Pioneer Day

 We spent most of the day like any other except with a mention now and then of the Pioneers.  While fixing dinner I decided we needed to do something.  So I fixed a picnic dinner and we headed outside.  

The weather was absolutely perfect! Except for a couple of rogue mosquitos, it was a lovely dinner. 

 You can't see him very well, but that's Alexander on the swing.  He had a hard time sitting still and eating with all the wide open space around him.

After we ate the boys chased dragon flies and daddy and I drank in view. I love where we live.  The view on the golf course is spectacular although these photos don't really show it.  

 

 We all went for a walk down to the "cave" made out of trees and watched spiders at work and saw berries and veggies growing in well manicured gardens.  Wish we could take time like this more often.

 When it got dark we decided not to venture to Liberty Park and instead go to the best view on the east bench - the public school parking lot.  I think it's hilarous that they have the best view around here, but there you go.  We weren't the only family with this brilliant idea but luckily there were just enough "squares" for all of us ;)  We saw about 10 "shows" close by and literally hundreds of backyard fireworks all over the valley.  The boys got bored before the finale so we started driving home.  When we passed our church we noticed all the ward families gathered there so we pulled in and watched some more.  Then we headed home.  Pulling up in front of our house we actually witnessed the finale from the comfort of our own car in a beautiful unobstructed line of view!  We didn't have to go anywhere, what we we thinking?!!

Stephen's Primary Talk

This was Stephen's second Primary talk.  He did such a great job.  Just like his first talk, I asked him questions and he basically wrote the whole thing.  We kinda had a difficult time scrounging up visual aids since we're basically camping and don't have any of our stuff.  But thanks to the family newsletter, a library book, some crafts we made the week before and the ipad - we did pretty well.  Stephen was very particular about what he wanted to wear to church.  He wanted to look his best which included his DI blazer (that used to be his spy costume). 

Stephen read a little but most of the time he looked at his audience and paused at the right time for effect.  He did great.  Sadly, Lincoln and Alexander both had colds so they had to stay home with daddy. So they missed Stephen doing such a great job.

Afterwards he got plenty of complements.  Later during Sacrament Meeting, they introduced the musical number as a ward congregational choir number.  A member of the bishopbric got up and explained that anyone who wanted to sing could come up.  I looked at Stephen and he said, "does that mean I could go up?" I nodded and said, "you wanna go?" "As long as you will come with me" I said of course and stood up.  We were sitting in the front of the chapel so we ran up and joined right when the piano started.  We sang Come, Come Ye Saints.  He sang his best and I could tell he was pretty proud of himself.  After the meeting, 3 different men came up and to tell me how handsome Stephen is.  Men! That's usually what the little old ladies say on our way out ;)

Here's Stephen's Talk:

Families Are a Part of Our Heavenly Father’s Plan

My name is Stephen and I’m going to talk about Families!

Everyone who comes to earth has a mommy and a daddy.

EVERYONE! 

You can’t get to earth without a family. 

Even Animals and insects have a mommy and a daddy.   

Heavenly Father made it that way. 

We even lived in a family before we came here.

That is why God is called Heavenly Father. 

He is the father of everyone. 

He sent us to live in a family for lots of good reasons:

Our parents can teach us good things like

·         being obedient

·         how to repent when we make mistakes

·         and that Heavenly Father and Jesus love us. 

We live in the same house as the Spencers.

Yesterday their granddaughter Lily came over and we were playing but we got noisy and we got in trouble. 

I felt terrible. 

My mom and dad helped me know what I could do to make things right. 

I wrote Lily’s grandma a note to say I was sorry. 

Parents can help us learn how to make things right.

Heavenly Father also sent us to live in a family so we wouldn’t be lonely. 

·         We get to spend time with our families. 

·         We can work together. 

·         We can serve each other. 

·         We can  have fun together:

·         Making things– My mommy helped Lincoln and I make animal crafts, I made a jaguar and Lincoln made a monkey.  It was lots of fun to make them together.

·         Cuddle - I also love to cuddle together with my family and just talk together.  It’s one of my fun things

I have the best family! But that is another story.  

Families are so  important that Heavenly Father made it so we can be with our families forever!  I'm so grateful for that because I love my family.  My brother's are my best friends.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

 

4th of July Fun!

Happy Independence Day!!

I'll write more later, for now I'm just getting pictures up.


Festive flag photoshoot:

 

Off to Midway for an amazing 4th of July bash at Aunt Laura's aunts house:

 Running to see the cousins

 Taking care of his little brother

Pit stop to check out a bug - a must!

 Super huge water bounce house with slides!

 First time with sparklers!

We can't pull them away at nearly midnight because they found the castle!

Happy Father's Day

Oh what a good looking daddy we have at our house!!

Maybe we celebrated Father's Day early, or maybe we celebrated our birthdays and anniversary late, but we had a date last night - weird, I know.  And something else super crazy is that we went to a movie! We saw the latest Star Trek movie which is appropriate since I think the last time we went to the movies was for the previous Star Trek Movie.  I guess we just created a tradition :)

We came home and within in 30 minutes the transformer at the bottom of the street blew and we were without power.  That should have been the cue to go to bed early, but instead we talked with the light of a lantern or two until past midnight. That always makes 9am church a little difficult :)  Thus started Father's Day 2013.

We woke and babycakes decided he wanted to cuddle.  He was so cute.  When I came back into our room after getting ready, he and daddy were still in bed.  I came over and Alexander asked me to go close the door and get into bed so we could all cuddle together.  So sweet!

After a couple of minutes we got up and I told him to go get the boys up.  When I went in, I found him cuddling with Stephen who was still not quite awake.  While I went to get the camera, Lincoln decided he wanted a good cuddle too. 

Needless to say with all this extra cuddling, we ran a little late getting ready for church.  What's an extra few minutes when you're already late?  Since this was probably the best the boys would look all day, I decided to take a couple photos :)

Lincoln wanted to watch daddy get ready and in doing so picked daddy's tie.  Nemo was the tie of choice and wouldn't you know it? All my boys are matching today :) 


Stephen had grand ideas for presents and almost couldn't get ready for church working on them.  Because he was a bit antsy, we decided to have a party the minute daddy came out after changing his clothes :)

Lucky daddy received gifts Stephen found around the house - nothing like regifting to make the fun last longer :)

We made some ties to hang down from the ceiling for decorations.

The boys wrote things they they love about daddy on the back.  Some of our favorites are:

(translations - left: "You are so great" by Stephen. right: (start in the middle and cross your eyes) "daddy lets me read" by Lincoln

Stephen directed the decorating, he had it all figured out in his mind.  It also makes me wonder just how much snooping into the storage room he does.

Later on Stephen announced it was game time.

He'd created a game he called "Hit the Press!" otherwise known as Hit the Present. This meant that we all took turns throwing soft little balls at the presents until they fell down from the window and hung by a bit of curling ribbon.  Then Lincoln got to smack them some more until they fell down from there.  Luckily I had a few wrapped presents left over from our drive back to UT to use for the game.  Stephen explains the game in the video below:

 The game in action

 
 Then Stephen decided it was time for the decorations to come down and to make Daniel a "King Daddy" with ties all over.

 Our Daddy and our future daddies modeling their fab ties

Curry for dinner and brownies for dessert - what more could a man ask for :)  Oh yeah, and a hug and a kiss from each of his cute boys and his lovely wife!