Glow Golf

 The day after returning from our epic Bullfrog trip, we wanted to spend some time with our visiting cousin. We'd decided we wanted to go miniature golfing, and were lucky enough to find a groupon for Glow Golf at the mall. And so Erin and I ended up taking seven children miniature golfing.

 Luckily the place was deserted, because soon there were cousins in every direction. Some cousins are a little more proficient than others. But the younger cousins still had a wonderful time.

 And they even had cool animals on which to climb. What could be better?

 Many thanks to Erin for emailing me her pictures, since I forgot my camera.

And we're glad we got to spend at least a little time with you on your visit. Let's do it again sometime.

Choose the Right

Levi did a great job at family home evening tonight. He taught the kids about Moses and the ten commandments. Then he made them each their own set of stone tablets out of construction paper. We talked about how the commandments help us to choose the right.

Nathan then went on to talk about how the commandments will help you if you're lost to find another direction, to find your mom and dad and sister.

All true, but in a slightly different sense.

Clara's also been saying some great things lately. A few weeks ago she referred to a knee as a "leg elbow." And today she said, "Does grandpa have feet?... yes. Where are his feet? At the store? No... his feet are on his toes."

Again, all true.

Moving Days

 In June, we headed down to Bullfrog. We discovered a lot of treasures at grandma's and grandpa's that we'd never seen before.

 This is Clara just after we'd discovered a lizard.

 The kids were introduced to the wonder of Charlie Brown cartoons. They behaved quite well, and I managed to be occasionally helpful in between feedings, diaper changes, getting snacks, etc.

 We even managed to get some swimming in.

 After the first dip, Alice didn't mind her toes being in the water.

 After packing and loading for two days, we filled that truck right up.

And after 39 years (minus 11 days or so, according to my father-in-law) we said our final goodbyes to the Bullfrog house. And we headed in a caravan across the state. I was feeling unhappy about driving alone with three kids (Levi was in the truck) but the kids were remarkably good. Actually, Nathan and Alice were remarkably good. Clara was sort of awful, but with two six-hour drives in three days, you can hardly blame her. As she was crying to get out of her car seat, Alice began to cry. And Clara wailed, "Don't cry, Alice. It's okay. Don't cry." Which I, of course, found very ironic. It was a good laugh for the day.

 Then when we got to Roy, aided with the rest of us, we unloaded in a few hours what had taken us the better part of two days to fill.

 My kids even helped. They wanted to be just like their big cousins who could lift heavy things.

We were even able to find a couple boxes for Clara. Alice didn't help, though. Lazy baby.

So, welcome to Roy, grandma and grandpa. We're excited.

Alice's blessing day

 We blessed Alice June 10. It was a great day; we even had guests all the way from Edmonton. The blessing was beautiful. The party afterwards was great--lots of cousins to play with.

 And remember this dress? You can read all about it here. Because I mean all of it, again, but I'm too lazy and inarticulate to say it again.

 To say it shortly, this girl got to wear one special dress, made by one special lady. And now I'll shut up and let you look at some pictures.

Air shows and rain don't mix

 We went up on base the day before to watch the Thunderbirds practice. We knew we wouldn't make it for the whole day Saturday. With two young kids and one newborn, even a couple hours was sounding like a big outing.

 The Thunderbirds were exciting, as long as you could catch a glimpse of them. That was hard for some of the younger set. And loud. Clara was more interested in the snacks.

 As was Alice.

 And now, for the actual air show:

 It was a chilly overcast day. No sunburn worries for us this year.

 Dad and Nathan took a couple of outings to see planes. The Thunderbirds were even more exciting up close, especially since Dad sprung to buy an actual toy plane. Highlight of the day for a 4-year-old. Once again, Clara and Alice were more interested in the snacks. We had a good couple of hours and then it started to sprinkle, so we decided to bail. As we packed up they announced they were suspending the air show because of the wind.

 As we trekked back to the van, it started to rain in earnest.

 And then it rained furiously.

 We were soaked. It was a very sad fifteen minutes.

 When we finally got to the van, Nathan insisted on taking off his wet clothes. Which was everything, but he did keep the underwear on.

But, since we started to leave before the air show was suspended, we beat the crowds. We got off base in about ten minutes. It was pretty awesome. Some might say, it was the best (or the luckiest) part of our day.

Being grateful for ridiculous things.... it could be worse.

As soon as I walked up the stairs I heard Nathan, frantic: "Mom! I need help cleaning up my trio blocks!"

(Trio Blocks, by Fisher Price, are awesome, by the way.)

Impressed at his tidying initiative, I went down to help him. Turns out, he just wanted to pick them up because it was "too scary to be downstairs by myself."

Ridiculous is what this is. My kids sleep in the basement, the two of them, so grownup. No nightlight, no problem. But during the day, the basement is dark and scary, with sunlight streaming in the window. Last week we were all in their bedroom. I asked Clara to go get her shoes, over by the computer. And she threw a fit because it was too dark. She wouldn't walk into the next room by herself.

what is this?

I should be glad they don't have a problem at night, because plenty of kids do. I'm hesitant to read books about kids being afraid of the dark, or afraid of monsters under the bed. I don't want to introduce that kind of thinking, because we've got an awesome nighttime thing going on with our three right now.

So, my kids only being afraid of the semi-dark during the day = lucky. Or something like that.

A Funny Thing about Alice

I was trying to get her to smile. It didn't work. But she does smile quite a lot. And she coos. She's starting talking to her toys last week. right now  she's cooing at a bird toy I made that's hanging over her head. It's adorable...and I can't find my camera. Consequently, this picture is at least a month old. Once I find my camera I'll post new pictures. But to do that I'll have to finish unpacking. But rest assured we've been busy. We've been so busy that we've celebrated the last couple of days by doing nothing at all.

But, the funny thing about Alice. She doesn't spit up much, which is nice. But when she does, about sixty percent of the time, it will come out her nose.

And she doesn't care. It's all very nonchalant--yes, I have milk dribbling out of my nostrils. But life is still pretty good. What's it to you?