Silly Boys

Our boys have been pretty silly lately.

Barrett had to pull the carseats out to have space to take the youth to the Temple. The boys played in their carseats all morning.

We have this funny mustache for Mr. Potato Head. Damon thinks it works great for him...it is pretty funny!

Damon loves to put the bubbles from the bath on his face like a beard. He was trying all sorts of faces one night. Kinda reminded me of Calvin and Hobbes when Calvin takes tons of pictures of his funny faces.

Tommy loves playing his guitar. This time he was wearing dino jammies, a pirate hat, and snow boots while strumming.

Barrett and Damon have been having little jam sessions lately. Damon has to be exactly like his Dad. He had to have flip flops on and his foot on the chair...just like his dad. He really thinks he's playing even though his guitar is incapable of tuning...he sings in key too. It is really sweet to watch.


The other day Tommy was wearing his Superman cape, then turned the fan on. It was freezing outside so I asked him why he turned the fan on. His reply: I'm flying! Except it sounded like: I'm fwying. Then he ran around and wanted me to take a picture of him flying onto the couch.


It was pirate day at the library storytime last week. The boys earned some pirate booty...a necklace. Ever want to know how boys wear a necklace?


-One day coming home from church Damon was asking me if "the wife grows the babies."
-Tommy was being silly in the car telling me random things. I said: Are you kidding me? His reply: No, I'm true-ing you."
-Damon was break dancing in Old Navy the other day:)
-The boys love the song, Check Yes Juliet...they were so excited to hear it playing in the store the other day.
-Damon comes up to Barrett and I and says: Quinn loves motorcycles, Dad loves salsa and guitars, and Mom loves the computer.

Last night we were trying to get the boys to bed, but we were all laughing instead...I wish I had a recording. The boys said some really, really funny things!

We have a Preschooler!

The day finally arrived. Damon was so excited to head off to Preschool. Ever since we've been back from our month-long vacation, he has been really skittish. If I go upstairs, he yells for me or comes up with a random reason to follow me up there. If there is no adult within 5 feet of him, he may go hysterical...it is driving us crazy! Anyway, I was really nervous he wouldn't go into his classroom. I was really nervous that he'd just stand around and not know what to do. I sent him to a place neither one of us new a soul...not the teachers or kids in his class! All my worries have been for nothing. He LOVES preschool. He wishes he was going everyday instead of 3 mornings a week. I really don't like the fact that he's with other people experiencing things that I have no clue about. I'm the one who teaches music in Primary and used to teach at a Day Care and Elementary school...I'm the one experiencing things with kids. Now I'm the parent that drops their child off and picks them up in 2 1/2 hours without hearing the funny things they say or watching them interact with others. Do his teachers even know how awesome he is?!! I am doing better, believe it or not.

So, the first day Damon walked in like he was a pro, barely said good-bye to Tommy and I, and enjoyed being there.





Of course Little Brother Tommy had to pack his backpack as well. He shoved any toy into his backpack that he could get his hands on as we were walking out the door. He had to walk into the school with it on too. We now have "Mommy School" which entails singing the Days of the Week song, discovering what day it is, counting the day, looking at the color of apple on the calendar for the day, adn a project...which has to be quick or Tommy loses interest.

Post Wedding Fun

We all had a fun time together with everyone after the wedding festivities were over. The bummer part about weddings is that usually the whole family is together hanging out, except the bride and groom...we missed having Tanner and Jessie with us the rest of the weekend.

We went to the splash pad in Highland. The kids loved it! And the view of the mountains was breath-taking. We just love those beautiful mountains!







We had a Graduation Party for Griffin at Rodizio Grill. The kids did semi-ok, but the adults loved all the food! Somehow Quinn got my non-meat-eater boys to eat chicken hearts. They didn't eat just one, but like 3 or 4...and they liked them!! I have to admit, I was a little grossed out by it.



The boys made raspberry ice cream with Grandpa again. Tommy loved it so much, he picked up his bowl to lick it and got it all over his face:)



Everybody left Sunday, but we had until Tuesday. So, Monday we tried out the Alpine splash pad. The boys weren't as into it...we're not sure if it wasn't as exciting or no cousins to play with as the Highland one. We got snow cones afterwards:)





Our last night in Utah, Quinn pulled out the dress up box with the boys while Barrett and I packed. They came running out as nijas! They were in heaven. They were hi-ya-ing everywhere. They ran upstairs to show grandma and grandpa. Tommy started jumping on Quinn and Damon even performed the Haka!





Other fun things we did:
- Quinn taught Damon to ride a skateboard. He loved it! Tommy even tried it with his daddy later.
- The adults loved playing Trains (aka: Ticket to Win It)
- Tommy rode the little 4-wheeler up the hill and it tipped backwards on him. He got up and tried for it again.
- We ate too much good food...as always.
- We enjoyed seeing everyone as "parents"...kinda nice we're not the only ones anymore:)
- Damon and Tommy played ipods, iphones, and ipads. They even taught their parents how to play Angry Birds.

We were sad to leave, as always.

Tanner and Jessie's Wedding

Barrett caught a flight early east coast time to make it to Sacramento in time for me and the boys to pick him up for a 10 hour drive to Utah. By the time he went to bed, he'd been awake for close to 24 hours. Our drive was pretty uneventful. The boys did really good...it helped that Tommy slept for 3 or 4 hours! It also helped to have Dynamite on the ipod to have dance parties to...I got some awesome video of the boys dancing in their car seats. We were so glad to finally get back to Utah.

Tanner got married the next day!! It was so beautiful and nice and happy and romantic and fun and tasty and amazing. It was fun to be there and see this super happy couple get married in the temple. We had a delicious luncheon and The Northhampton House that I had always wanted to go into since driving past it almost every day when I taught school. Barrett, Quinn, and Griffin performed a funny song for the happy couple. We ate lots of cupcakes and snow cones at their reception and kinda wished we didn't have our kids with us so we could enjoy the beauty of the event. It was so fun to see relatives too!
We all know I'm not a photographer, so check out Ainsley's blog if you want some really amazing pictures of the event...and the shower her and Caitlin gave Jessie!!

Post Reunion Fun

Becca and her kids, Jenny and her little one, and me and my boys stayed after the reunion was over. It was fun to have more time with sisters. It sure wasn't easy with all those kids around. My poor Dad got followed around like crazy...mom too. It seemed like all we were doing was feeding kids, keeping them in the backyard and not anywhere else, and keeping them from chasing each other down the hall while the babies were sleeping. They had fun, but it was still work for the moms. It sure was nice once they were asleep:)
One night mom and dad were at the temple and it was just us with the kids. It was so weird...I had this thought like: how could mom and dad just leave us 3 girls alone with all these crazy kids and babies?! When did this become ok? I know, they're our kids, but it was a weird moment:)

We did so many things...here's some of the things I remember (because I took pictures).


We all loved spending time with Afton. She is such a cute little girl. We were all together for the year mark of her heart surgery and close to her first birthday, so we decided to have a Heart Party for her. She had lots of loving cousins there and it was fun to celebrate this little girl's life!





The boys helped grandpa plant more corn. Tommy and Henry refused to wear clothes (Tommy wanted his clothes off every afternoon from this night on).

We went on walks to the park a lot...moms could get a little exercise in while the little boys got some playing in. My boys loved this rope climbing thing...Tommy started swinging off it like he was Spiderman.



These little boys loved playing outside!







Grandma took the boys to the little zoo. I went along for crowd control:) They loved seeing the animals and feeding the goats. Fun times at the Applegate Zoo, as always.




We loved swimming in grandma and grandpa's pool every day! Tommy eventually warmed up to it and would wear his "tutu" (blue tube) and jump in. Damon was fearless. He learned to dive, do front flips, and finally learned to swim in the shallow end.



Tommy couldn't get enough of Zoey. He just loved looking at her beautiful face...really close. By the last couple days, he was trying to pick her up (yikes).


We pulled out the projector one night to watch Harry Potter...it was awesome! Dad, Jenny,and I went to see the last one in the theater the next day. We watched great BBC films on the projector...North and South (the end is amazing on the big screen) and Persuasion. Bec thought it would be fun for the boys to spend their last night together having a movie party. They loved watching Cars on the big screen...and Henry is a hoot to watch movies with!

We loved spending time with grandma and grandpa. We don't see them nearly enough.