I've been on the computer for over an hour while the boys nap, I just closed it and was going to try and get in on the tail end of the nap myself when I realized its Friday-its blog day-so the nap will wait. 

Friday night we had dinner with Lizzy and Lauren, two gals investigating the church. Its been months since we went to a meeting with Elder Zwick and he asked "Who are the missionaries teaching in your home?" We've tried a few times but its the first time someone has actually come. It was awesome. They admitted at the end that they hadn't been so sure about the idea but seemed to have a good time. It made my long day of dinner preparations totally worth it. Then, Wednesday night while Isaac was at the church with the youth Lauren asked him to baptize her. Chills. It made Friday even neater! (is that a word?)

Saturday morning Cannon came prancing into our room singing: "Its conference time!" over and over. It was darling. Too bad he was really only excited about getting to open "Fun Bags" ya-they didn't work this time-AT ALL and I'll be revamping my conference creativity for the next go around in about 6 months. I did get one cute picture but this was very very early on Saturday.

Conference...well I mentioned the "fun bags" didn't work--I'm sure it was great but I'm also sure I'm going to have to do some re-listening to find out just how great it was. Its just always good to hear the brethren though. The bits and pieces I caught were good.
Saturday before conference was Home Depot day-fire safety- we had a good time, and for our free toy Cannon built and painted we only got paint on and ruined his shirt, pants, and Isaac's shorts. I can't get it out-but oh well.

Colts super into dunking right now. (Or baseball if Cannon's playing baseball.) I can't get a decent video of Colt dunking because Cannon is too jealous! But here's a few pics.

 

Sunday morning Isaac had to open the church up for he and the boys went a little early and found some geese to feed then went and checked out the horses. (Pics all off of Isaac's phone--wasn't that great of him?)

 

The boys also got to help dad work on his bike this week. (Ps look at the top of Isaac's head...he told me the other day he's not balding its just thin...lol ok honey but at some point completely thinned out is bald.)

If I turn by head for 10 seconds this is what I get:

The stool in the middle of the floor is not so bad but if I remember to tuck all of the chairs in so he can't get up on the table I find this. Having a climber is exhausting! Having his older brother copy everything he does that gets him attention even when its negative attention makes it worse!

Monday the school kids didn't have school here so several of the families from our ward met at the agricultural museum we had a great time. And...our "pet" frog Hoppy rode with us in the front seat of the car on the stroller. As you can imagine I screamed and jumped pretty good when I saw him. Thankfully it was after we were there--that could have been bad if I was driving.

So glad I got a picture of Cannon with Aurianna on the tractor. He loves her ever since they got to run around and play together after her baptism he calls here Anna ("on-a") and they have a good time. She's really cute with him too.
And some brotherly love...one jug of water at a time. They are so quick to help rinse each others hair out they way dad does.

 

 

I don't have a picture or a movie but my favorite memory of the week is singing "If your happy and you know it" With the boys at the dinner table Wednesday night. They were being crazy and we were all laughing and having a great time. I wanted to video it-but I couldn't talk myself into stepping out of the moment, I was afraid it wouldn't come back! It was so fun. 

Visiting teaching here is a beast, still the Lord's watch care system-still must be done but after 4 hours....we were all done! (and we even got stood up on the last appointment~thankfully~can I say that? Cuz its true)

Tonight I got back from the fitness center, well really I only made it to the porch and Cannon said "We're going to the beach!!!! And dad said we could take some equipment." So I finished walking in the-a little confused- door and Isaac confirmed :)  We took the boys up to the reservoir, and a good time was had by all!

Aren't they cute? I got to church and Isaac told me Colt looked like pioneer with his long sleeves and brown tie...oh brother! I prefer to call the ties orange! They're fall-ish :)

Last Friday night we were sitting in bed studying (we try to study every night because the last two years of Isaac's schooling all come down to these comprehensive exams-and we want to get done so we want to pass them the first time but I'm pretty sure we're both going to be glad when they are behind us!) Anyway Isaac got a call from a young man in our ward (who actually just got his mission call this week) but that another young man, Noah, who was in our ward when he was baptized, but had since moved to live with his mom, was in serious trouble, and his dad wasn't sure we was going to make it. So we got the call to please pray for him. Isaac hung up--told me what was going on, to the extent that he knew then just kind of sat there on the bed. I said "Well, we said we'd pray for him lets do it." And Isaac said "Ya, ok,...lets just say our nightly prayers too." So we did and it was my turn to pray. I feel like I've prayed kind of a lot lately for Seniors in high school who are in great need of Heaven's help (Chase and Makenzie with their accidents and traumatic head injuries) and of course asked for favors and blessings according to the Lord's will. But this time was different, I couldn't find the words to ask for everything to be ok, or for Noah to make it, I prayed for peace for his dad Corey and for comfort but I just got up from the prayer kind of confused why my mouth didn't form or say the words I wanted it too. Anyway I still hoped for the best in my heart, Isaac called Bishop just to see if there was anything he could do we finished studying and went to bed. Then Sat morning I got the ward text that said Noah had past away. Its heartbreaking, he really was such a good kid. I taught him in Sunday School, so solid. I was really rattled by it and actually had to start constructing this blog post to kind of gather my thoughts and wrap my mind around it. It was just a tough day, like it bothered me but I didn't really talk or want to talk about it. (Instead I was just cross with Isaac, not good, but actually I think later in the day he kind of realized that was just what was bothering me without either of us actually saying anything.) I also thought again of Pres Eyring's In the Strength of the Lord talk, how if we meet people and we treat them like they are in serious trouble we'll be right more than half of the time.
I have several fond memories of Noah, him sharing his conversion story with our class (wow)  or when I asked what they would spend $10 extra dollars on if they had it and he said "a new tie for church" I remember shortly after Noah was baptized him coming into Sunday School class proudly wearing a "Future Missionary" badge (Exactly like the one's my boys wear.) I am sure Noah will have an opportunity to be a missionary on the other side, and a good one!
Sunday Corey was at church, what a rock! He was incredible. I gave him a hug and told him we loved him as did numerous others, he said it was where he wanted to be shared his testimony, he talked about how Noah was a borrowed angel, he knows where he's at and that he knows he's happy and because of our Savior he is happy too. Seriously, the man who's only son had passed away 2 days before strengthened our whole ward. It was awesome! I can't even describe it. The funeral was Tuesday and we rode up with the Turners, and had a great time visiting with them.
In preparing for that whole situation it provided a really spiritual experience talking to Cannon about where Noah's spirit is and that his body was going to be there at the funeral and stuff. Initially Isaac and I where going to avoid the viewing with him, but he said/asked "his body is still here, can we see it?" we figured we would let him. I wasn't t there when Isaac took him in but Isaac said he asked why he wasn't moving? But did really good. We had read in Alma 40, (and of course he made me smile when I said "All men" -as in "the spirits of all men..."- he interrupted and exclaimed "It's 'almond' like we eat!" ...he's always trying to make connections :) but maybe I need to work on annunciation) anyway...he was really wrapping his mind around some important teachings and he did good.
I didn't get to hear the funeral--just the other preacher starting to conduct, but I had a great visit with Liz out in front of the funeral home. (One of the things we talked about was the benefits of having our kids around such things because death is a part of...well end of...life--her 5 year old was really excited to see a dead body. oh brother. anyway) Isaac said Bishop did a really good job...Isaac didn't tell me (of course he's too nice and positive) but I had known the other preacher went on and on but I heard later he did an "Alter Call" I didn't know what that was but I guess Bishop was sitting behind some flowers and couldn't see anything and then all the sudden there was some girl right at his feet who wanted to be saved. I don't know what all she said I just heard Bishop telling the story that he didn't know what to do or say but said "Jesus loves you too, keep reading your scriptures." Or something like that. Oh boy.
The next day the young man who had originally called us opened his mission call. (It was a big deal, the whole ward celebrated--its been a long time since we've had a missionary go out! He's the first one since we've lived here.) At that Corey shared with me some really special texts (he had mentioned before) that he had from Noah from the Sunday before. They were neat. Corey is so strong! He is truly built upon the Rock of our Redeemer! That really was kind of the bulk of the week though.
In other Missionary news my cousin Shad got his call! McAllen Texas, Spanish speaking. I'm not sure the details but Corpus Christi is in his mission and that was one of the places Chip served so that's pretty cool.
Other than that is just fun (and trouble) and happy times with these boys. 

 

 

 

Saturday our family bike ride lasted just more than a half a mile when Isaac noticed how squishy his back tire was, he stopped and then I could hear the air leaking out of it. Glass. Bummer. Bike ride over. So we found some fun dirt to play on. They are going to turn it into a beach (beaches are all man made in Mississippi) anyway it was a blast until the reservoir police lady started screaming at us, holy cow she was a beast, but she was on her little seadoo thing and she radioed her little officer buddy on the shore. We were back at the car by the time he found us and he was really nice but said we couldn't play on it because we might get hurt?????? It was a pile of dirt, but whatever, we really couldn't play on it because that lady was a control freak. I told Isaac wearing a bright yellow shirt and trying to throw dirt clods at the geese was probably more of the problem--or at least what got us caught!

Sunday we hung out with the Sheild's, they are great, we had a great time and Liz made a delicious dinner I hope to be able to copy someday. We had a good time visiting, and I think my boys emptied every toy bin they have (and we didn't clean up--I tried but Liz insisted we not worry about it.)

The week has kind of flown by. I feel like every time I take a picture its of the boys getting into mischief. Colt's a little too proud of the messes he makes!

 

My new rule is wash a pan before I use it! (And look how many frying pans I have, they're not great any of them but I'm still so spoiled! Remember how we survived all summer with one! I read Elder Teh's -April 2014- conference talk this week about Where our Treasure is, and not getting so caught up in all the stuff the world has. It was good and I really liked it--but its nice to have a few extra pans too) Anyway--Good Read if you have a minute!

Only my little Colt man can go from getting his ear ripped off and then shirt you see on the left to sheer delight sliding down with his brother on the right! These pics were all from the same trip down the slide.

He's a trooper and the kid is fearless when it comes to slides! He loves them.
What else? One of our primary kids got baptized. We took dinner to our neighbor who had surgery. We've been to the park of few times and we got to play basketball yesterday. Bout it...
Oh and awesome fun #1 dad took the boys to the CAT dealership. He's the best!

Oh and how could I forget...we're trying to tackle reading...just a little at a time. Cannon knows a U makes a "uh" sound and P makes a "puh" sound...so we can "read" or sound out the words "up" and "pup" up next is the letter C, his favorite, but he's still guessing sometimes on P so I can't rush or get ahead of myself (or him), he can do it though, I've just got to keep my excitement and ambition up. He and his stuffed animal Snowy Dog are learning together--we tell him he's Snowy's teacher--its pretty fun.

We have a walker!

We do have a walker but first our stake had a day of service. The video says you can embed it but all I can get it to do is the link :( you can watch it and see us on the news if you want :)

http://www.msnewsnow.com/clip/10582098/state-park-gets-makeover-during-annual-day-of-service

Anyway, it was pretty fun, I was a little skeptical a "Day" of service with 2 kids, but it turned our pretty good and Cannon and Isaac really did go from about 7:00 AM until 2:00 PM, Colt and I didn't make it that long, but still. Sunday we talked about service in primary so it really tied in great, it was a good weekend.

Monday the missionaries were sharing a thought with us after dinner and Colton stepped away from Isaac and toward Cannon, no hands! I totally interrupted the lesson and we clapped and celebrated.

Here's a couple different videos of those first teetery steps, well the one he doesn't walk at all but Cannon cheering "Go Colt!" was too cute to leave out!

Later Monday night Isaac took the boys shopping for my birthday, I thought that was super cute and it really did feel like we celebrated for 3 days because of that. Cannon came in when they got back and with those big blue eyes and raised eyebrows he whispered "We got you a waffle maker!" Isaac was right behind him coming in the door and said "Don't tell her! Its a surprise." I asked where they went Isaac said again that it was a surprise and Cannon said "We went to Ross!" It was funny. (And it worked I thought a waffle maker from Ross? They had gone to Ross but they didn't buy anything.) The next night I went to the fitness center and they wrapped presents, I had to be help by saying "Don't tell me." Once or twice but he really didn't ruin the other surprise. And Wednesday I got to open my presents. Isaac asked that morning which one we should open and Cannon said "The waffle maker!" Isaac was like "Oh buddy, you ruined the surprised." And then I confessed that he'd told me the other night. It was really fun though we tried out the new waffle maker that morning and my other surprise was new basketball shoes!

That was pretty fun. (After a couple weeks ago I was ready to hang'm up forever...but new shoes were pretty fun and we did go play Thursday and they felt good. My old shoes might have been good back in the day but I'm fairly certain that no basketball shoe is really built to last 15 years-even if I only play once in a while!) Anyway it was a super fun morning and day. Grama surprised me with some pretty flowers and getting my hair done and a pedicure and Isaac took care of the tending duties. I was super spoiled, all day long! It was great. I've been in Utah the last two years for my birthday which of course was fun but it was really fun to spend my big day with my husband this time, I love him, and he was so extra cute about it, we had a great time.

We had so much fun with presents I let the boys get in on the fun too with some shirts that I had put away for them.

 

We made a birthday project out of feeding Ayla's ducks. (They've been moved for over a year but we still call them Ayla's ducks)

 

 And the thing about having a birthday around our house is you have to have and excavator cake -whether you want one or not ;) - Luckily I saved the main body part from Isaac's birthday, if I remember right it was on his recommendation, and it was a good one. So when Colt fell asleep Cannon and I went to work "making the boom" we had to have one that worked this time.

 It didn't work very good but...we're making progress. (And I'm sure I'll have more chances to practice.)

That night Isaac had meetings but we couldn't wait for him to get home late to try out that excavator so Cannon sang to me and we went with it.

 And as a matter of fact we played with it for a couple days.

Other than that we just lay around and drink milk, or go to the park or whatever else we can dream up to do.  We're getting the most use we can out of the pool while its still open, that's been a fun surprise! We love to read books, and play in the sandbox, and...get it to mischief...we're really good at that one!

 

We might need to have a little less fun next week-I'm just kidding but this stink'n blog post took forever! (Mostly just fighting with that darn news clip) Oh well, it was a super fun week. We'll take it!

Aren't they cute, (this is usually the scene when Isaac gets up before me) actually when we stayed at that nasty motel a couple weeks ago when he got out of the shower the boys were both sitting on the bed watching TV and said to me "This is how easy life could be." True...but I still love NOT having TV and obviously they are not totally deprived.
Saturday was SUCH A FUN DAY but the crazy thing is-I didn't take a single picture, check my pulse right? We started out with a family bike ride complete with towing the trike behind  the bike trailer so Cannon got to ride around a bit too when we got to a better spot. It looked pretty silly but it worked. Colt fell asleep on the way back so Isaac and Cannon hit Home Depot day themselves by time they got back Colt was awake so we tackled the grocery stores (typical) and Walmart (unusually fun!) At our Walmart here when things go on clearance it ridiculous like was $15 and now it $13 happy clearance -so lame. But!!! But but but, once in a while, (its happened twice now) I've been at Walmart on a Saturday when they come over the speaker and say anything that is clearance is $1. Now that is HAPPY CLEARANCE! I got 3 new pairs of capri's and I'm only out $3 bucks, awesome. I don't mess around with trying them on for a dollar, I buy whatever size they have and hope someday I get back into it! (Still only out a buck) I wished I'd gone sooner-it was pretty picked over and since it was the 4th store I drug Colt to (2 grocery stores and the dollar store) he'd kind of had it or I could've  had even more fun! I love to shop IF I feel like I'm getting a good deal! The other bummer--or what saved us several more dollars one dollar at a time was I forgot my phone or I probably would have called everyone I knew and asked sizes. There was literally nothing left in the baby and boys clearance so I didn't get the boys anything but I had fun and that counts for something! I also snagged several t-shirts for a little primary project we have dreamt up. When we finished up that fun and got back we all went swimming, perfect water and the pool all to ourselves, it was just a great day!
Monday we went  back to Walmart (in all of my clearance shopping excitement I forgot soap and diapers that we actually needed!) But their little $1 tricks got me again. In the middle of the isle was a basket with $1 baseball pants, of course we went for that. (I could spent a small fortune $1 at a time, and people do, its keeping the dollar store open!) Anyway so our Tuesday project was of course to try out the new pants "like the players wear"  I can't take pictures when I'm the one pitching but we got a before and after in there, and we're still not touching bases???

But we're having fun. 

We've had the missionaries over a lot, I finally think we know them all. And we had our friends the Fernandes over for FHE, I am so happy they are here! Isaac loves them because they are from Brazil, I love them because we have friends in our ward that are similar to us again!!!!! YAY!!!! They have a little girl Julie that's Cannon's age and a new baby who's just a few months old. His name is Thomas-of course we like him ;) We are working on Head Shoulders Knees and Toes in Portuguese so we can sing with Julie! She's doing really well on English though too.

It seems like its been a busy week but I don't have that much to report.

Frog Hunts and slushies with dad-those are always favorites. (The slushies were actually first I insist its straight to the tub after touching frogs!)

 

I mentioned our little climber last week and I know you can tell by the look on his face I should have been rescuing rather than photographing this, but it was about the 12th time that day I'd heard that scream and made that rescue...I knew he'd be fine for 3 extra seconds. The wheels make its so he can easily push the tractor stool anywhere...but they keep rolling, bummer.

  

And this last picture is really gross but may the record clearly state that the meanest thing I do to Cannon is make him eat. Its obviously torture!

Bloggy Day snuck up on me today...
While I usually have something started or a reminder here or there I'm winging it today!
Last Saturday we went to a baptism, our ward has been doing pretty awesome this summer with the hastening of the work! Saturday a recent convert got to baptize his wife, pretty cool. Sunday was Ward Conference so Isaac had lots of meetings and I had one after church (each of us took a kid to our after church meeting) I was feeling pretty run ragged before we ever got to church-remind me I only have 2 kids, I don't know how people with more live to tell about it.
Sunday night Miss Suzanne (our neighbor) brought us over a little plant for taking her to the airport so the boys planted that Monday.

  

 (Yes Colt is IN the hole) When Suzanne was over as we were visiting we also decided to go in together on a BBQ, we're pretty excited about it! She bought it Monday, Isaac put it together Tuesday and we grilled burgers that night. Delicious!

 

Back to Monday they planted the plant and we just let them get super filthy because they were having a blast and our plan was to go swimming after anyway...it backfired when the pool was closed. Oh well. So we went to the park and played a little baseball until I was pretty much eaten alive by the mosquitoes. They love me. I hate them.

 

Cannon stayed in his swimming suit, put on himself, backwards, but here's the movie...I guess we need to work on a few things-like touching the bases, or home plate. 

 

Wednesday we had the missionaries over and it was good to have them back in our home. Our ward has 4 companionship plus a senior couple but the new rule is one companionship at a time for dinner. (I love the rule but I just feel bad because the little calender they pass around for people to sign up is basically empty.) Anyway these two sisters have Southern Utah connections so I was loving life! The missionaries really are my friends here! One is from Hurricane and the other has an Aunt (Chris Gunn Beachum) that lives in Santa Clara, she lived with her for a while and knows a lot of SC kids that I know older siblings of, needless to say we were fast friends.

Thursday we ventured over to the church to play basketball...I'm old...and out of shape...and mostly I just felt OLD after the first game my ankles were killing me, they just ached, plus I was hobbling around from the beginning because Saturday I landed myself a little treadmill injury. I was just running~trying to push myself, but those number don't lie, I was still going slow~ anyway I thought oh, that's a cramp in my calf, I tried to push through it but decided no that's a real cramp so I got off and stretched and drank a little water then got back on, I got back up to "Speed" (if we can call it that) and seriously 1 maybe 2 steps and I was completely crippled hopping on the other foot while I frantically turned the speed down. If felt like something with huge sharp teeth up and bit my leg and kept its jaws clamped in. I hobbled home and 6 days later I'm upping my own diagnoses, that had to be a strain of some sort! More than just a cramp! Anyway...
Other than that, I don't know what else, we have a little climber on our hands-Colt climbs on everything, and he turns all kinds of things into stools.  He's pretty good at getting to his belly and throwing his feet first to get off of things, I'm thankful for that but it's still dangerous and I have to keep on my toes!
Until Next Week!