity was a chili and corn bread cook off. So all ward members were invited to bring their best. It was fun. I am not a chili person, my chili usually comes out of a can, but I did enter a pan of corn bread. It's Aaron's mom's sweet cornbread recipe. There was LOTS of really good food. the chili I had was excellent, I wish I knew whose it was so I could get the recipe, but they used white beans instead of black or kidney, and it had chicken in it instead of hamburger. It was tasty. And then the cornbread, oh my goodness. I ate so much cornbread, and I don't think I had a piece I didn't like. Because of that, I was actually really surprised that I got 3rd place in the cornbread competition. Yay! I won and oven mit, which Lincoln wore all the way home. :)

My favorite part of the night was the activity. They did sack races. They had four different races, one for the nursery kids, one for Jr. Primary, one for Sr. Primary, and one for adults. All the races were hilarious. Lincoln did pretty good. I was proud of him for just being able to move with a sack tied around his waste. Aaron almost won, but lost in a diving finish, as you'll be able to see in the video. He almost popped his shoulder out of his socket. And I for one, am just glad we didn't have to spend the evening in the emergency room.

Lincoln's Race

Aaron's Race

Getting Closer

We aren't quite there yet, but Ivan is getting so close to crawling, it's going to be soon. He's a pro at getting up on his hands and knees now. He doesn't really do the rocking back and forth while he's up there like Lincoln used to do though. Ivan more just takes off. He gets up, then almost immediately he lunges forward at whatever he's trying to get to at the moment, and face-plants. Very recently he's started getting one knee forward and then either rolls over from being off balance, or lunges and face-plants. He's determined though, because he always gets back up and goes for it again. Soon.

He's also getting to be a pretty adept roller. He, after a little work, can almost always manage to roll where ever it is that he wants to go. And he's pretty fast at it too. He also does, what I like to call his wrestling trick, with a stuffed animal, he rolls so it's between his hands, then he'll pick it up and roll on his back while trying to eat it, then he'll throw it off to the side, and roll on top of it again. He'll do this for awhile. Usually until he figures out that he can't eat it, then he cries and wants to be fed.

My two cute boys. Lincoln always tries to pull funny faces when I am taking pictures of the two of them together, so that's why his smile is a little funny, I snapped the shot right before one of his faces. Oh, and be sure to notice that the sock is still making it's home on Lincoln's arm. You'd think after three days he'd give it up...not a chance. :)

We Found One

I mentioned last post that we have been doing the winter wardrobe thing at our house, and that I don't have to get very much for Lincoln...that's the good news. The bad news is, that I have to get almost an entire wardrobe for Ivan, because when Lincoln was his size we were in the beautiful Texas weather and had no need of winter clothes. I've been on a serious hunt for a snow suit that would fit Ivan. He's not walking yet, but I imagine by the time the snow hits he'll be crawling, and with a rambunctious two year old there is no way we'll be staying inside all winter, plus by the end of the winter Ivan might be walking. Who knows, but I only wanted to buy one snow suit. I looked at buntings for a long time, but the ones that would work for our situation were EX-PEN-SIVE! and all the cheaper ones were made of fleece which would not keep water out very long. So I gave up on that idea and started checking around for a coat/snow pants set. We found one at Kohls (I love Kohls btw) it's an Osh Kosh, which means it will last. And I'm way happy about it. I got a 12 month size so he has some growing room, it's a little big now, as you can see, but I'm hoping it won't snow for awhile :) and give him a chance to grow into it.

Sometimes I Wonder...

Sometimes I wonder where Lincoln came from. He can be such a spaz. I never know what he's going to come up with next, but at least he keeps me laughing. We've been trying to get the kids' winter wardrobes all in order so we're ready when the cold gets here. Linc doesn't need much since a lot of his clothes from last year will still fit. (Way to go me for buying all his clothes too big last year!) He did need some socks though, so on Saturday we bought him some. He was way more thrilled about them than I ever expected a two-year-old to be. He wanted to put them on immediately when we got home. He wore them to bed even. Then about 10pm he started screaming, so I went in there to see what the trouble was. He had taken his socks off, and put one on one of his hands, and the reason he was crying was because he couldn't get the other sock onto the other hand. What-ev. I just helped him get the sock on and walked out of the room shaking my head. Well, Sunday morning comes, and he comes running into the living room with both socks on his hands, waving a chopstick and a measuring cup around in the air. And so I wonder sometimes...Where does this child come from?

Book Review: The Chosen

by Chaim Potok


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I haven't gotten all my thoughts together about this book just quite yet. I liked it. I just haven't come to any kind of conclusion about how to apply it to my life. I'm forever trying to apply books to me, and maybe that's my trouble. This one definitely raised some interesting questions in my mind, that's for sure.

The book is about two Jewish boys who are growing up in NY during WWII. They are different sects of Judaism (which I never knew there were) and should be enemies, but they aren't. They become best friends. Danny, the boy practices his religion more fanatically, you might say, is expected to inherit the position Rabbi someday from his father. Danny is a genius with a photographic memory, and begins to seek for knowledge in forbidden books (anything that's not Jewish lit, pretty much) without telling his father. Danny and his father don't speak to each other, except when they study the Talmud together, and it's been this way since Danny was about 4.

Reuven comes along, he is Jewish but not fanatically so, and his father is a brilliant Jewish scholar. They have a great relationship. Reuven helps Danny by listening to his problems, and acting (unknowingly) as a go between for Danny and his Father. The book is about how these two boys grow up together.

It was a pretty suspenseful book. I kept wanting desperately to know why Danny's father never spoke to him except when they studied. I spent most of the book absolutely hating Danny's father. And then in the very last chapter you discover the answer and it turns everything on it's head, in a way. I don't agree with what Danny's father did,I think there must be a better way, but now that I know the reason, I don't think I'm inclined to hate him anymore. And it definitely begs the question, "How far would you go to see that your kids turned out the way you wanted them to?" The last chapter happened so fast, I don't know, I still can't make up my mind about it.

There are a lot of Jewish things (words, traditions, vocab, etc.) in there that I didn't understand, but I don't think that not understanding it took away from the story at all. I thought this book was really good, and I recommend it.

Book Review: Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers

by Ralph Moody

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a biography about 9 year old Ralph and his family. His father gets sick working in the factory, and so the family buys some land in Colorado and decides to become ranchers. The book is from the perspective of Ralph, and how, as the oldest son, he helps his father out on the ranch.

I thought this was a cute story. More of a book for kids, but still enjoyable. Ralph learns some wonderful lessons about being honest, hard working, and educated from his father. And because of these themes it's a book you could feel good about reading to your kids because it is educational as well as entertaining. I thought the author did a good job of that.

I liked Ralph's determination to ride a horse and become a "cow poke" and I also really liked the way his father was as a parent. He seemed always to know when it was appropriate either to scold, or just talk, or punish, or spank. And I think you can really feel the closeness in the relationship between Ralph and his dad.

So if you are looking for a good book to read to your kids. I would definitely recommend this one.

Just Like Daddy

Every morning we have basically the same routine, the boys get up, and the boys and I eat breakfast while Aaron gets ready to go to work/school. Aaron puts on his backpack and his bike helmet and his shoes, and then kisses us all goodbye. As soon as he's out the door, Linc asks "Where Daddy is?" And I say, "He had to go to work, go watch him out the window." And Lincoln climbs up on the back of the couch so he can see out the window and he watches until he sees Aaron go by on his bike.

I never really thought much of this, until just recently. Tonight, Aaron left to go home teaching. I was busy feeding Ivan and Lincoln was playing, but I wasn't really focused on what he was doing. All the sudden I hear him saying "Go work, go work." I looked up and he was wearing Aaron's shoes, Aaron's bike helmet, and he had gotten on his bike and was riding around the living room saying "Go work, go work."

I just cracked up. So I got out the camera. You can't hear very well because Ivan wasn't too happy about having his meal interrupted, so I'll narrate for you here. In the video I ask Linc what he has on his head, and he says "Hat" which is what he calls Aaron's helmet. Then I ask what he's wearing, and he says "shoes", so I ask him if he's wearing his shoes or Daddy's shoes and he says "Daddy's". Then I ask him what he's riding, and he says "bike". Then I ask where he's going, and he says, "work". At that point the helmet fell of his head and the strap was around his neck, so we had to end the interview early.

Do the Twist...the Tongue Twist

Ivan has discovered his tongue and thinks it is a great toy. He likes to twist it over, and stick it out, and chew on it. It's pretty entertaining to watch. He's getting so big. He rolls all over the place now, and has started scooting too. It won't be too much longer and he'll be crawling around like a pro. It's been nice now that he actually likes to be set down on the ground, I don't have to hold him so much. Here's to mobility!

Black and Blue

Last Sunday my brothers Kyle and Jackson came over for Sunday dinner. They are attending UVU this semester. It was really nice to spend some time with them. After dinner Jack took these pictures of Lincoln and Ivan and then used a program on his phone to make them black and white but still leave the blue in the picture. I think they turned out really cool looking.

Bath Brothers

We finally decided that Ivan is old enough to get in the bath with Lincoln. They did pretty well in there together. Linc didn't splash Ivan too bad, and Ivan didn't get too mad when he did. I think this will make bath time TONS easier. I hope so.

Also, after Ivan got out, we tried something new that Lisa suggested. We gave Lincoln a hand full of shaving cream to play with while he finished his bath and we got Ivan dressed. HE LOVED IT! He put it on his face first, and then everywhere else and kept trying to sink it in the water and pick it up again when it wouldn't sink. I think we'll be doing this one more often.

Happy Baby

Here's a new concept for our family: Ivan's getting his diaper changed...and he's happy about it! Wow, that never happens. :)

"Tiss, Mama, Tiss"

Lincoln's big thing lately has been to have me kiss him better whenever he gets hurt. I love it because it means I get to kiss him alot. Today though, he did something different and really funny. He stubbed his toe, and of course wanted me to kiss it, but instead of having my pick him up and then kiss him like he usually does, he came over to where I was sitting and put is head down on the ground and lifted his foot up in the air and said, "Tiss, Mama, Tiss" until I kissed his foot. This kid cracks me right up.

Car for sale

We've recently purchased a van and are selling our car. It is a 1996 two-door Honda Accord coupe. Good gas mileage, spacious back seat, manual transmission, no accidents. You can call Aaron's cell at 801-602-9959 if you want to take a look at it. It's been a great car, but it's too small for us now.

We're asking $2,195, but the price is negotiable.

Here's a link to our ad on KSL:

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=733005&nid=443&tab=list/view&ad=1567331.

President Obama, Stay Away From Our Kids

I have just recently found out about President Obama's intentions to address our nations school age children on September 8th. The address will be shown to them during school hours. This really bothers me a lot. Mostly because I am worried about the content of what the message will say. And here's why...

There is another video out there (and here's the link for it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51kAw4OTlA0) that has already been shown in some of the classrooms in Utah and around the country. If you don't look closely it seems innocent, until you use your brain and think about it. This video has propaganda written all over it. What bothers me about this video? Where do I even start....

1. It targets children specifically

2. It's the government telling me exactly what I should and shouldn't do, what I can and can't buy, etc. Not only that, but even the good things it talks about like helping stop hunger, it tells you specifically how you should do it. Are the organizations listed bad? No. But why doesn't it encourage me to use my judgement and determine for myself what would be the best ways for me to help out? Because the government doesn't want us to think for ourselves that's why!


3. It makes it seem like all these topics have been completely ignored until now. But don't worry, our "wonderful" president is going to save us from all of these horrible things and we can pledge to help him. When in reality people have been doing these kinds of things and much much more FOR YEARS before Obama was elected.

4. It doesn't encourage us to do these things because they are right, or because it will help others, or because it's what we feel we should do. It encourages us to do it for Barrack Obama because it's his agenda.

5. This the the kicker right here, even if all the other things weren't in the video...It asks us to pledge ourselves to be the servants of President Obama. Excuse me? Last time I checked, the President was put in place to be the servant of the people, not the other way around. Pledge to be the servant of the president, to any president? No. Not only no, (pardon my french) but hell no!

The first time I watched this video, I got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. The more I watch it and the more I turn it over in my mind the more this whole idea feels so very wrong. And so I'm nervous for the address the president is going to give to our school age children. I think it will be full of the same awful propaganda. So yes, content bothers me. What also bothers me, why does it have to be exclusively for the school ages children, who are so innocent and just want to please, the children who really aren't mature enough to understand all the underlying currents and deeper meaning of things. To me it's just indoctrination of the youth. Hitler did something similar. If Obama wants to address the nation and ask them to help him out with his hair-brained agendas, why can't he do it sometime in the evening when most people are home from school and work, and encourage the family to sit down and watch it together and then discuss what they saw and decide whether or not they agree, and if they do come up with a plan ON THEIR OWN about what they want to do to help. Why have the children write letters with goals on them stating what they can do to help Obama and then have the teachers check in every so often to see how they are doing? WHY?????

I'm as confused as everyone else. I don't even have school aged children. But I'm still worried about it. If I did have school aged kids, they probably wouldn't be attending school on the 8th. Or, if they did, I would be right there with them, so that I could see what they were being subjected to, and so I would know how to talk about it with them later. The political agendas the government wants to start teaching our children at such a young age frightens me. It's one of the reasons I am considering home schooling my kids when they get older, so that I know exactly what they are being taught and by whom. This situation kind of reminds me of Animal Farm, if any of you have read it...where they take the young puppies and indoctrinate them and train them to go against everyone even their parents, to fight for a certain government regime. It's scary.

So really all I have to say to President Obama, or any other government personnel attempting this kind of indoctrination: If you have something to say, say it to me, the adult, the voter, STAY AWAY FROM MY KIDS.