Nalls

We decided to do our yearly trip to Nalls to pick out our pumpkins, and look at fall flowers to see what we want to plant. It is amazing that the pansies last all winter and then bloom again in the spring.

Anyhow, we had a fun time and found a couple great pumpkins:) As usual, I tried my best to get lots of pictures-as long as the cooperation held out.

Here are the results:

Handsome daddy
sweet little girl-man I love that toothless grin:)
handsome little boy
and finally the mischievous little boy!
attempt at a group shot
and Landon love the wagon ride:)

Gettin out of the funk....

Blog funk....yeah, I have had it for a couple weeks. It's that darn facebook-you can just say something really quick on there and it is up to the minute. But...I cannot let my blog go untouched since it is pretty much my journal.

I wanted to do an update on the kiddos. I love to update every so often for a few reasons:
1. to keep up to date on their growth and development.
2. they do funny and entertaining things I don't want to forget.
and probably the most important:
3. It helps me to remember why I love them so much and may increase my patience-even if it is for a short period of time:)

Here are my kiddos in a nutshell:

Jordan Elizabeth
Here are a few things I have been loving about Jordan lately:

• Jordan loves school. She has started to love reading more and is getting better. She is well loved at school-many mornings little girls come up to the car when I drop her off and she'll go walking into school holding hands with her friends.
  
• Jordan loves to write. She constantly, and I mean constantly has a writing utensil and pice of paper of any sort-her preference is any kind of writing pad. Her writing and drawing is lying about all over the house- although luckily not on the walls anymore:)
• My sweet girl now has a love of knee socks and skirts. She would wear them everyday if she had more. They are really cute too, darn you Children's Place for such cheap cute clothes.
• What a good big sister Jordan is becoming. She loves her brothers and even though they have their moments, she will take care of them and plays with them.
• What and imagination!! Jordan is always making up games and loves to play make believe.
• Jordan is learning to be responsible. She takes her chore of putting the silverware away very seriously.
  

Here are a few of some of my favorite recent pictures.

This is an outfit she put on Sunday afternoon. Tights, leotard, paper tie, helmet ....oh shoot-blogger is out to get me again-I don't know what I pushed, but the picture ended up at the top-just when I thought I would have a nice normal post!!!!

Playing with blocks for part of our FHE lesson.
In this picture Jordan was pretending to be a weather girl before school and had the boys cracking up. Notice the knee socks-So cute.
Spencer James
I just love this little boy. He is such a joy to have around and is growing and changing so much. Here are some of my favorite things about Spencer:

• Spencer is a great helper in his preschool class and loves his new friends. He is often talking about what he does with his friends at school.
  
• He has a very active imagination. His teacher often tells me of the funny things that he tells the class during lunch.
  
• Spencer is learning at a super fast rate. He is very into numbers lately and wants to count everything. Recently we had to stop and count all the mailboxes on our street. He is very good at concentrating and can work on something for a long time.
  
• Spencer loves his little brother. He is playing soo well with Landon these days. The spend many mornings keep each other company.
• We are learning chores in our house and Spencer really wants to please me. He is so happy to make his bed and have me tell me how well he did.
  
• Spencer is such a great little friend. He shares his toys with friends and loves to play at their house. I am always told how nice he plays when I pick him up. He has a special place in his heart for a little girl in his primary class-can't blame him, Amelia is soo cute!!
  

Here are a few favorite shots of Spencer:

One of my attempts at practicing to use my camera on manual mode.

Such a cute little face!!!


Playing with blocks for FHE-what's better than sitting on the table?
Landon Lee
Man, this little boy cracks me up on a daily basis. Here are some great things about our little Lan Lan-as we love to call him.

• Landon has such a sense of humor. He likes to tease and have fun. We have early morning tickle sessions on our bed-oh, about 6:30 was the last one. Anytime I am on my hands knees he gives me raspberries on my back.
• Landon is learning so much. Much like his brother, he loves to count anything these days. He can make it almost to 20!!
  
• My little fella has a mind of his own. He is becoming incredibly independent. Last night he had shirt almost off and had a fit when I finished for him. I had to put it back on and let him do it again. He has to do every thing by himself-well, things that he can do. And don't even try to carry him-he won't have it!!
• Landon is so sweet and sensitive. He always kisses the boo boos of everyone in the family and is so free with hugs and kisses.
• This little boy is a climber and has some serious skills!!!
• Lanny loves nursery and is excited to go every Sunday. Even today during the song at the end of Sacrament, he said "I go to Nursery now." He also would love to go to school. He lines up with Spencer every time I drop him off. He will be more than ready to go to preschool next year.
• Landon idolizes his big brother and sister!! He wants to do everything they do and has to have what they have. He misses them if they are away from him.
  

I'll let the shirt speak for itself!!


Hmm, what can I find in here to eat?
Fun with blocks!

I am just so in love with these little people...I cannot imagine my life without them!!

Time Out For Women (warning: marathon post!)

Ok, I do not know what I do to mess up the font so badly-in my effort to be cute and fun, I can't get a consistent font. Guess there are worse things in life!!


I had a fabulous trip last weekend. I went to Richmond with a few really cool ladies from my ward to attend Time out for Women. Here is a link to find out more:
deseretbook.com/time-out/schedule. It is a fantastic conference put on by Deseret Book Company-just for women. The wonderful thing about this whole trip is that my sweet husband e-mailed me the info and suggested that it was something I needed. Boy was he right. We had an awesome time! Here is a synopsis:

First of all, I was just so thrilled to be going overnight with no children:) Darin took the day off to take Spencer to a field trip in the morning, which made him (Spence) ecstatic, then I left right when he got home. I left lots of directions, etc, then was on my merry way.

The drive went quick with 4 ladies all chatting away. We arrived a little early and found a place to eat. Not before dropping by the visitor center and learning that there are some neat things to do in Richmond. I decided not to bring my camera partly to just relax and partly to take a break as I had become frustrated, but after seeing some cool buildings, etc, I had wished I had my camera.

So we had a nice dinner and then made our way to the conference center. It was all in one big huge ballroom and there were big lines waiting to get in. We finally got in and found some good seats. It was in a huge room, and the director said there were about 1400 women! I wondered if we would run into anyone we know, and then saw 3 ladies from Kingstowne ward.

The first musical performer was Hillary Weeks. I have heard her name so many times, but didn't really know any of her music. Check her out on www.hilaryweeks.com. Check out the blog-she is so funny. Her music was so amazing. A couple of the songs just really hit home. One of them is called "just let me cry." My new theme song:) So many wonderful songs. I'll probably post some lyrics when I have more time. She was the main featured musical person for the whole time and would sing inbetween the speakers...soo wonderful-can't say enough great things about her!!

Micheal MCClean was also a performer. Cheesey, as usual, but good and enjoyable. Apparently he sufferes from depression, so he wrote a song thanking the people who discvered the medication that helps. It was something about "the pills" and we were laughing hysterically. Wish I had a copy. I have seen him before, so it wasn't too surprising.

Friday night' had 2 speakers: Ardeth Kapp, not to be confused with Janice Kapp Perry, and Mark Mabry-the photographer behind theReflections of Christ series of photos.

I can't find my notes from Ardeth Kapp, but she is wonderful. She was the YW General President the whole time I was in YW. She is the one who is credited for the current YW theme, and the values. I was in YW when it all changed and remember it vividly. Such a great lady.


Mark Mabry was awesome. Of course I was interested in him as he is this amazing photographer, but he didn't really talk about taking the pics, except one story about it having to do with faith. They did show a video of the shooting of the pics. The angel pics look like they are flying because the models were jumping up and down on a trampoline. Anyhow, he told the story of how he came to do the project and it was really inspirational. I will sum it up in a nutshell-but first have to check on the cookies in the oven as the timer is going off...

He wanted a new job so was praying for it. Realized he was lowering his standards to fit the type of photography he was doing. There was a progression of things he was prompted to do in order to get the spririt in his life. First he was told to get rid of his music. He deleted all his current music-hip hop, all of it-from his computer. He said he could hear the spirit speak to him. Next he was told to get rid of all his art and photography books. He got really serious and said "pornography is pornograpy...even under the guise of "art" it is pornograpy. He said he feared the consequences of his boys pulling one of the books off the shelf and seeing some of the inappropriate pictures. Next he was told to cut out all the energy drinks he was drinking. He was inspired to talk to someone at the Mesa Pagent to ask if they could do a serious of pictures of Christ's life and have help from the pagent. So then he embarked on the project.

Really, I can't put into words all that he said. He was great, and I didn't know that he has since done a similar project only based on the Book of Mormon. They had the book there with all the pictures-amazing!!! They had a mini Deseret Book Store set up in a corner of the ballroom. All the Mark Mabry products-books, CD's (music to go with pics) and DVD's were sold out before the conference even started Saturday Morning!!

Saturday's Conference
Had a good night's sleep and got back to the conference center by 8:00 for the day. We were so excited because there were some great speakers lined up. I was excited to hear Mary Ellen Edmunds who taught the sisters when I was in the MTC. She is so funny-of course she was the last speaker.

The day was a spiritual feast!!! All the speakers were wonderful and I felt so happy and peaceful. I was so grateful that I was able to go. We did run into some more friends as well-a friend who used to be in the ward who now lives in Richmond. Then I was in the bathroom and ran into another friend who was in the ward when I first moved here. So that was really nice to catch up with her.

I have been sitting here trying to decide how to document all that was said and all that I felt. I really want to share since it was so wonderful. I will just put the name and some nuggets of wisdom from the talk. I think I may do some boxes on the side as well with some of my favorite quotes.

Deanne Flynn-reporter & author, wife & mother of 7
This talk was one of my very favorite of the whole thing. I have been struggling so much lately with my feelings on how I am doing as a mother. After I heard Deanne, I felt so built up. Here are a few favorite tidbits:
-parenting is hard work and the sooner you accept that fact, the easier it becomes.
-don't lose sight of the basics by being too busy to do "fulfilling" things
-we were meant to "thrive" more than just survive.
-it's about the "memories" the "moments" the time you spend with your children-not the product.
-we are too busy doing "good" things we over look the "best" things
-she quoted the 2007 conference talk by Julie Beck "Mothers Who Know Do Less."
(tried to put the link, but too long-search it at lds.org)
-find things that last
-have dinner as a family, prayer and scripture study.
-eliminate too many outside activities.

Absolutely wonderful talk. Made me look at my being a mother in a whole new light!!

Brent L. Top
Brother Top based part of his talk on Matthew 14:24-28 where Peter steps out of the boat to walk on water. He said we have lots of times in our lives we have to "step out of the boat." He talked about being asked to do difficult things and relying on the Saviour to help us. He mentioned the part in Matthew when it says "they were come back into the boat". In Danish, come means to "walk" so Peter walked on the water as long as the Savior was with him.
-we compare our weakest weakness to someone else's strongest strength, or (I love this part) "flat out lie."
-if we try to "walk on water" ourselves, we will sink, but if we walk with the Savior we will do incredible things.
-trust in his power, promises and love.
-his power is greater than all things
I cannot sum up all he said. He was so wonderful. I so wish I could have videos of all the talks, or at least the audio recordings.

Kim Nelson
This guy was so funny-at the beginning of his talk, he got out a doily and put it on the table, then pulled out some old fashioned big glass grapes. Hysterical.

Some of his great points:
-you are powerful beyond measure
-quit comparing ourselves-we only see from our perspective
-Satan wants us to be distracted and confused
-we need to understand our relationship with our Father in Heaven is like our Father here on earth-if we allow him, he will be the first to pick us up when we fall.
-we love our children because they are ours, don't need to produce anything to be loved and Heavenly Father sees us the same way.

This was really profound. He asked us:
Sisters, if you were to see a mother treating her daughter the way you treat yourself, would you think she's a good mom? It really made me think!

-He loves us without ceasing!
-we shouldn't have a standard to judge our selves and one for others.
-see yourself as you would treat your children.
-life is not about the product, process of learning

Mary Ellen Edmunds
go about Happifying life...such a funny lady. She started by showing us her black and white stripped socks. She is hysterical. Earlier in the day when they gave out some prizes, she took the bag and was running from the winner. So funny.

-sometimes we need to be list-less
-life is good, life is wonderful
-do a self-inspection and dont' go too long without making needed changes.
be an optimist-look on the bright side.

Two perspectives of the story of Goliath
1. a pessimist says: he is so big, how could I possibly beat him?
2. an optimist says: he is so big, how could I possibly miss?

Story of lady with 3 hairs:
day one she wakes up and says "today I will wear my hair in a braid" and has a wonderful day.
day two she wakes up and has only 2 hairs left. She says "today I will part my hair down the middle" and has a wonderful day.
day three she wakes up and has only 1 hair left. She says "today I will wear a ponytail" and has a wonderful day.
day four she wakes up and has no hairs left. She says "good, I don't have to do my hair today" and has a wonderful day.

-God helps us do things we can't do
-hymn where can I turn for peace..he "reaches my reaching"
-cheerfully do all things

John 14:18 "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you."

And They Tell You TV is Bad...

Not if you find the good stuff. Today the boys watched some shows while I mopped all the floors. Well, one of them they watch in the morning while we get ready for school...bad, I know, but works for us. Anyhow they were watching Curious George, which is math and science based. There is always 2 little stories with lesson to learn-and real live people after showing the topic they were teaching. In one of them it was plumbing. See George was playing with a toy snake in the tub and it slithered down the drain, got in the pipes and clogged the kitchen sink. So the clever Man In The Yellow Hat had to call the plumber. George learned all about the pipes, drains, turning water off to the whole building, etc. He was told to load the dishwasher and found out that if you don't rinse the dishes, it gets clogged and you have to call the plumber back.

So all day Spencer has been asking about the plumber. "Do we have a plumber, mommy?" "I am going to be plumber when I grow up." After dinner, Spencer and Landon had their "cool tools" ( from George) which were their spoon and fork from dinner and were running around pretending to be plumbers fixing the drain.

We have also found a new show called Dinosaur Train, which is also science based. It is especially timely in our house since Spencer absolutely LOVES dinosaurs!! Every episode deals with a hypothesis and what happens when they test it. I had to chuckle when I walked into the room and heard a song with the words "every dinosaur poops." Yes, POOP was the topic of the day!!! Hysterical. The hypothesis was something about the body would get rid of what it did not use of the food we eat, and that was called poop. They even had a segment on after the cartoon part, as they do with Curious George, with a geologist talking about fossilized dinosaur poop. It looks like a big rock. So funny!

Makes me want to by the book "Everyone Poops."

Thank you PBS!

Good thing I love roller coasters

because today I feel like I am on a roller coaster ride!!! This day had so many highs and lows and twists and turns...even felt like I was upside down for a while. Here's how my ride went:

At about 7:15, I heard the sweetest music to a mothers ears: my 3 children playing nicely in the bedrooms. The rooms are right next to each other, so I don't know exactly where they were, just that I heard such nice playing. Jordan was letting Spencer play with her toys, etc. About 7:45 or so, Landon came in my room and put his cute little face up to the bed....he can't quite reach the top of the mattress because our bed is so high...but anyway he said "good morning mommy!" It was sooo cute.

Now the ride begins...I went to see the other 2 kiddos. They had begun to have a little spat and then I saw the Landon played his favorite game and emptied the bookshelf again...books covering the bedroom floor. The only good thing that had come out of that was that I heard Jordan reading books...really reading the words!! She has progressed a lot in the last couple weeks. I am so thankful she has such and awesome language arts teacher who's masters degree is in something specific about teaching reading.

I played my avoidance card and went downstairs to get breakfast ready so I could go to Weight Watchers. I had to clean up a mess...can't remember what now....there are so many...so Darin was left to get breakfast on for he and the kids on his own. I weighed in and lost around a pound. A bummer, but I have to confess that I didn't really put my whole heart into it this week. The meeting was a really good lesson-reframing a bad habit to make it become good...for instance instead of thinking that you have to get a candy bar every time you are at the store just because you want one, but instead not getting one at all or getting an apple instead. Well, maybe not the best example, but anyhow, good meeting.

I ran into KMart to get some M&Ms because I have this brilliant plan to get the kids to watch General Conference with candy. Ya know...listen for some key works and get a candy for each one. Well, here's another twist...they listen only for the words we picked, but are so focused on the candy that it defeats the whole purpose. (I guess it means you shouldn't bribe your kids with candy to listen to conference.) They last about 15 minutes (roughly half way through the first talk), then they are done. I probably should have had something for them to color instead, something with pictures I guess. Of course, we tried that last time but that didn't work either. I do have to say they did better than the past, although they still insist on playing so loudly that no one can hear any of conference. I know they have to start listening to Conference, but I have to figure out what will help their little attention spans get better.

I had to leave before the session was over to go to my photography class. I have really enjoyed this class so far. Today was fun to learn some new things again-but boy was it confusing. It was about using aperture and depth of field. I didn't realized photography was so complex. There are so many variables to getting a good shot. It was a little confusing, but we went outside to figure it out for ourselves. I had a hard time. I am the type of learner that once I am shown something, I can do it. I need to find a photographer and have some one-on-one lessons. But a friend in the class showed me some books that are pretty well known in photography circles that are easy to read and learn from. I am sure going to look them up.

When I got home from class, I decided to go outside to do yard work in our back forest...oh, that is not a mistake, it is a forest!! We figure we would make the view a little better for the neighbors on both sides of us who have great yards. The children had a blast. Well, once the weed eater is stopped. Yes, I do the mowing with a weed eater because our neighbor mows our front and it was cheaper that way than to buy a lawn mower for our few square feet of grass-and easier to store. The children are having fun making mudpies, having pretend picnics with little berries that grown on one plant, just old fashioned fun.

Spencer and Landon decided they had enough and go in the house to play. I checked on them after a few minutes and they were nicely playing in the basement. I go back to work. I get carried away with my weed picking, sweeping, raking, etc, then realized I better check. Another lovely turn for me...Spencer was playing nicely in his room, meanwhile Landon helped himself to about 5 little applesauce cups from the pantry and decided they were better to splatter ALL OVER the kitchen rather than to eat them. Oh, Darin had gone to Home Depot to price a few things we are having replaced soon. Time to mop the kitchen.

Try to watch conference....yeah right. I realize this sounds horrible, but may is it hard to do with kids. I did see a little, and we taped it, so I can watch it when the kids are asleep.

We had pizza for dinner which was interesting. See yesterday on the way home from Costco, I had to stop fast when I got cut off and the pizza flew off the seat. It got a little broken up, which made baking it interesting. A few crispy parts, which luckily Darin didn't mind.

After dinner we had a clean up the living room party. I realized I have lots of work to do in the area of teaching my children how to clean up. Holy Cow....it is like pulling teeth. Jordan thinks the whole house is her office...I told Darin I think I was the same way with pens and pads and writing on papers all the time when I was her age. She really needs her own desk.

Right as we were going up for baths, Spencer accidentally, purely accidentally spilled juice on Jordan which threw her into a tizzy. Did you know that tights are RUINED if they get juice on them? Note to self: you're teaching your daughter to be dramatic....calm down!!!!

So we had a pretty good bath and bedtime.....that is until Scripture reading. I have to say we have been trying so hard the last couple weeks. We haven't missed a night, but it isn't always very or so filled with the spirit!! I guess it's all about forming the habit right now. (advice in this area completely welcome!!!) I am determined to make it work, just have to keep going, I guess. They are starting to remember names and stories, so there is progress made. Oh, I was looking through the Ensign and told Darin about how the church is going to restructure the Liahona magazine. Jordan heard me and was confused..."they have the Liahona, mommy?" Pretty cute.

So here we are with Darin at the priesthood session and the kids fell asleep really well. I am going to find a good book and lay in my bed and read. A couple floors need to be mopped, there are dishes in the sink, clutter around the house...it can wait.

fun at the farm!

We had a great time at Cox Farm the other day. We go every year and love it!! There is so much to see and do-you could really stay all day. We went right after the kids got out from early release at school Monday. We had a great group of friends along and had a really fun time. It is funny, though how the kids change from year to year. Last year Lanny didn't do much, but this year he let me take him on all the slides; where as Spencer didn't want to get out of the stroller the first little while. He didn't want to go down any slides....until his little friend Amelia got him to go. The boy is letting girls influence him already...that's other story!!

So the in the above collage....yes, still having trouble typing on the tops of my pics after I post them...Lanny is crying because a goat took the entire thing of food out of his hand in one fell swoop!!! Stinky goats!! We do have fun feeding them, though. There are also pictures of the rope swing, which all the kids could have stayed at all day. Spencer, once again finally had the nerve when Regan, the big sister of the little boy I babysit, helped him. She also helped Landon, who made everyone laugh because he just held on and swung back and forth. It was really funny. Jordan loved it and went over and over.

The boys with some fun feet. Notice the clouds in the picture with the castle. That is how they looked when we first got there. We were worried we would be rained out, but it was blue skies by the time we left.

We had so much fun on the slides. Jordan wouldn't go on the great big one, but I drug Landon. He was funny-would get a little scarred on each hump as we slid down.
So all these pictures are in collages because I have edited them, but don't know how to get them on the blog from Picassa or Elements. I figured out one way at the very end of my computer time today, but didnt' have time to save each individual picture. They are so much better after they have been edited...not all of them need it, but anyhow. It is fun to take a dark picture and make it light, mess with color, contrast, etc. I really like it and hope to get good at making the pictures look the best. I have more of cute little Alaina eating her apple....sooooo cute!!!!

I have been so scarred of trying to do my own photograpy business because of how good some women have been in the past and are in my ward currently, but I think if I can get composition and editing down, I can do it....just have to get up the nerve....