Camping Out

Posted by Brady.

Wesley and I went camping Friday night. We went with the men of our church (mostly fathers and sons). Wesley had been looking forward to this camp out all week and he enjoyed it very much. There is something about putting up a tent, laying out sleeping bags, having a big fire, roasting Smarshmallows (that is how Wesley calls them), and seeing the night time stars, that just make a night out fun. Also the hiking and exploring on trails was very exciting. We saw a deer, found clam shells, and heard a lot of animal noises. Oh and there was a cool bridge crossing a fairly deep river bed without any water.

The main attraction for Wesley and really, all of the young boys, was the great fire they built. There had to have been enough wood to build a log cabin. They burnt it all. The fire was so big that the park ranger came over to request that the boys stop putting more wood on it. I was admiring how the fire went straight up (there was not a bit of a breeze) about 10 ft high. The fire did die down to hot coals pretty quick. The funniest part about the fire was how the boys tried to roast marshmallows. They had their sticks and were standing 15 ft away because it was so hot. They roasted them. Wesley heated one up and we put it on a graham cracker to eat and he said, " I want a different one, It is too runny". I had to explain to him that is what happens to marshmallows when they are cooked. He agreed and enjoyed his marshmallow-graham cracker sandwich. Pictures below show our tent, and our hike. No pictures of the fire, only the fire pit behind Wesley in the last picture. I will leave the fire to your imagination.

Dad and Wesley.

Wesley on the bridge.

Wesley and his friend Cyrus.


Digging a trench.


Wesley and his friend Eric. Don't they look like
they could be brothers?

Fire Ants and Mosquitoes

We have lived here for almost 2 years with no fire ant episodes for the kids. Well, Wesley got it good the other night. He has quite a few bites on his feet. This picture doesn't do them justice. They are so nasty looking. Aubrey got a few also. But nothing like Wesley. They are both covered in mosquito bites, which are scabbed over now from them scratching them so much. I feel so bad for not being better about keeping some sort of repellent on them for the mosquitoes. *sigh*

Aubrey Update

Isn't this a cute pose of Aubrey? Her legs are covered in scrapes and fire ant bites and mosquito bites, just like Wesley's.
Poor little girl is getting more teeth in. Needless to say she has had a rough week. She likes me to rub her gums with my finger. She tells me, "mama, teeth" and grabs my finger. So sad when they have their 'growing pains'.
She is becoming such a big girl! She likes to wrestle with Wesley, mom, and dad. It is so funny. When Wesley has something she thinks is hers or that she wants she says, "No! My baby!" No matter if it is a baby doll or a toy car. Or she says, "Mine!". It is funny how they learn 'no' and 'mine', so quickly.
She is learning to talk more and more. We have been working on pronouncing words a lot lately. She is really good at saying, "want snack". She is learning to draw circles and is doing better and better every day. She likes to draw and color.
Aubrey LOVES TO SING! And we LOVE TO LISTEN TO HER! One of our favorites is when she sings 'How much is that doggy in the window'. She sings a bunch of jibberish and then says, "woof woof". Then a little more jibberish, and, "woof woof". It is so funny.

The Little "Blue" Man

Wesley didn't want a "blue" man, he wanted a green one. And he didn't want him to be little, he wanted him to be "big like a daddy".
This is what really happened to the little blue man after he was pushed from off the top of the building.
Ummm........I am not good at drawing. But I am sure the Little Blue Man wears a baseball cap. He is probably about 3 feet tall.
I know this looks purple, but here is our attempt at the Little Blue Man in 3D.
Aubrey thinks he is pretty cute.

For those who do not know who or what the Little Blue Man is, you are seriously missing out. It is one of the cutest songs ever. Click here to view the song on youtube. It is sung by a woman named Betty Johonson.

Our New Toy

I could not get this girl to co-operate for me so I could take her picture. I finally said, "Aubrey, look I have candy! Do you want some?". (Mean of me, I know, but I really wanted a picture of her.) So, she finally looked at me and said, "yeeaahhh" in that funny little way she says 'yeah'. Those who have visited lately, or who know us here, know the 'yeah' I am talking about. It is so cute and so funny. Anyway, she got over the fact that I really didn't have candy pretty quick.
Wesley is loving this whole trampoline thing. *sigh* I am so glad. And the sprinklers under the trampoline are wonderful, since it is so hot now.

The finished product!!
For family home evening tonight, we all jumped. It was so fun. Wesley and Aubrey thought it was hilarious to watch Brady jump really high and do tricks.
Brady worked really hard today to get this all put together. THANK YOU DADDY!! It was so hot today. It was a sacrifice to be out in that hot sun putting this thing together.

Three's a Crowd! OUCH!!

Last night, Brady fell asleep up in Wesley's bed telling him stories, like he always does. I usually go get him and help him to our bed, but I couldn't sleep, so I was doing a little bit of cleaning. Well, the cleaner I used in my bathroom (soft scrub) was sooooo strong it was making my lungs feel like they were closing up. So, I decided to go up and sleep on the Wesley's bed too, because the smell was very strong in our bedroom. He does have a queen bed in his room, so I figured we'd have just enough room. Or not. Wesley ended up rolling off the bed in the middle of the night (Brady told me about it this morning). I didn't even know he had. I woke up at about 3:30 a.m. feeling very warm and crowded, only to find that Brady had moved Wesley in between us. So, I went and slept on the bed in Aubrey's room.

This morning I went up to say good morning to Wesley and noticed this gash on his head. Okay, so it is not so much a major gash. But it sounds so much better to use that word. Anyway, he didn't even realize it was there until I made him go look in the mirror at it. At first he tried to tell me he tripped on the grass and that is how it happened. Then, he told me he hit his head on the rail when he was walking down the stairs. I finally convinced him that it had to have happened when he rolled off the bed last night. So, he went and told Brady (Brady hadn't seen his ouch yet) "Look dad! You pushed me off the bed and now look what you did to my head!" So, we will not be sleeping 3 of us in a bed anymore.

Winter Dress-up

You know it is warm in Houston when my kids did not have to wear a coat all winter. Jackets on occasion, Yes. But, we never wore coats. In fact, Wesley wore shorts all winter long. Or, "little pants", as he calls them. He only wears "big pants" on Sunday to church.
So, the kids discovered a box of winter clothes and had a blast playing dress-up and pretending to be cold.
It has really warmed up here! We went to the park on Wednesday and my kids asked me if we could leave after about 30 minutes. I guess we won't be going to the park again until September or October. All of our outdoor activities will be at Splash Town (water park here that is really close to our house....only about 10 minutes) or our neighborhood pool.

Part One of "The canning project" (posted by Debbie)

So, I am very excited because I am going to bottle some tomatoes this year, make some pickles, and hopefully do some peaches too. Tuesday night I went to the church and learned the steps to bottling tomatoes. I am so grateful to the woman in my ward, who donated her time to teach this wonderful skill. It was really fun! Funny, I remember doing peaches and pears once in my life, and I don't think, as a teenager, I would have called it "fun". Although I have always enjoyed eating the bottled fruits etc. (especially Gran's pears.......yum!), I wasn't all that interested in doing the work. Funny how perspective changes as you get older. LOL. Anyway, I am truly ecstatic about this new adventure I am embarking on. I went to Wal Mart last night and bought the necessary "equipment" to get the job done. So, hopefully all will go well in my first attempts to bottle. I am putting in a order for tomatoes through a farmers market, about 30 lbs. I can't wait for them to get here so I can try my hand at this.

Friends

You may be wondering what this is; it is Wesley's version of a "snowman". He was the little ring leader tonight. We were watching our friends girls so they could support their neighbor by attending her choir concert, and Wesley got this great idea that they could all work together and build this. So, he was a little bossy saying things like, "Kadence, hold this!", "Come on guys, get all the balls!", but none of the girls seemed to care. They just did exactly as he asked. They finally figured out that the balls were not going to stay on top of each other, so they asked for some tape. When that didn't work, they gave up and went on to this.................. Bird calling!!!???? They all gathered around the ball, with Wesley as the leader of course, and started chanting while hitting the ball, "Come here birds! Come to our yard!" over and over again. It was so funny.
Ohhhh! So sweet!

These two are crazy together. They are great friends.

We are gonna miss "the girls", Kadence and Cambelle. We just love 'em!! They are moving away in a couple of weeks.*sigh*

Wonderful Weather for a Pic-nic

We came home from church and decided to have a little pic-nic in the back yard. The weather has been so wonderful. We have really been enjoying it.

Drive-in Movie

We are all set and ready to go. Aubrey had fun playing with rocks and the dog in the car next to us.

We went and saw the new Narnia movie on friday night. Aubrey fell asleep. Wesley stayed awake, of course. It was good. I liked the first one better though.

Dinner with the Elders

Elder Dewitt and Elder Peterson
YES! Chocolate chip pancakes!

Brady went out with the Elders for a few hours on saturday. They hadn't eaten dinner, so instead of them going back to their apartment for spaghetti, they came to our house and made pancakes, sausage, and eggs. It was a fun treat for them and us.

Our Little Garden

Wesley took this picture of the carrots (this week). We just planted them about 3 weeks ago. We are hoping they will be okay.

The squash and cucumbers last week.

The tomato plant 2 weeks ago.
The strawberries last week.
The strawberries this week.
The squash and cucumbers this week. I went to Home Depot and bought a couple of little trellises. I know the cucumbers will climb.....we're just testing it out to see if the squash will. I really have no idea what I am doing. I just pretend.
The tomatoes this week.

We are attempting to do a little garden in pots. So far, we seem to be doing really well. We have one tomato plant, some squash, cucumbers, a strawberry plant, and some carrots. It has been really fun for the kids to watch the veggies grow.

FAMILY

Debbie, Aubrey, Melanie, and the beautiful Nichole on the ferry. (back in Feb.)

We had a some really hard rain last week and wouldn't you know, it filled up the sandbox! Wesley was thrilled, as you can imagine. I was totally wrapped up in reading and sent the kids out to play. When I came back to reality, this is what I found; Aubrey took her baby doll swimming in the muddy water (baby doll is NOT water proof), and Wesley was filling all his trucks, cars, and buckets up and dumping them out on the patio. FUN!! Honestly, I wouldn't trade cleaning up messes for anything. I love my kids and feel so grateful I can be at home with them.
My kids have the BEST aunts and uncles in the whole universe!! Seriously! I love my siblings and I love Brady's siblings and I know they all love our kids! Once again, I am so grateful for each of them. Wesley and Aubrey (and mom) were thrilled to receive more fun books from Aunt Laura yesterday!! Thanks Laura! You are so thoughtful. (I know Aubrey looks more interested in her shoe than the books here, but trust me, she loves the Curious George book.)
My kids are so lucky to have uncles who love to chase and wrestle! Wesley especially loves it! Here is Uncle Josh giving Wesley a bull ride. He had a blast playing with Josh while he was here.
It is always an adventure going out to eat as a family. Our kids enjoy going to restaurants. Sometimes we enjoy it too. Today, we went to Goode Co. BBQ for one last lunch with Shell and Josh. We stopped by the office and picked Brady up. The kids love to go to daddy's work.
Look at those beautiful babes!! (especially the smaller gal wearing her grandmas shades!)

Attempting to take a picture in front of the Houston Temple back in February.
Wesley and his cousin Avina loving the ferry ride down at Galveston.
Grandad and Granny Ann are so thrilled to be waiting in line for a train ride.
Grandma Tingey and Brady looking for butterflies.

The past few months have been so fun! We have had more family come to visit us in three months than we have had the whole time we have lived in Texas. Probably because we are now in a house and have room for people to come. HOORAY!

Michelle and Josh left today. It was fun to have them. We will miss them just like we miss everyone else.

I have been thinking a lot about family and the wonderful relationships we share. I am so happy to have two families that love and care about me and my little family. I know somebody is always thinking of us, praying for us, wondering how we are, hoping we are happy, and just loving us. What a blessing!!

In our extended family, we have some that are going through some really trying times. From health related issues, to divorce. And probably there are some who have struggles we don't even know about. Sometimes I feel helpless in how I can help them. As I have thought of these individuals, I have hoped that they know that they also have so many family members (and probably friends) who are thinking of them, praying for them, wondering how they are, hoping they are happy, and just loving them.

I love the fact that families are there for you, however they can be, in whatever circumstance you may find yourself in. I have also found that beyond my related family members, we have a lot of "family" here in Texas. Through church, and in our neighborhood. There are good people everywhere that care.

Right now, I feel tremendous gratitude for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the strength it gives me personally to endure. My whole life is better because I know who I am, I know Gods plan, and I know how to find peace in this life.

ZIGITY

This game is the best!
Debbie has the best hair cut she has had in a long time, thanks to her beautiful sister Michelle!

We have had fun with Michelle and Josh. I think we have them addicted to a card game called Zigity. It is a lot of fun. It is a Cranium card game.