Calling for Addresses

Dear anyone who actually still reads about us,
In my organizational overhaul of our house, I have apparently lost our address book! I would love to have you send yours to me so that I can send out christmas cards! The sooner the better... I know you are all dying to know what we have been up to this year, especially since I am completely blog deficient! HEE HEE!
thanks,
Beka

Last friday we were lucky enough to get to go to the first session of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication. It was such a neat finish to the whole temple process we have been to. I almost felt like I was sending my kid to college or something...we spent so much time there I can't believe it is actually up and running! During the session President Monson mentioned to the church's project manager that he had worked tirelessly on this building for a couple years and today they are taking it away from him for good and giving it to the Lord. That is almost exactly how we felt- it was very strange to think we couldn't just head on over with the boys any time we pleased! I guess if you have to give it to someone...

We got to sit in the largest sealing room on the 4th floor- Kent's second favorite room in the building, so that was really special for us and we were accompanied by Kents brother and his wife. It also happened to be President Monson's birthday- he is 82. So I am going to say we spent his birthday with him!?!

What a blessing we have to be so close to so many temples. Within an hour we can get to 8 temples. We happen to live in the only city in the world where there are 2 temples. What an amazing opportunity for us to serve and strengthen. I can't wait to get back to work!

Cascade Springs

A while back my sis was in town with her family. After they hiked Timp, we convinced them to head out to one of my favorite places in the Provo Canyon area- Cascade Springs. Here are a couple different pics from that place. Emitt, Jenna, and Laurene by the falls

Laurene picking out the fish in the pools

Tyse climbing the trees by the boardwalk,

And my favorite spot in the area- the old bridge that spans the spring flow. I haven't been up here since the fires that burned the whole area. I though that the bridge would definitely have burned, but it is the same old one...

What a beautiful place!

Tyse's Big Week!

Tyse had a HUGE week last week! He has been waiting forever for 2 big events and they happened within 2 days of eachother!

As you can (kinda) see in the picture, he lost his first tooth! A week prior he bit into a corndog a little too enthusiastically and loosened it quite a bit. He played with it for an entire week, and then he decided he'd had enough, so he just pulled it out by himself. Good thing too- neither Kent nor I are squeamish about many things, but apparently loose teeth creep us both out! The tooth fairy made his debut to a raving review.

His second big event was that he started KINDERGARTEN! YAHOO for all. He has been waiting not so patiently for over a year now, so he is finally able to get going. He is exactly a week into it and still loves it. I am learning more about 5 year old boys. Apparently they can absolutely love something and not remember a thing about it. Every day I ask him how school was and what he did. The answer is always the same... "Great! I don't remember." Now how can a child that can remember even the tiniest detail about something I make a mistake about not remember what he has done for the preceeding 3 hours of which he has apparently loved? I felt better when the neighbor boy came over and told me the EXACT word for word answer. Now if he could just get a cell phone and a diet coke with his happy meal the world may become just.

Summer vacations chosen by the kids

Tyse and Emitt were playing a game where they had "tickets" to go anywhere they wanted. Tyse asked Emitt where his ticket would take him, Emitt decided to go to see his first little neighborhood friend that moved away about a year ago. Tyse replied, In a spectacularly skeptical voice, "OK, Emitt, You go to Arden's house. MY ticket is taking ME to heaven. Maybe I'll see you there someday."

Tattling

My boys have sure been on a tattling streak as of late. It seems as though some days all I hear are "Mom, Emitt's..." fill in the blank. Usually it is that he has gone swimming in the fishtank or he is dumping litter out of the litterbox or he is climbing the shelves in the pantry... or any of the other 2 year old isms that I so love.
If it isn't about Emitt, it is "Mom, Tyse..." followed by pushed me, hit me, spit at me, said poo poo, etc. We are trying to crack down on the potty talk.
Anyway, the other day I had had it. I could not tolerate another tattle. I st down with the boys and tried in my best nice mommy fake voice that if they tattled again, they would spend the rest of the afternoon upstairs in their room. I think I scared them a bit because it was silent as I got out some snacks and we sat at the table listening to the radio.
The other thing about my kids is their strange obsession about the radio and who sings what song. Tyse has been doing it for years and now Emitt is doing it right along with him. So they are pretty rehearsed as to what is on the radio and who is singing it.
So we are sitting at the table eating a snack in silence. All of a sudden out of the blue, Emitt says,
"Mom, Taylor Swift just said stupid" in his best tattling voice. Yup. She does say stupid in that one song. And he caught her. And I didn't follow through with the afternoon in the room- I was laughing too hard.

THis week's stories

As the mom of the boys, I get to hear and witness so many precious "gems" of boyhood. I am trying to get better at recording them because they say so much about the boys character.
We have the best library- as far as what they carry. They have the best selection of dvd's and cd's to check out! Anyway, I checked out a CD called "80's music for kids." I thought it would be kinda fun to see what they included, since my recent ban on the song "I Like Big Butts" has been so unpopular. Anyway, some of the songs that he has loved have been expected, like that "Wierd Science" song. But his hands down favorite is "Axel F", by Harold Friedmeyer. Not recognizing that name or title? It is song number 2 on my playlist down on the right hand side. He has mastered the voice of a synthesizer! He always makes me think of that Friends Episode (The one) where Ross gets out his old keyboard from college... if you are friends fanatic, you know of what I am speaking!
Tyse's favorite thing to do on sunday afternoons is watch golf. You are all thinking "who's surprised", right? But neither Kent nor I watch it with him- it is his thing alone. Anyway, he has apparently been picking up the terminology in preparation for the golf lessons he is begging for because he was outside playing with a friend when a term came up. His friend was playing with a yoyo and letting it go at the bottom, trying to make it land in a little divit in our front yard. He tried once and missed, so he picked it up again and this time made it in the hole. His friend was very excited and threw his hands in the air yelling, HOLE IN ONE! I DID IT! to which Tyse replied, "No, Aaron, that is called an eagle. You missed the first one but made it on the second shot. That is an eagle."
I really had to rack my brain to reaffirm what he was saying, and he was right. I was shocked! I might as well start the country club membership savings account now.
Emitt's story of the week isn't quite as cute, unfortunately! Kent built me 2 planter boxes in the front of our house for mothers day. I have been using my free moments to paint them white. Yesterday morning I had gotten up early to get some painting done before the boys got up. I had only given myself a little bit of paint, knowing I didn't have much time and not wanting to get out too much. But I left the gallon of paint open on the counter in the kitchen. Enter Emitt. While we were finishing up mowing and edging the lawn, Emitt the painter decided to paint himself, our appliances, chairs and the countertop to match the planter box. It was quite the sight. Unfortunately Kent found him- that got paint on his new favorite jeans (which is a HUGE deal- he actually likes a pair of pants) so I spent my morning scrubbing paint out of skin and pants and off of chairs, dishwashers, and counter tops as well as fishing out all of the paper towels he had shoved into the gallon of paint. I doubt I will make that mistake again!
Ollie learned to crawl up onto chairs by himself this week. He is also really starting to communicate. He says Dada, Mama, that, and cat. He loves to follow charlie around and squeal at him- charlie isn't so much of a fan. I have just decided to stop blaming his grumpy demeanor on teeth or earaches or whatever else and have justdecided he is a grump. Maybe he'll grow out of it soon! He had a great time figuring out how the spigot on the big water cooler worked at our neighborhood bbq yesterday. Unfortunately we were serving red koolaid. He has also taken to drinking out of pop cans. I hope the shirt can survive all the stain remover!

Loving 8a

Kent's grandma Ada passed away a couple weeks ago. The day beforehand Kent's sister had called to say that itwould be any time, and so when I hung up, I shared the news with Tyse. He is worse than any older brother I ever had as a teenager- WHO was on the phone, WHAT did they want, WHY did they need to talk to me about it, etc. Anyway, he is pretty sensetive about these things and he began to cry, so I mentioned maybe he would like to send her a picture, thinking she may last until weeks end and she would recieve it. I had also forgotten that the mail had already gone that day and it would have to wait until the next day. Anyway, this is what he drew her-
My favorite part being on the right side of her body where he wrote her name- 8a. I was proud of him for clearly trying hard to sound out how to spell Ada. He was so excited about sending it. Unfortunately she died the next morning so she never recieved it. Kent's sister brought it back to us after it was forwarded to her and Kent had to tell Tyse that Ada never got it. To which he replied through tears, "Well, I guess if I open it now, she can see it from heaven." I love the clear perspective of kids.

Ever had one of those months....

Ever had one of those months that it seems like you just couldn't cram any more it, be it travel or work hours or misery from the kiddos...etc.?
I am hoping we are just finishing one, but I think it may last a little longer yet-
Kent's company just technically finished the temple on the 17th of April. He is still tying up loose ends, but the long nights leading up to the turnover are done, which we are so grateful for. He finished just in time to leave later that evening for the first of 2 weekends in a row in Cedar City, which, despite the reasons for the gathering, were very enjoyable. It was really nice to spend time with kent's siblings in commemeration of his mom's passing 10 years ago. I didn't know her so I really enjoyed listening to their memories of her and seeing some of the glimpses of her in his siblings and my family. The boys really loved cousins, the new kitten Peanut, and a gigantic bucket of vintage trans formers.

But we know kids and vacation- no sleep, a lot of extra stimulation and sugar, and just so many kids to get/share illness with! Anyway, the trips were great, the car rides less than desireable, but survive we did. And came home with 3 boys bearing 4 pinkeyes and 4 ear infections. As if that should be enough, I watch an extra little boy a couple days a week and he also had 2 ear infections and 1 pinkeye. Our house was a HOTBED for excitement and fun! Sorry to whomever we shared with! Just when the older 2 are really on the road to recovery, I end up with an ear infection and what I am guessing to be strep throat just in time for another week to begin. I had Carter again for 2 days, and then Kent's sister and nieces came in town for 3 days. She had a conference here so I watched her 2 girls while she attended. The night she arrives, Kent comes home saying he has recieved his next project and got a promotion! HOORAY! until the phone rings late that night saying he had a flight to Phoenix the next morning. So I have enjoyed being a single parent of 5 kids, the oldes of whom is 5. You should have seen the looks I got at Carls Jr. I think they may have pondered slipping some kind of contraceptive into my waffle fry salt. We really had a great time and I got a little dose of PINK. Now onto the yard projects, mothers day projects, soccer games, and back to the DR this afternoon because I don't think Ollie's ear infections have responded to the antibiotic...
Empty nesthood sure will be boring.

Firestation trip

Here is the start of my massive catch up. I am going to start with the most recent, and then try to stay current and throw in some older stuff now and again. One of my "New Decade Resolutions" (I turned 30 last month) is to keep up on this stuff so my kids have some record of their childhood. As a mother of young ones, memory is a gift of leisure that I have not received much of. So this is it.

Anyway, last week Tyse's preschool class went up to the firestation by the airport for a field trip. It was really great- and it was a double bonus to be able to be right there by the runways and watch the planes come and go. We got the standard tour complete with trying on the gear, spraying the water, hanging out in the truck, and ended with the firemen getting called out, which the kids thought was the greatest... watching newfound heroes drive away on a gigantic loud truck with sirens and lights and everything- even better than a superhero!

The little ones loved it just as much as tyse did and were pretty great to stay in the stroller and watch.

Afterward, we went back outside and watched the planes and helicopters come and go, and while we were all standing there one of the helicopter pilots came over and talked to the kids for a little bit about helicopters and pilots (OK, basically just said that real men fly helicopters...?) and then took off in a copter so the kids could watch and looped around for a final wave before he took off into the sky. It was like 2 field trips in one! We really had a great time!

Baby Showers

Anyone have fun ideas for baby shower? Looking for something simple and fun for a diverse group! Any ideas would be great!
Thanks!

Drums, breasts, and thighs

So we have dropped off the face of the blogworld- I am working on it. We got the new computer and haven't gotten all the pics and stuff transfered over from the old computer yet, nor the program to download any new ones, so be patient and don't give up on us...

but what I am wondering is what do you do with a whole chicken (Looking for recipe ideas here, not extracurriculars)? Or how about when you buy a whole chicken cut up? Thighs? Drumsticks? They are so much cheaper and I don't know what to do with them. Any ideas?

First birthday presents

Can you believe Ollie is almost 1? I can't believe it. I still think he should be tiny! BUT.... what do you get the 3rd boy in a family that already has so many toys and clothes? Have any of you seen or had anything a little different that might fit the bill? HELP!

Christmas Tree 2008 Part 1

I am finally getting around to posting about christmas. Hopefully I will be a little better at getting things down- after all, this is the only journal I keep and it sure would be nice to have a FEW memories of this time of year! And for those (OK, ALL) of you that didn't get a christmas card, we are hoping to get to valentines this year...

Anyway, we continued our tradition yet again this year to go up and cut our tree. We feel so lucky to be able to do this every year. Had we moved may other places we wouldn't be able to do this in such a "rustic" way. I have heard of a lot of tree farms where you can go cut your tree, but there is nothing like tromping through the snow with no one else around, looking at all these mother nature grown trees that are as beautiful as they are imperfect. We have had some interesting years, of which some of you have been a part- pulling our tree down the mountain and through the stream, sitting in the car and sending the husbands on the long hike to the nearest accessible canyon while keeping the kids busy in the car, trying to haul a tree out of canyon while 6 months pregnant and on bed rest, etc. BUT THIS YEAR WAS THE YEAR OF YEARS!!! I can't imagine a more perfect day or setting for a tree cutting.

First of all, we were able to have company for the first time in a few years! Kent's brother Nick and his family moved here last fall and decided to gove cutting a go. So we were able to have company!

Next, I swear it had to have been almost 50 degrees that day. OK, maybe not quite, but we didn't even need sweatshirts or our warm jacket liners- just a long sleeved shirt and a shell was plenty warm. Didn't wear a hat, even! Not once did the boys complain of being cold. NOT ONCE. It was wondeful after all the prep it takes to get everyone ready to not have to rush our day because of cold. We tromped around the canyon for part of the morning and almost the whole afternoon and it wasn't just because I was being picky!

Our neighbor let us borrow a trailer to take up so that we could get both trees home. It was such a great thing for many reasons. First, we had a "sleigh ride" up the canyon.

We also used it as a picnic area and containment hutch for the little boys during our lunch, and then lastly, it of course brought home our trees.

We finally picked a PERFECT tree- and you know how trees are always taller in the forest than you think they are... well, here is our tree before we cut it. You can see a taller tree in the background, but look down the point of that tall tree and a little ways down you can see the tip of our tree...

My guess- 20 feet

Kent's guess-16 feet

What is yours?

Well, the thing ended up being 25 feet tall. Now remember, we only have 9 foot ceilings in our house. So what in the world would we do with the other 16 feet of tree? Well, we kept the middle 8 1/2 feet for us, we used the bottom 10 feet for boughs and garland inside and out at the house, while Kent makes the trunk into these cool tealight candle sticks, and then we lit and decorated the top 6 feet and took it to my grandma's house so she could have a little tree at her place. It was skinny and thin, but she did a great job decorating it and it was a cute LITTLE addition to her christmas decor. Kent decided that Tyse was old enough to help with the actual cutting, and he thought it was the best thing in the world!

Emitt had a great time in the snow!

I can't wait to see what next year's adventure brings!

Kent's 30th roast

For those of you terribly upset that you couldn't participate in Kent's festivites, I would like to make a blog roast for him- your favorite KENT MOMENTS left in the comments section! Can't wait to hear what you all remember most!

Happy 30th Kent!

Yesterday was Kent's 30th birthday! After a somewhat crazy attempt at a surprise ice skating trip with all his family, we just had a quiet night of celebration. Oh wait, that wasn't it at all! After having our first week of 9 am church, we actually enjoyed the afternoon, opened the presents, and then headed down to the monthly family dinner at my brother's house. Tyse thinks they have the BEST BASEMENT in the world. Complete with basketball hoop, air hockey, foosball, pool, and of course, Rock Band. Here is kent rocking out to the classics of the 90's by weezer and the beastie boys.

We ate the most delicious cake, if I do say so... a cranberry white chocolate mousse cake with white chocolate curls on top. MMMMM!!! Kent was kind enough to let Tyse help blow out the candles. Usually this would be a trio, but I think Emitt was tormenting Rudy (the dog) at this point and didn't know what was happening without him.

The boys were so excited to celebrate, although they think that Kent got some pretty boring presents- shirts, down slippers, screw drivers, work boots. Nothing motorized nor loaded with buttons. How lame. But... on the upside- maybe Kent won't have to spend the night reading magazines in the smiths down the road during this years Klondike. He may actually keep warm with those on his feet and the bivi sack santa delivered.

Here are pictures of the boys while kent was opening...

Tyse all smiles

Emitt and his ADORABLE ooohhhh!

Ollie doing what he does best- outeating his brothers.

Happy birthday, honey. We love yoU!