Jared's Baby Blessing

 Jared was blessed this last Sunday up here in Heaven in Brad's parent's ward.  We had a nice lunch at my dad's afterwards.  It was so nice!  Jared did great, the blessing was beautiful and the company was top notch!  And the meat trays---- super fun to make and they turned out awesome :)

 Oh-- it was SUPER HOT!  Shade was mandatory!

 A couple days later Papa took Jared on a four wheeler ride, he LOVED it! 

Catching Butterflies at the Lake

Brothers

Eavesdropping

If you were to eavesdrop at any given time of the day at our home you may hear:

• Hyrum telling us all about his "Imaginary World." "In my imaginary world on my imaginary planet we have volcanoes and lava that cover 90% of the planet and if you are a bad guy....." On and on this sweet little boy goes about the universe there and the climate and the animals and the dangers and the accommodations.  He can't wait till the day that he can create worlds :)  He may also be reading to me which I LOVE.  Right now we are finishing up Micheal Vey.
• Paul.  Paul may be talking about the different scabs he has from his many falls lately.  His knees are covered with small scrapes for all his many, many falls.  I can't figure out what the deal is, he has been turning too sharp on his scooter and tripping over classmates feet during races-- all to discover the wonder of scabs I guess.  "Picking the big ones do this."  "Picking the ones that are this color do that..."  "Mom!  I need another band aid!"  Oh man...
• Bryan is delighted with turtles.  Has been for quite some time.  But in his mind, even though he is NOT a fan of TMNT, he pictures turtles as heroes.  Paul once told him that turtles have a fast button in their shell.  And apparently in a movie (or dream) a turtle jumped.  Bryan builds Lego's and plays with his bath toy turtles and pretends they are fighting off bad guys and doing super cool stunts all with this magic button and amazing jumping abilities.  Bryan asks for new turtle toys daily and "can we get a turtle that doesn't poop?"  I have a problem with poop and apparently taught my children to have the same apprehensiveness towards such issues with animals too. 
• Jared has started gooing and giggling!  His smiles are to live for!  He is so calm and peaceful still--- I hope it stays that way always.  But it probably won't, so I enjoy every minute of it.  He has one strong spirit about him and at times makes me just cry because I am so happy he is here!  Man, I sure love him!

The other day I was shopping and missed a call from Brad.  I checked my phone and he had left a message.  Hehe, little did he know!  He forgot to hang up the phone and I had 5 whole minutes of real life uncensored.  Eavesdropping, I couldn't help it :)  The next five minutes I laughed my guts out listening to the message.  It was filled with Brad gooing and cooing with Jared.  He giggled with him and kept telling Jared how cute he was.  I could hear Jared responding and gooing so sweetly back to his Daddy.  After listening and laughing at how cute it all was, I couldn't help but be incredibly grateful for a husband who loves his boys.  Love.  Pure love.  Yep.  It is pretty awesome.

Heaven on Earth

There are moments once, twice, or many times a day that I really notice what I have. 

  Moments that my heart explodes with gratitude, love, joy and a touch of excitement.

  I can't breathe...  I feel like I can fly... 

And the only outward trace of these moments is a smile erupting on my face.

 Then I gasp for air as I notice that these heavenly creatures and I are still on the earth and in our home and living this life together.

   And I am so grateful that they are mine :)

And this love is ours.

T'was a great weekend

It was such a great weekend!  The weather was beautiful and I couldn't help but sit outside and soak up those sun rays!  Grandma and Grandpa Baxter came and spent the night Fri-Sat, and it was so great to see them and stay awake way too late chatting away!  The kids were thrilled to spend time with them too!  They all said it was the best thing that happened that day!  Saturday we all went to check out some bulls and the boys were just crazy about that.  The farm we went to was just awesome!  Something within me wants that life for my kids: A farm, farm work, exploring, pastures, cows, chickens and maybe a horse.  No video games.  The dream is far out, really far out.  But it means the world to me to see glimps' of it when we get to help with the cows or feed our neighbors horses for a week.  During breakfast, I think, Grandma told me a story about when she was younger.  Her family had a wheat farm in Idaho and got paid two times a YEAR.  Most families during that time had the money mostly spent that first month.  They got their flour for the year from the mill from their own crop and then spend their money buying canned goods and sugar.  They also had very small bills, power was very inexpensive and they didn't have TV or computers, so they didn't use near as much.  I couldn't help but picture life and how I would have liked it "back in the day."  Life is so different now, and can you imagine how much different our society would be if each of us only got paid twice a year??  Pure awesomeness.

Later on Saturday we went on a family bike ride.  Paul has spent this much of his life in a bike trailer because a bike with training wheels can't keep up, and it takes more energy to ride a bike with training wheels...  But we gave in and let Paul ride a bike and we brought a chain and lock to lock it up when he got tired.  We enjoyed the only slightly slower pace and the conversation.  Paul's excitement was amazing!  That kid---- he biked the entire hilly 4 miles!!!!  No need to chain it up, he merrily biked it all start to finish!  I was amazed by his endurance and attitude!  Hyrum also was a joy and Bryan enjoyed his nap :)  I think 4 was too much for me, so that was probably the last ha-rah for me.  In about 3 months, I plan to be back at it!  But hopefully, by then, Paul will be two wheelin' it!

Our Random Life :) I love it!

STORY ONE:

• I was reading stories to my kids about George Washington.  George went to school on and off and it is believed he had a tutor.  Hyrum asked, "What is a tutor?"  "Well," I said,"A tutor is someone who comes to your home-"  Hyrum then interrupted me and said, "They come in your house and toot a lot!?!?!"

STORY TWO:

• I have mentioned before how Bryan just hates girls.  He talks about it daily.  Today was no different.  We were in the car waiting to pick up Hyrum at his school when Bryan huffed and said, "I HATE GIRLS!"  Paul said, "I like them, Bryan."  I said, "Be careful, boy, someday you may end up marrying one just like Daddy did."  Paul then says, "Ya, because if you don't marry a girl, you won't be HUMAN!"  (Not sure where he got that impression...)  Bryan just got more upset.  He roughly folded his arms tight, let out a huge huff and yelled, "Well!  I hate girls!"  then had to huff again to prove his point!

STORY THREE:

• A few days this week Brad has been waking up early early to go play basketball and run at the local rec.  Not only him, but he takes Hyrum and Paul.  I am totally impressed!  Anyway, when they got home it was loud and crazy and I have start the day just running myself trying to get things going for them.  After that, they totally deserved a good breakfast, don't ya think!  And you would think it would burn off some energy, but they come home just full of it!  They get so excited that they got to go with their dad!  Anyway with all the craziness, Bryan gets woken up a little earlier than normal.  He wakes up happy and just lays there for a minute being cute and talking about his dreams.  (Last night apparently Paul had a pink kitty and Bryan had a blue one :)  Then I ask him if he would like to get dressed.  He keeps replying the same, and it makes me laugh every time!  He is the type where if he has something to say, he is going to say it with feeling!  So he straightens out, lying on his back, crosses his ankles and puts his hands behind his head.  He face and voice get serious and maybe a little onery as he says, "I'm gonna stay in bed!"  Ending with that same HUFF that, admittingly, I love way too much!

STORY FOUR

• Hyrum, Paul and Bryan have been working on sticker charts and surprisingly I have stuck with it too!  They get stickers for developing good habits: Like making their bed in the morning, practicing violin with a good attitude, hanging up their coat and backpack when they get home from school, etc.  Oh and Bryan's was a potty chart after having a little relapse after being potty trained for a year about...  He earned his bike, so it is just Hyrum and Paul working on their charts now.  Well, I was getting clothes to take down to the washer when I noticed Bryan plastering stickers on Paul's Chart.  "What are you doing, Bryan???" I asked.  Paul then said, "Oh don't worry about it!  He works for me!"  I was a little baffled by this...  Does he do work and then add the stickers on Paul's chart, or is he getting bribed for just sticking the stickers up there for no reason???  Either way, I just love the way that Paul words things.  It is the pure innocence in his eyes that makes my heart flutter and giggle at the same time!  I sure love my kids!

LAST STORY

• This evening we went and watched Brad play some church ball.  I LOVE watching Brad out there on the court.  Understandably, it is hard with the boys.  None the less, I love it!  Well after the game was over, everyone was looking for their basketballs that all the kids were playing with.  One guy said out loud to everyone pointing at me, "SHE'S HIDING ONE!"  I hate attention drawn to me when I don't expect it and was just hoping it was the ball we brought!  I looked all around me and under my chair.  I couldn't see a ball anywhere!  What in the world was this guy talking about?!!?  One look at Brad's smile, that's all I needed.  The baby.  My stomach.  I laughed a little and could only think to reply with "You are terrible!" Unfortunately, after that blonde/pregnancy moment, they got the last laugh...