10 Points

Guess what Devin said today when he got home from work and saw that I was still in the middle of making dinner and that 2 of our 3 kids were crying and that the toy room was a mess and that I was pretty much completely frazzled...

He said, "What can I do to help?"

Did you guess that?  10 points if you did.  He got about 100 point for saying it.

Yeah, he is amazing.  It was so wonderful that he offered to help instead of criticizing for dinner not being done or any thing else he might mention.

There have been a few instances when he walked in and the first words he said to me were something like, "Why does the house smell weird?" or, "Did you make sure the cereal was on sale before you bought it?" or, my favorite, "What did you do all day?" (Men, take note:  That last one is seriously the worst thing a man can say when he gets home to his wife and house full of kids.)

It is unbelievable the difference it makes when the first words he speaks are kind.

Peaches 2011

Annual Utah peach canning day

This year Devin and I canned 28 jars all by ourselves!  Like, no help from one of our mothers.  We felt so grown up!

Devin making the syrup:

1/4 c sugar

1 tsp fruit fresh

start with 1 c hot water

 The set up:

big pot for blanching peaches

steam canner

bowl for transporting peaches from pot to cold water in sink to be peeled

 peeling

cutting

putting in jars

 about ready to go in the canner

 Devin and his creepy molester face

 Ta-da!  

Aren't they pretty?!  They sure are yummy!!!

Pant-less Cowboy

Henry practicing his cutting skills

with Daddy's cowboy hat

and without pants

 "Lemme see!"

 Harry Potter glasses

 And again, no pants.

Lion

Jaxon's first Halloween (he was only 3 weeks old for his real first Halloween) he wore this lion outfit.  Henry then wore it for his first Halloween too.  I got it out to wash it for Ollie to wear it and Henry thought  it would still fit him.  Even after putting it on and seeing how it obviously didn't fit him, he still thought it did.  

And, yes, Jaxon has a fanny pack.  He pretends it is his Flynn Ryder satchel.  It was in the Halloween box from when Devin was a hideous lion tamer...

Here the boys are pretending to be Flynn and ride Maximus on a chair they overturned...

Little Teeth

Poor Ollie is the happiest baby so when his teeth come in we see a whole new side of him.  A side that cries, barely.  He wines and cries a little, but mostly sits and sucks his thumb.

This baby and his happy demeanor are wonderful blessings!

St George

On our way up to Utah for a family reunion we stopped at Del Taco for dinner.  We specifically chose Del Taco because they had a kids play place.  But, the play place was closed and that was a bummer.  You certainly can't tell from the look on Henry's face that he is bummed about it.  

Beautiful St. George Temple

 On Sunday we went to sacrament meeting at the first building we could find.  It just so happened to be a senior branch.  So our family was the only one with kids.  It was the quietest meeting I have ever been to!  Luckily, our kids were exceptionally good that week so we didn't stand out too much.  After the meeting an old guy even came up and said our kids were "so well behaved."  

That's Henry with a beanie baby bear inside Devin's church shoe.  He told Devin to take off his shoe and then used it for a boat for his Yogi Bear.  What an imagination!

Ollie was such a trooper in the car

 Henry was so tired he fell asleep at dinner.  He actually does the frequently, while still chewing.

 We went to the dinosaur track museum.  Yes, a dinosaur track museum, not a dinosaur museum.  Not as cool.

 Trying Origami at the museum

 Teething on the chair

 I sat behind the boys for a while because other people were in the van with us.  Here's a few with my super excited kids...

And that's all the pictures I got from our trip.  For all the stuff we did, I should have taken more.  But some of the other fun things we did include:

Grocery shopping at Harmon's (the best grocery store ever).

My own alone time at Robert's Arts and Crafts!  Amazing!

Seeing Devin's grandma, grandpa, aunt, cousin, cousin's husband, and their cute baby.

Swimming in the condo ice cold pool then jumping in the jacuzzi and back in the pool.

Running what felt like 5 miles on a giant hill, but then realizing it was only 2.

Showering in an awesome shower without a door in hot water!  (At home our shower is so far away from the water heater the water doesn't get as hot as I would like it.  "Turn the heat up" you say, but in the kitchen, right next to the water heater, the water will just about scald your flesh so we don't want to do that.)

Sleeping in a KING sized bed.  One of the loves of my life.  Some day we will upgrade.

Seeing my amazing friend Lacee and her itty-bitty baby who was born super early.  Little baby Olivia is sure blessed to have such and amazing mommy!

Getting 2 pairs of running shoes and 4 pairs of running socks for $125!  What a steal of a deal at the outlets in Laughlin!  We stayed there on our drive home so we wouldn't have to do it all at once.

Getting woken up an average of 5 times a night because of Ollie's teeth coming in--SO sad!

Getting woken up about 5 times because of second hand cigarette smoke seeping through the door from the room next door during our night in Laughlin.  I guess that's what you get for being too poor to afford a nice hotel and falling for the cheap rooms in a casino.

Seeing Josh and Joy and their family (My personal highlight of the trip!  It might be Devin's too, but then again it might come second to his Harmon's shopping.)

Creamies.

Oh, yeah, and fixing a flat tire!  Maybe we are jinxed because on our last family vacation (only a few months ago) we got a flat tire too!  This time instead of it being blazing hot, it was really cold because it was really late at night and just off the mountain outside of Fredonia.  I broke down at that point.  Devin was a champ, of course.  I just couldn't believe it happened to us again!  On another long road trip!  But, after Devin got the spare on and pronounced it "pretty low" we said a desperate prayer and went along on our way.  After the prayer I did feel peace that we would arrive safely and we did!  It definitely was a blessing of safety and peace because I was so nervous about that spare!

It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun!

Y Workout and Swim

Because we live a pretty good distance from a city library, museums, parks, etc, there's not much to do close to our house.  Plus it is blazing hot in the summer so activities are limited to pretty much indoors.  So, we go swimming at the Y a few days a week.  I work out while the kids go in the play place and then we all swim together.  Sometimes the boys are so crazy in our little stall while we try to eat our snack and change into our swim suits.  It probably seems extra crazy because I am usually tired from my workout.  But, on this day, they were exceptionally good.  

It seems like every time I go another mother comments on how I am brave for bringing all 3 boys to swim. It is quite a circus sometimes, but I don't want to live my life barricaded in my house because I have 3 children ages 4 and under.  And sometimes we do make a scene, but all kids do.

Ruining My Life

Today Jaxon said to me, "You're ruining my life!"  I want to remember he said that at age 4.  Yes, age 4.  As in f-o-u-r.  Like, after 3 and before 5.  I thought it was something teenagers say.  I literally laughed out loud when he said it because I couldn't believe it.  I even said, "What?" so he would repeat it and I could make sure it was really what I thought I heard.  People tell me that girls are dramatic, but I say Jaxon is pretty dramatic.

He said it because I told him he could not have more blueberries until he had eaten his cauliflower.  I guess that would ruin a person's life.  How could I?

Holiday Decorations

I've got a question:  When putting out holiday decorations, do you put away your usual decorations?

See, we have a big picture of Christ on our mantel.  Now I want to decorate that space for Halloween, but I just don't feel right putting spider webs and skulls around a picture of Christ.  So I guess I'll take down the Christ picture for the month of October...???

What do my fellow decorators think?

Labor Day

Since Devin works a full time job, a part time job, and is working on getting his masters degree 2 classes at a time, he doesn't have many days "off."  And by "off" I mean where he doesn't have to be any of the above mentioned places the whole day.

So, we were very excited that he was off on Labor Day.

We went to one of our favorite places to go as a family...

Johnny Rockets!

Then we played in the fountain outside.  The weather was nice and the boys were so entertained by the fountain, so Devin and I sat with Ollie and talked while we watched the boys play.  

Precious:)

Ollie the Little Oliver

All I can say is that I just think he is the cutest little baby!!!  

I mean, I know all parents think their kids are cute, but really?  

Is he not just so adorable?!?!?!

 Almost crawling...

 When he gets sleepy he sucks his thumb.

 Jaxon (with his Harry Potter glasses) loving on his little baby!

I am so so so blessed to have these boys!