Spending Time

Time has been going by. We've been spending it by sleeping, eating, playing, doing lots of homework, below is Creed petting his classroom pet bunny "Nibbles" that we had for a smelly weekend. Rafe loved it, and called it a doggy. Well he calls birds and everything a doggy. And Bodie was obsessed with it. He wanted to check on it about every 10minutes. He'd sit down in front of the cage and just look at it and try and play with it.

 We spend time at my parents house playing in their yard. So I had to finally capture it on camera. Swinging and jumping with help from grandma and grandpa.

September sure flew by.

BYUTAH

Living in Utah, it's all about college sports. When I was younger growing up in Colorado, it was all about the Denver Broncos (Woohoo!) and the NFL. We were fans of BYU, we are members of the church so of course we like them. Then we moved back to Utah and I learned who the Utes were.

Today in my house it works out so great. Greg and I both like BYU and the U of U. So in celebration of the on going rivalry I will give a shout out to both teams.

 

When I was a young teenager I accompanied my Barlow cousins and once a friend to the BYU games down in Provo. It was always fun and I could feel such a fun school spirit in the crowd. As a young adult I've been to some U of U games as well. And I have to add, it is a different feeling there. I love going up to campus and being apart of "the U" and have no problems with either fans. I can just tell a difference. Maybe it's all the locals who love the U and so many out of staters that are apart of BYU? I don't know.

I truly love both schools. And will root for whoever. Probably who has a better year or ranking. Fare weather fan I guess :) Last night I was actually kinda happy the U won the big game. Maybe because I'm living here in U country I'm leaning towards them more often? And I love U Basketball.

 

Anyways as I'm sure this is so entertaining, here is Greg's view. He also likes both. He attended both schools. He got his Bachelors from the U. And in fact as a freshmen before his mission he was a cheerleader for the U of U. That's my hubby with the mega phone and the lovely hairdo. I was like still in elementary school while he had a grand time cheering with the cheerleaders. Years later he attended BYU Law school for his last semester (so we could be married and stay in Utah).

Growing up we both liked BYU and still do. And we both like the UofU very much. And so our children also like both.

The End



New Room

We had a busy Labor Day weekend. We repainted our family room and dining area.

9 years ago this week we moved into our house. I can't believe it's been that long. Almost double the amount of time I've lived anywhere. So I needed something new.

Here's some pictures for your viewing entertainment. :)



Below is my sister Amy and a young Greg removing wall paper from the family room. We had a week long painting party with all our families and some friends coming to help paint the house.

Then a year later we replaced the carpet. With Spencer and Cameron helping.



Then 6 years ago or so we added the red/burgundy accent wall. Ready for anew!

 



 We went with a color called Monorail Silver. A light grayish-blueish-silverish color. Depends on the lighting and time of day. And then our "barn wood" accent wall and part of our dining area we painted with a color called Squirrel Gray. That was ridiculous to paint. At one point I even used Jax's big water color paint brush to get in all the grooves.

Oh and we painted the inside of our 2 back doors black. That's been on my to do list for several years.

 This is a little better/darker picture to show the accent wall. I didn't even take a picture of that baby. I had dreams after of still painting it. Maybe you'd consider that a nightmare.

 

Now to just change up and add some accessories and wall hangings.

The End.

1st Days

So all my boys started school on different days. 3 different schools, all different times, makes for a drag of running around in the car. Ugh, it'll be a long year. But I am happy to have Creed in a different school for kindergarten and a great normal teacher. Next year he can join Jax for French Immersion. Creed's first day was last week. He was so excited.

 So excited in fact he didn't really bother to say goodbye to me. He just marched right into his class. Didn't even look back. There he goes. Such a big kid. Although while I was visiting with some moms after the kids were going in, he came back after a minute and yelled out the door that the animals were there this time. During the assessment week, the class pets weren't in the room. So he was happy they were now.

And the next pic is after school he was all smiles. I asked him how his day was. He said "It was AWESOME!"

 And Bodie started school last week too. My little baby Bodie, newly 3 years old started a little 3 year old preschool class. I bet he's the youngest. But they all seem like babies. So cute. I was worried he wouldn't go in. He looked kinda worried when the teacher took him from the car. But when I came back to pick him up. He was a happy camper. I asked if he liked it. He did and said he would go back. Phew! He's one mamma's boy who cries every week in nursery still. Maybe he'll start being a "big kid".  His back pack drowns him, but he loves it. Proud to wear it and have his own.

 And a few weeks ago Jax started school. He hasn't complained once, yet, about how long his days are (unlike last year). He said his teacher (English) is his favorite he's ever had. And he still doesn't know his French teachers name. I keep asking him so I know how to pronounce it and he can't tell me. Lovely.

He walks!

Oh my, next week he will be 17 months. And Rafe is finally walking!! He's been taking steps here and there for a couple months. We knew he could do it but just chose not too - stinker. The last week he's had a few "sperts" of walking time, then he'd stop and be done for the day. And a few nights ago, he was walking all over for a long time. I was able to get plenty of video and pictures. He was laughing and loving it.

So as of today, he walks 50 % of the time. Otherwise he'll bend down and crawl. It's like he's still experimenting. He certainly does things at HIS own pace. And I guess we'll just wait some more for him to be all done with crawling.

And a quick funny from Bodie - He fell and cut the side of his knee today, (that's not funny) so I put a band-aid on. And about an hour later he asked "Is my booboo done?"  He wanted to take the band-aid off. I told him to give it until lunch to stop bleeding and then he could remove it. "O Tay".

Last Hoorah!

Friday night before school started we went boating at Jordanelle (and Saturday) and then camped at the camp ground with Greg's family. The boys loved it. Below they are striking some poses for the camera being silly after roasting marshmallows. I missed all this as we were still setting up our camp spot. So thanks to all of Greg's sisters and families for entertaining my boys. :)

 Some of the adults stayed up and had hot chocolate and went to bed at mid-night. Jaxon stayed up with us. He was so proud to say it was the latest he's ever stayed up in his whole life.

The next morning Bodie was the first awake, happy as could be and woke the rest of us up. They all slept great. Except me, I was cold all night. But I'm always cold. And then kept hearing the semi trucks on the highway every 10min. all night long, oh and hearing the Coyotes too.

So Greg taking the picture from his bed, then there's Creed and Jax, still asleep, then there's me, and then Bodie and Rafe in the crib.

 Good thing we received an 8 man tent for a wedding present. We were packed in.

Bodie and Rafe loved to just stay in the tent and play. If you asked Bodie "what are you doing?" he'd say, "Hanging out in the tent".

It was fun but quick. I didn't take many pictures. Happy end of summer bang!

Such a Stud

It was a very hot evening to go take some pictures of Bodie at age 3. But I did it and we survived. He is as cute as can be. Although getting him to pose with the best smile is always work.

 A laugh and smile, that's what I'm talking about.

 What a stud!

 Jax really wanted to pose with the garbage can. So ok.

I drove by the new little park/plaza in old town Holladay (is that what you call it?) and went home and grabbed the camera and thought it'd make a neat back drop. So that's where we are.

And a quick funny about Bodie. Lately he is our little echo. He is always in the background and you can hear him repeating everything we say. For fun I guess. He's always repeating us when we say prayers, but now he's taken it to the next level and likes to copy and repeat. I suppose he's learning to say more words this way.

First Stand

Well my boys finally had their first lemonade stand. But we didn't have any lemonade and so we used Kool-Aid. And we didn't have any ice, so after the first half hour it got warm I imagine. It was like 96 degrees outside or something. Jax was so excited. He's asked to do it occasionally over the years. And he got everything out and ready so I couldn't say no this time. Although I had to help him change his sign from offering $2 to just a quarter. And he wanted to give an Oreo to everyone that stopped. It was a slow day. They had maybe 7-8 people buy some. And thanks to our fav neighbors, the Richmond's supplied almost half the business. :)

I told him next time we'll have to do it after work when people are driving around or on a Saturday when there's more traffic. And we'll have ice and actual lemonade. And I tried to get to the money to count it before they tried dividing it. I think it was somewhere around $4.50. Jax had already set aside his tithing. He was so proud of their afternoon and after anyone stopped they would be so excited and come running in to tell me.

 We've been able to go boating a few times. It wouldn't be summer if I didn't post a picture of Greg doing some of this. He loves it.

I can't believe school starts soon. I need more time to enjoy summer. I have too many little things I want to do! Slow down already.

Loose Creed

Creed mentioned to me while Greg was out of town last week that his tooth was loose. I checked and sure enough, it was. And he kept wiggling it for the next several days. And kept trying to pull it. And Tuesday night Greg decided to check it out and I didn't think it would come out, but all-of-a-sudden he had it out. So I quickly grabbed the video camera, I feel bad I missed it. But did record the "aftermath". Which wasn't much. A little blood and a happy boy. So different from his older brother. It was quite the ordeal with him, lots of tears. So I'd say Creed is brave. Just check it out...

 And here is Jax freaking out about his 4th tooth, just a few days before Creed's first tooth became loose. (You can see his front tooth dangling low there) Jax likes drama and gets a little upset. Ok, well a lot upset. Good grief.

 Showing their new smiles. And I guess Creed learned from his older brother how to handle losing a tooth. What a breeze for Creed. He's so happy and proud that he finally got a visit from the tooth fairy.

And Rafe has found a new favorite spot to climb onto and sit and push cars around. By the time I grabbed the camera he had uncrossed his legs. It was so cute.

Bodie Boy

Our little boy turned 3! Oh my, I don't want him to grow up. It kinda makes me sad. But he was anything but. In the morning we opened presents. He tore them little piece by little piece. Until the older boys had enough and helped him along. Then that evening we had a little celebration in the park with family. All day he kept asking for his Lightning McQueen off the cake. So when he was done licking the frosting off the candles that was the next to grab.

Here's his cute face blowing out his 3 candles. It was tricky with the breeze blowing them out. But I think he got them.

I was glad to have a summer birthday and have a party in the park. Luckily for some shade. After Bodie opened presents he rode his scooter and new wiggle car.

 Here's some of the group playing at the park. It was a fun day. And he loved his "Buhr-tee"! (birthday)

 In the last few weeks Bodie has started to show a little sass. My cute nice 2 year old is now a typical terrible threes. Aahhh! He talks back to us and will yell and tell me no. Quite the attitude. Even in his sleep. The other night he woke up yelling for me. But when I went into his room and told him to go back to sleep, since he didn't even open his eyes I knew he was half asleep. And he told me "You go back to sleep!"

He enjoys causing trouble is seems. He'll throw things he's not supposed to and get into stuff he shouldn't. And sometimes he'll get all giggly and then won't do what he's supposed to and thinks it's funny. He's just causing me to pull my hair out! And he knows it! Really though, he's sure changing. His new phrase of choice is telling EVERYONE that they are a "doo-doo head". Nice.

I do love... when he runs and swings his little arms back and forth, or plays with Rafe and shares his toys with him, tries to keep up and play with his older brothers, laughs so hard he practically cries, when we tell him we're going to go do something he asks "me too?" and points to himself, or how he'll sneak downstairs to play in his older brothers rooms, he could stay outside all day if we let him, loves to do puzzles, or play games, read books, and do "his goals", tries telling us a big long story and we have no idea what he's saying,

that he loves playing with all kinds of cars, and gets so sad every Sunday when he has to go to his nursery class. I do love his little voice and that he can out eat all of his brothers. I could go on and on.

He can hold up his last 3 fingers and tell us he's "tree" and when we ask "what ARE you doing or what's your name?" his answer is always "good". We're working on using the toilet, learning his numbers and counting and the alphabet. The first letter he learned was "W" for some reason that one has stuck right with him. His colors have been tricky. I think he might be color blind. He doesn't appear to see red. Kinda sad, but only time will tell.

Now I'm hoping this year will slow down and he won't turn 4 for a long time. :)