Oh man, by next week it will be March and that means my blog header will be a year old...but no sense in updating it now--it will just be out of date when Little Brother gets here.


Just in case I wasn't feeling old I just overheard Cannon ask his dad "When mom was alive were there dinosaurs?" YIKES.

So Saturday was a great day! Isaac and I were down cleaning the church-ok mostly just Isaac, I did some setting up for a baptism but I really wasn't much help.  (Still so nice to just leave the kids home with my mom though!) Anyway while we were gone...the tickle monster arrived! It was so fun to have Grampa here! They raced, they tickled, they read stories, they tickled some more. They loved playing this little "rocket" game where they'd count down 3-2-1 Blastoff and then he'd kick them up off his feet...(it looks like a glorified kick in the butt to me!--more on that topic at the end of this post--)

  

I don't know how this pic got left out of the collages but I couldn't leave it off the blog-look at Colt's grin! Grampa rented a car in Kansas City and drove on up and over. The boys thought they were pretty big stuff when we let them ride in Grampa's car (Don't be turning me into Child Protective Services or anything on the lack of car seats there.) Which "Grampa's" and "car" is such a stretch anyway, so weird since he's such a truck guy! But they loved it!

 

 

We really had a great time though. Sunday, not such a good day. We were sitting at church when my mom's phone rang! (That's embarrassing but that wasn't the bad news.) The bad news was Grampa's dog/best friend, Sampson, died. :( He's been so sick for so long and just getting worse, so its a good thing but it didn't make it easy. (See another reason NOT to have a dog--they're just going to die and break your heart someday. Maybe Belle's single hope is that I was not for my mom getting my dad a dog either!  I did learn to like Samps though, we left each other alone though-that's why I liked him- he was a good dog.) I am certain that Samps waited until Grampa was here to give up. When Grampa didn't come home one night-the next night Samps just went home to heaven. Sucked for Grampa cuz he didn't get to say goodbye to his pal, and my brothers had to take care of everything, but that just how it goes... I assured the boys "All dogs go to Heaven" and they were really cute when they prayed for Samps, and Sugar-and for us to remember he was better off and happier. But it was a tough day though. 

R.I.P. Samps-you were a good dog!

It was also Isaac's Birthday-but as mentioned last week he's not really into celebrating. Saturday night I tried to remember his birthday from last year and my first thought was Oh Crud! Because ALL I could remember was the MISERABLE experience of returning the suits I'd bought him...and here I'd done it again bought him a new suit for his birthday. But in my defense, I (the non seamstress) have played seamstress and tried to patch up the one he's got at least two -more- times since his last birthday. So sorry Isaac, you're going to have a new suit (and if he wants to send it back...guess what he'll get for his birthday next year. Haha) The good news is, it went over a TON better this year (thank goodness).

 

He also got a shop vac because the last time he used my good (well-it was good once) vacuum to clean up after the dog in little green told him if he wasn't careful he was going to get a shop vac for his birthday and he replied "Good it will be easier-that vacuum has way to long of a wand thing." So I figured that was pretty much a go ahead :) So amid a pretty sad day, we had a little fun for Isaac's Birthday too!

These two-they're best buds. (And that caption works for both of the next 2pics .) I was just sitting across, watching them read scriptures and smiling--so of course I took a couple pics. 

Monday we just had more fun with Grama and Grampa and then Tuesday they had to head back. Tuesday Cannon also got SO SO SICK! Oh it was horrible, he was really pale at the Airport when we dropped Grama off then we pulled into the driveway and he puked-in the car-I seriously yanked the poor kid out to finish and sick or not he got a lecture about making sure he was out of the car next time. Because, he easily could have made it out, but he's really not sick that often so maybe he didn't know...maybe. Anyway I was telling Isaac about it with Cannon right there and I said "So he knows, right bud? We make sure we are out of the car if we need to throw up!" And Isaac said "Well first we make sure the car is stopped!" Oh yeah-good clarification! Thank Hun. So he was SO sick to his stomach all day and into the night then he had a raging fever I was pretty nervous. Oh the thing was he went crazy with the salt shaker on his egg at breakfast, I didn't see how much, but he knows better so I said "you're going to eat it" after the first round of puke, I had deal with it, it wasn't fun, but I was still singing the "hopefully he learned his lesson" song. After a few more rounds It was more like "Oh my! I promise I learned mine!" I think I poisoned him by making him eat it (don't I already have something in this post about DCFS? Yikes) I mean, I didn't really know how much was there. I did learn my lesson though! I mean I didn't have to let him waste it, I could have rinsed it off! Duh Lyndi! So after that we've all been going low sodium around here! I don't know what else would have made him so sick but it was awful, at first his stomach just hurt but by the night he had the fever too. (From salt? I don't know but I will NOT be trying it again) I'm tending to him in the middle of the night, I stayed up doing laundry cuz he just wanted his little blue blanket back, I said "What can I do for you bud?" And he said "Just leave me alone!" It was so sad and pathetic. But around 4 or 5 his fever finally broke and he asked for some water, I asked him to try apple juice instead. He did, and kept it down,  and really from then on he was fine. Fine Fine-I even took him to preschool the next day because there was no evidence he'd even been sick...oh he might have been a little step slower than usual from not having any food the day before but totally fine and Mrs. Hardee was game so I went with it.
Wednesday we got this really fun package in the mail from the Allred's. The boys were dancing around the house afterward wearing their new shirts singing "Go Thunder." The next morning Colt-little Mr. Demanding said "Where my shirt Bet-ee (Becky) send me?" And Cannon wouldn't wear his to preschool because it was "too special" they are so funny.

 

 

Boats and Little Blue's-its a pretty good life.

We've stayed busy, and had a little fun too-even after Grama and Grampa left. These boys LOVE to help. I think that's about it for the week but I have a few more stories I wrote down as they happened so I wouldn't forget. So here ya go...At primary, during sharing time,  Sister Hatcher asks "What is a consequence and Cannon pipes up and says "Spank your butt."...great...his teacher started cracking up. I don't think everyone even heard but enough did! I wanted to crawl in a hole and die! Then the next day Colt went to the store with my mom, I have no idea what he did but she said "If you do that again, your going to be in trouble." To which he replied "I alweady in twouble, I pank my own butt, Tannon taught me how." And proceeded to wack his own little rear end. I PROMISE that is not my go to punishment!!!! I mean, obviously it's happened but holy cow! It's way more rare than conversation would indicate! AND ya realize just how crass it sounds when its coming out of 2 or 4 year old mouth. YIKES, its terrible! Come on Lyndi. Bum. Just call it a Bum! I've got to work on that! Colt's go to phrases this week are "Yets do it" and "On my way." But I'll borrow his first one about trying to be a little better "Yets do it!"

Here's some special Valentines we made (maybe you've seen them before if you got to be one of our text/or email valentines) I can't remember where Isaac was but we were waiting for him to come home I think Saturday night so we did this little project...

Saturday was a great day! Well wait first Friday was too, Friday night after I'd blogged I got a text from my mom "can you talk" I called back-and whispered, "No, my kids are asleep but I can listen..." So she told me Chip had decided he wanted to come see us too!!! Sweet!!! And I was afraid it was going to be bad news or something-not at all! We were SO excited! (I don't think he really could have even had time to read my blog last week but...maybe I should bemoan our not getting to see him more often ;) just kidding) So anyway it took a little finagling and Grampa's having to go WAY out of his comfort zone but we're super excited (and we feel like a pretty darn big deal too-it's great) he'll be here tomorrow. Unless as he put it "he gets lost in Kansas City and is never heard from again" haha-he'll be fine! Ok back to Saturday it was great-Well, except for the part where Isaac flushed his wedding ring. It was pretty funny though. I'm not quite sure what happened but I heard the clank clank and "oh crap" and then he came out and was like "I would have fished it out but I'd already flushed." I just laughed -and teased him because it was so close to Valentines- and at least it was his ring. He didn't let me buy him a ring when we got married (I think he was afraid I'd buy an expensive one.) But he bartered for one while we were on out honeymoon-he loved the bartering aspect. (Possibly the most disappointing thing about my ring for him was no chance to barter, well that and the fact it wasn't cheap, I still have no clue how much it cost though-Kyler just got him the best price he could, Ky told me one time he thought Isaac was pretty disappointed there was no negotiating haha) anyway back to his ring, it was always borderline too small-sizes aren't an option at those little shops by the "Bufadora" in Mexico. So one day a few months back he worked it off his finger (no small task) but then was trying stretch it out (oh Isaac) with some pliers and snapped it in half. So when the boys and I were in Utah either in Sept it Dec I don't know which, he went to Walmart and picked himself out a new ring. $18 bucks, he was tickled pink, and all the sudden his $30 honeymoon ring wasn't such a good deal, but he was happy and I liked it and neither one of us really cared if it turned his finger green (my brother the jeweler has maybe turned me into a little bit of a jewelry snot-but not Isaac-not a chance but when he bought it he told me not to tell Kyler about it haha I guess if Ky reads the blog the secret will be out. But really Isaac's just so nice he wouldn't want to hurt Ky's feelings by not supporting his business--but its just not a important or valuable to him which I think is totally fine.) Anyway long story. But funny. Poor Isaac-I love telling Isaac stories. He asked me how much he paid for it, I reminded him $18 he said "What a waste, I'm not buying another one for a while." I disagree, and I'll take care of that :)  Funny Guy, I sure like him though! anyway back to Saturday...

(Yeah right "nap right here")

Isaac did our taxes, the boys started putting the crib together, they went on an adventure (with the dog IN to 2 stores, one the dog was welcome at, and Home Depot-not so much, yeah Isaac what you read online was for "service dogs" ours does NOT qualify...good thing I wasn't there-I was mortified enough from home.) The boys made me a valentine at Orschlens, the first store -I guess it was kid day or something??? They were not meant to be necklaces but, whatever!

The the little jars had a little fake candle tea light thing they put in them too light them up. Colt thought it was really cool and wanted to show little brother-probably the closest thing you'll ever get to a belly pic of me on the blog

Their adventure bought me a few minutes to go Valentine's shopping though so that was fun. Reasons to celebrate--totally not Isaac's thing--so I bought him a pair of socks because I vowed to throw the ones with a HUGE hole in away-I don't care how soft they are- and the boys get spoiled because I love the reasons to celebrate and I get a way better reaction out of them. They got the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel game and it is super fun-well for their ages-perfectly age appropriate. We've had a good time playing it.  (To his credit though, Isaac did offer to buy me flowers TWICE but I turned him down both times A: because they just die and B: because I know it's not his thing, it kind of loses it's charm...obligatory flower purchase...no thanks. He is willing though and he should get credit for that-totally willing to fake like he likes celebrating haha-what a guy, I love him) 

Sunday we had ward council so I always feel like I've run a marathon by time we get home from church those days-Colt had a complete melt down by the back door as we were leaving but other than that we had a pretty good day. We got snow Sat night though so the roads were bad so some people (including my counselor in charge of sharing time) didn't make it in. She had warned me Sat but I didn't worry at all-then in the middle of the night I thought ahhh I better think about that, what was our topic? I was glad I'd thought about it but I definitely felt in "wing it" mode, but it turned out pretty fun, our little version of the creation charades style (is that the one where ya act it out?) Anyway-we pulled it off ;)

We got home from all the craziness had naps and then planned some more. We decided to do a president's day themed family home evening and invite our neighbors. As it turned out only our one neighbor came but we had fun learning a little trivia-and we did talk about how God definitely had his had in the formation of this nation and the religious liberties (that we are clinging too) and Cannon shared the 12th article of faith but we kept things pretty simple and topped it off with red white and blue ice cream sundaes. Isaac and our neighbor actually had a ton to talk about and he's a nice and good guy. Tuesday-the long awaited for Tuesday...why don't I lie to my kids and tell them Grama's not coming until the next day? It seems like I should have learned this lesson by now! They were wound to the nines all day-it was awful-and she didn't get here until almost 8pm with delays and all. UG! I swung by a baby shower for a couple gals in my ward I was only there for about 5 minutes but it was fun. Then I picked her up and...(sigh) take over grama!!! PLEEEASE...just kidding...kind of

I don't know it doesn't seem like we've done a ton but we've had a great time. I actually feel like I've stuck her babysitting a lot but its just so nice, they love it, she loves it, Isaac and I have this awesome freedom to go wherever whenever we want. Its great! He had meetings Wed, I had to show my face at the Blue and Gold banquet-and we didn't even have to coordinate and drag our kids down to the church! Of course I had to get a dentist appt in-yikes my second home the dental chair-I scheduled another one for next week before she leaves too. Thursday the boys got to go on their "date" with Grama. Pizza Hut and Walmart-complete with little prize. They are so funny-they were in heaven. Thursday Isaac went off doing visits for church and I still got to go to Relief Society and it was SO FUN, and that was SO important after the last one was such a rotten experience with me and having to drag the boys there all. Today we drove up to Iowa to our favorite little general store up there. It was fun and we got some good deals, we love that! It was a long drive and long day though. It was over 60 degrees here today though so super warm for us-that was nice now we just need to shake the wind! Nice of Grampa to order the great weather up for when he comes-or bring it with him or whatever, we'll take it!

Oh and Grama brought me a new phone! There's an adjustment period of course but it a pretty smooth little machine :)

My plan to take more pictures with my camera instead of my phone didn't happen. I barely had any on my phone. (I'm tired and I feel like this post is a little all over the place...oh well. Its a post.)

My sick little cowboy...

 

Such a terrible pic, but it was a rough weekend. Its not very often that we miss church but Colt and I and his raging fever stayed home. It kind of throws off the week though. Thankfully his fever broke that night, Cannon's was kind of the same thing...if its not better by morning I'm taking him in-then it was. Colt wasn't 100% but it sure seemed like a 100% better. 

Isaac was doing training on family history stuff so I decided we should learn something about one of our ancestors for family home evening. We found a story about my great grandpa. But the boys had other things in mind. Little preachers HAHA.

They both gave us a little lesson out of the scriptures too. 
The other things about Monday that were awesome, were when Isaac called and said "Should I just bring home Pizza?" Yes Honey. Perfect! Thank you! Especially after the sicks kid battle the whole prior week, and it was brilliant Colt ate more than he'd eat'n in days :) And then we have a CD in the car with some primary songs on it that the kids will sing throughout the year, our primary chorister made them for all the kids but anyway it has "Praise to the Man" on it, well, the boys were just singing away in the kitchen on Monday "Sail to the Prophet!" it was so cute and so funny. So then I had to try and explain "Hail" to them and what it meant. Sail just made more sense to them, little boat lovers I guess--just wanted to sail on over to the prophet.
I've been wanting to decorate in the primary room with pictures of the kids reading scriptures so I was happy to grab a few of my own boys. (But that's really all I have this week-even though its not all we do! I'm glad they love'm.)

 

I wish this last one wasn't blurry :( Tuesday Cannon woke up determined to wear his church clothes and missionary tag to preschool and share the gospel with his friends. I admit that my first reaction was No no, lets just put on normal clothes and we can check with Mrs. Hardee if it would be ok. (I'm not sure what church they go to but all of the other kids go to the same church -with Mrs. Hardee) but then I thought she's so sweet-of course she won't care. And besides Romans 1:16 right?  Cannon is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ! Who am I to shut him down. So off he went to preschool like a little missionary. Mrs. Hardee said he was pretty cute-and very serious-and "He has some of that memorized doesn't he?" yes! She said they got a little from all over the place (I totally  get it--after all I got the FHE version the night before) but then he even gave his Book of Mormon away to his buddies Zach and Noah. (Because I had assured him if he gave it away we could get him a new one.) But anyway, what a kid right? I was proud of him. 

The rest of the week we did some little Valentines for his class, and got Valentines ready for primary. Today was a busy one because the gal I visit teach had her baby so made dinner and stuff. Cannon was totally guilt trip'n me "Mom why are you so busy you don't have time for your kids." Oh brother I think someone is just used to my undivided attention, but it was a busy day...and I'm ready for bed. We'll see what the next week brings. Oh its bringing Grama :) that will be fun. Colt's convinced Poppa is coming too or that he's just going to go to his house, unfortunately that part is not true :( Poor little guy is going to be disappointed. Oh man we need a Utah trip...we're all just getting to that point-but I just haven't felt up to it. They are no walk in the park to travel with, and especially when the cheap flight is the through the night one.

We've done the hot and cold thing on the house hunt this week. Isaac walked through a house he was sure our bed wouldn't even fit in the master bedroom of-oh and they laundry hookups were in that room too. Then the next day he walked in the door one day and said I'm learning toward not buying. I wanted to do a cartwheel. I said "Help me remember how good I feel about this option!" (Part of why it just made the blog) Maybe we will buy, but for now it seems like just renting, outrageous power bill and all, is the best option. I'm sure we're not done spinning this one around and around BUT...I am done with the blog entry for now :) Until next time.

Saturday we were trying to have fun even though Isaac was still gone so we headed to walmart and bought a box of donuts for breakfast-the boys had a blast picking them out and we bought a LOT of sprinkles. And we ate junk all day! But...I'm either too old or too pregnant or too both for such dietary changes, after donuts for breakfast and another as the dessert of lunch I knew I needed to eat more healthy but...it was too late, I got so sick that night, so then it was just kindof survive until Isaac got home Sunday afternoon. I had to do sharing time but I went to church like it was fast Sunday-just to be safe-then holy cow I was so hungry. That afternoon Isaac made me some chicken noodle soup...with those garden vegetable rotini noodles-it was so nice of him...and so gross!!! Oh put it on the list with the maple flavored sausage in the Alfredo sauce, there's a reason I'm possessive of the kitchen! Haha but mostly we were just super glad to have him back! He had a good time at his conference and made some great contacts! By Monday I noticed my Cann man was feeling pretty warm...sick kids:( that sums up the week, bummer, Colt held out strong until yesterday but now he's the one running a fever. We were going to make a temple run today (just the boys and I with some gals in the ward) but I didn't dare take sick kids for someone else to tend while I was in the temple. The boys were so excited to go (I love that-I love that they love to go to Nauvoo) so it was bummer that we didn't go. 

I had scheduled a dentist appt for when Cannon was at preschool but he ended up not going cuz he was sick, so I said I could reschedule or just bring'm both (with DVD player) and the office (super chill) was like oh they're fine, you can just bring'm, everyone's had it-its going around.  So I took both kids to the dentist with me, they came back in the room and everything and now Isaac and I have two new little dentist on our hands. (I told Isaac we can only hope one of our kids will choose to be a dentist with the way my teeth are-that would be great!!)

 

 

Scissors are so entertaining! Colt man went to preschool for Cannon one of the days-he thought he was pretty big stuff. "I doe peeschool, no nannon, no mommy, dus me!" He loved it, they were learning about the letter S and snakes, all Colt did was cut his snake up--not surprise. But Mrs. Hardee is so awesome to let me bring him! 

And one last pic of what I find on my phone when I leave it unattended...

 

Cute little stinker. One bad thing though, I was randomly looking though a couple of the blog books today-and I use almost all phone pics on the blog because they're easy but I realized they ALL print out blurry :( I was pretty disappointed. The older books, when I would actually get my camera out, they print out just fine so I think I need to change my strategy....I wonder if it reduces the quality when I just upload them from my phone or something. Who knows but I thought I had these great family journals and really they're just Eh, blurry pics. Bummer. 

Short this week but it was just a long sick kids kind of week.