Ready, Set, HIKE!

We might be a couple of weeks past the Superbowl, but does this kid appear to know his stance, or what?

You should have seen his throw!

I love this helmet! Each of my boys have had their photo taken while wearing it. I guess it's a bit of a rite of passage.

What kind of mother gives her kid a marker?

Yeah - that would be ME!

The GOOD:

He was quiet for a very long time

He was happy for a very long time

He kept his inner Picasso limited to himself and the car seat

The BAD:

His face

His hands

His car seat

The fact that this face doesn't look one bit remorseful...

Take a right on isle 3...

I've learned how to keep Ty content when we have to hit the supermarket...

Give him the ad.

He will spend the entire trip to the store turning those pages and pointing to things.

I know at some point he will learn those dreaded words....

"mom will you buy me _____?"

For now, I'm just happy for the distraction.

Luckily it's milk :)

My Three Sons

So we were a bit slow in getting the birthday photos taken this year...

I'm becoming very comfortable with my life motto being "better late than never"... just inscribe it on my headstone!

Cason's 7 year (and 2 months)

Jake's 3 Year (and 2 months)

Ty's 18 month (and 2 months)

They turned out okay - our favorite Target photographer has finally moved on in her life - grrrr! Good for her, but sad for us!

I LOVE primary songs!

Jake is my singer!
All day.
Every day.

I love it. If you want to know what Jake is thinking, listen to the words of the songs he sings as he is going off to bed. He takes familiar tunes and adds his own words and thoughts - like a couple of weeks ago when the lyrics went something like "mommy gets mad when my pee pees go in my pants"... But I digress :)

Jake and I sing every night before bedtime. I LOVE to hear his sweet little voice singing primary songs and I thought I ought to capture some on video before he decides one day to stop singing.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The family that plays together...

I was pulling clips off of my phone, and came across this video. It was taken over the Christmas holiday and I began recording it because as I was working on the computer, I looked up and was just humored by the absolute chaos and yet the joy of everyone playing together.
Basketball games in our loft before bed are a nearly nightly occurrence. Watching the game go on, despite Jake and Ty's playing underfoot seems almost like it's choreographed - but it's just a typical night at our house.
(warning: this video is long and I can't imagine anyone actually sitting through the entire thing... I'm just saying... Also, the strobe effect is from my phone's video feature - we DON'T actually have a strobe light in our family room, even though at times it would probably add to the effect :)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Who needs a straw?

If ever you are looking for a way to use household items in a NEW and FRESH way, just look to your nearest three year old...

I think that this Spray Straw idea could really catch on!

(at least among fellow three year olds)

Healing Hands for Haiti

Rich's sister, Emily, has been volunteering with Healing Hands for Haiti for a few years now. She takes an annual trip to Haiti and uses her nursing skills to help the Haitian people.

She, understandably, was concerned about people she knew when the earthquake struck.

In typical form, Emily found her way down to Haiti, with her good friend Mark, to go lend a hand following the earthquake.

She arrived home last week, after two weeks. She has over 1,000 photos that tell too many stories to begin to share. I can only imagine that her life has been changed, but I'm just as convinced that she provided care for others that will similarly change their lives.

I have been talking to the kids about Haiti and answering their questions.

Last week, Kaitlyn told me that she wanted to donate her entire February allowance to the people in Haiti. I was so pleased, I told her I would double her allowance for the month (my kids don't get that much!)

This morning Kaitlyn watched the slide show of all of Emily's photos and then we made the donation through the Healing Hands for Haiti website here.

Twenty dollars may not seem like much to us here in the states, but Emily put it into perspective by telling us that an average Haitians daily wage is $2 - for the DAY!

Kaitlyn's $20 does matter and I'm proud of her decision to make the donation.

Emily and Kaitlyn are both my heroes!

Happy Valentines!

It may be a bit late...

but HAPPY VALENTINES DAY to all!

I hope you all got a hug today from someone you love!

Girls Night Out x 2

This past weekend I got to go "out" with out-of-town friends.

Not one night, but TWO nights in a row.

When you figure that I don't do the "friend hangout" thing (ever!), you realize what a crazy, abnormal - but WONDERFUL - weekend it was for me.

I went despite my kids frequents "where are you going", "what friend?", "without us?"....

(I really don't go out much and I guess my kids response is the proof)

Friday was spent with my oldest, dearest friend - we go back to 8th grade English class, which is over 20 years for anyone keeping track!

Mel's husband was in Vegas for work, so she flew in for a day - to spend it with ME!

Eight hours together and not a single pause in conversation - but that's no surprise because we've been known to take a weekend trip to NYC and go 3 days with no break in conversation (much to the frustration of the guy ahead of us on our flight :)

We enjoyed dinner at the Elephant Bar and dessert at Serendipity.

The food was great but the company was the BEST. Love ya Mel!

Saturday night found me out again. Christina, who I met in Vegas but she has since escaped, came into town. There were five of us that got together to eat dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It was a bit of a reunion, since Angie came in from Arizona and Jen and Christine and I still live in Vegas, but since I'm no longer in their ward they may as well be out of state as well.

Our waiter had to be the highlight of the dinner - he pegged us as a bunch of "mormon" moms before he even took our drink order! What could it be? Our giddiness at being out to eat without children or our diaper bag sized purses that could double as a 72 hour kit or the fact that we pulled out three cameras? Who knows, but once we confirmed our religious preference, he said "so for drinks are you doing water, diet coke or lemonade?" - sounds like he's had a few mormon moms at his tables before :)

What a great weekend! I am so grateful that I have great friends - and even though we may live in separate states it doesn't mean a thing once we are in the same room together!

I think that is the test of true friendship!

The talk I should have given

I spoke in church this past Sunday. The Book of Mormon was my topic.

Sunday night Cason presented this "talk" prior to scripture time.

I think that they asked the wrong Dougall to speak...

Translation (Cason acknowledged his spelling errors):

"Nephi wrote the golden plates. He was a righteous man. He is blessed and his family is too. If we read the Book of Mormon we will be blessed. And we need to still follow his commandments and go to church and read your Book of Mormon."

I love you Cason. I'm glad you have a testimony of the importance of the Book of Mormon. Thanks for sharing it will our family.

Let's not forget Jake!

It turns out that Jake didn't want to be left out of the stuffed animal photo shoot.

I guess we are fortunate to have enough animals for all the kids...

...and enough love for all the animals!

Meet Toady

This is toady.

He is a Spotted Frog webkins.

He actually belongs to Cason, but you would hardly know that because he is generally anywhere but with Cason.

Luckily Cason is very good at sharing....

And Ty is very good at taking.

The relationship seems to be working out really well :)