Max at the Dentist

I was brushing Max' teeth one night after oreo's...when I noticed a black spot on one of his new molars that just wouldn't come off. We watched it for a few days, and when it didn't go away, we called the dentist.  Sure enough, he had a cavity.  Apparently some teeth when they form, don't come together all the way in the center, leaving a deep deep cavern where once somethings inside, it can't get out--it's a tooth defect.

(which I've just decided I've had all my life--cause for reals, I brush, and still get cavities all the time--it's ridiculous....back to the story)

Anyway--they offered to bring him back in another time, put him under a heavy sedative that takes hours to kick in, so you wait in the office until he basically falls asleep.....or hook him up to an IV at a different facility....OR, since he was being a champ and doing so well for the dentist, he suggested just giving him laughing gas and he thought he'd be just fine for the filling.   So that's what we tried..... (ahh, scared....)

He was soooo brave and awesome about the whole thing.  I think he was just glad he got to watch more of the disney movie they had playing in the ceiling that he really didn't notice anything else.  It was a tender mercy and he did great.

In and out in 45 minutes and no tears or fears.  This kid rocked the dentist!  I could take tips from him for sure.

Grandma Tadje Visit

I love this amazing woman.  Jess, the kids and I drove up one Sunday in August to visit Grandma Tadje.  The kids got to pick pears off her tree--which they loved, and play in the backyard--which has ALWAYS been such a treasure trove of adventure and beauty!  Grandma is so sweet and so so great at conversation.  I just love her.

Rhett watered her plants, Max explored on the bridge in the back, and all of us had such an great time.  Plus she'd gotten the boys all cookies to choose from so that didn't hurt her love points from them :)  Grandma Tadje is a smart, kind, and thoughtful woman who I look up to and love.  

Passport to Provo

A#1: These boys LIVE FOR a good scavenger hunt.

B#2: They LOVE everything about Guinness Book of World Records and have lots of their books.

C#3: We got to combine both these things by participating in the making of the Largest Scavenger Hunt ever--and documented by the Guinness Book of World Records! Woo woo! 

Jess got everyone headbands on the day of and apparently that was all that was needed to let out every ones competitive side!

"According to event organizers, 2,079 people swarmed downtown Provo and surrounding businesses to participate in the challenge to set the record for the world's largest scavenger hunt, double the previous record. The previous record stood at 924."  Woo Woo!!!

Checking in everyone had to get wrist bands and go through the special Guinness World Records gate so they could count everyone.  Kade and Luke wanted a picture with the Guinness lady. :)

After checking in, and getting all the rules and the sites we'd have to choose from.  We needed to complete 15 tasks anything from sample a free churro and chips and salsa at Los Hermonos (yes please) to fly a kite, or shoot a basketball at the Provo rec center....yay!  Anyway, we waited out front for the race to start for about an hour....and then.....

...we were off! Jess spotted the mayor of Provo--John Curtis, so we snagged a picture with him...check!

Next, farther downtown we all needed to tell a joke on stage for the judges.

Run through the splash-pad at Pioneer Park.  This was Max's favorite.

Fly a kite--woo woo (not so much wind...so it really was more--run with a kite :)  

Here we also picked up what trash was left (I think we found a straw wrapper?  It had been picked clean by everyone else--woo woo)

 This one was supposed to be, 'Take a selfie with a llama"...trying to get all 6 of us AND the llama posed to be a very hard thing.

Take a picture by this Mario mural...

Doing the thinker pose in front of the mural of Einstein.

After running all over town sampling things, doing service, hanging out with llama's--we made it back with plenty of time to spare to make it in the count for the record! Woo Woo!  Plus we all got 2 new shirts and soda pop!  WHAT?  We love free shirts around here.  Such a fun fun fun day hanging out with this group of guys!

Oh, and they made a video of the whole thing and we were even featured in in 3 times--well Rhett 2 times and our family once. :)  It was way fun!

Ogden Temple Open House

Oh snap. Look at those handsome cuties!  I love being the mom of these 4 boys!  Here we are at the Ogden Temple Open House.  It was soooo awesome.  They loved the drive up (whoever invented car tv's was a genius!), the weather was perfect, and since we had registered for tickets, we got to wait in the short line and not the long one. Just great great.

Saw some, "angel wings" while waiting. RIGHT?!  Totally looks like that!  So I know angels don't actually have wings....but if they did they'd look JUST like that.  Just saying.

Since my mom had already been to the open house she remembered random things that the boys could look for to spice things up for them.  We made a "Temple Hunt" for them to look for while on their tour.  Stuff like--lockers, doors giants could walk through, oven, organ pipes, pictures of Christ, giant domed ceiling....ANYWAY--it was delightful and I was DEFINITELY blessed that day because the boys all stayed together and happy and quiet the whole time.  It's always a special experience to bring them to such a sacred place. Even if it wasn't dedicated yet, so the Spirit within is different, it's still so special and beautiful and amazing.

Luke got the camera after and was taking pictures of everyone...

Then it was his turn. Always with style this one. :)

Afterwards we went to a park, ate our packed lunches and played.  We left Ogden really late and definitely didn't get home in time for ANYONE's bed times, but it was worth it and so fun.  I love these boys.

Labor Day/Cowboy Day Parade 2014

Rhett getting 'hawk-tied' :) by Uncle Riley.  It was a pretty big deal to see if you could get out of his jump-rope knot.  The kids literally lined up for the chance.  Ha!

Luke wanted me to take a picture of his tall Lincoln Logs House.  So there you have it in it's splendor.

Now the moment they'd been waiting for.....THE COWBOY DAYS PARADE!  They did so great this year and shared a ton and ended up (like always) with a giant haul!---only to be saddened later when they realized that they couldn't actually eat it all that day.  Moms are the worst.

Cousin fun.  Max loves Greta and talks about her all the time.  Even when we haven't seen the Andersons for weeks, when we do our, "High-Low, what do you know" thing at dinner--sooooo many times his high is, "Playing with Greta". ha ha.

Kade perhaps enjoyed the challenge of getting hog-tied the most and prided himself on his quick escapes.  We always have such a great time up in Evanston!  Yay Cowboy days :)

Dickerson Visit

One beautiful Sunday afternoon we got to drive to Tooele to visit with Grandma and Grandpa Dickerson!  They're amazing in every possible way!

Veda was so so sweet and had a bucket of toys she let the boys pick from-from the very start to keep.  Then the kids went to the backyard to play.  Rhett fell out of this 'tree swing' probably 10 times.  HA!  It was hilarious to watch--it was way tricky.

Jess walking Grandma Veda into the rehab center where Grandpa Dickerson was staying.

The boys had all made Grandpa a colorful note or picture to hang in his room.  He had so many that we had to try to squeeze them in where we could. Love that.  Then he said the boys could sit in his wheelchair--that made their day!  Up and down the halls.  Grandpa didn't want the kids out alone--cause, "people judge":),  so Jess watched to make sure they didn't get too rambunctious.  They each took a turn.  The first thing on Luke's Christmas list was....a wheelchair.

We chatted with Grandpa for a good while.  Then we drove over to see their new place.  It was such a nice afternoon.  We love them!

First Days of School!

Luke:

3^th grade:

Teacher: Melissa Allmon—she’s great. It’s a 3^rd/4^th class split.  She’s really nice. She comes up with great ideas and she gives us skittles and different greetings for morning meetings.

What do you like about this class so far?  There are awesome books to read, I like the kids in the class. But not really Bailey…she thinks she’s the boss of me. 

What do you do at recess?: I usually just play four square with Owen

Home or school lunch? School.  Because they have different selections and they have new items on the menu like Mac and Cheese!

Walking to school? I like it because I can walk with Owen.

Favorite afterschool activity? Playing with friends.

Favorite Food: Pizza, Bordeaux cherry chocolate ice cream.

Basketball camp: It was great. Michael was there and he was on my team. 

Scouts:  My leaders are Sis. Gibson—she’s great—she has really fun games for after, and Sis. Hicks—she just goes along with everything we say. Last week we played Corn Hole and it was so so fun.

Kade:

5^th grade:

Teacher: Emily Corey.  She’s fun—kind of strict about noise but full of fun activities like she let us play “Snake” a bunch, she always has jokes, and it’s been a little bit difficult because all of our walking group is in different classes but we’ve managed.

What do you like about this class so far? It’s mostly the same as every other year.  But we do rotations this grade. So until lunch we’re in someone else’s classroom doing math, reading, writing.  I have Adam and Emerson and Mary in that group

Favorite Food: Sunday meals are my favorite right now.  They’re delicious.  Like Roast (I really like Grandpa’s gravy), and Pot Roast, and grilled chicken.

What do you do at recess?: I like to play four  square or kick ball.

Home or school lunch? I like home lunch definitely. Cause I get desserts in that.  But school food is really good when they have orange chicken.  It’s delicious.

Walking to school? We meet at Emersons house.  (with Adam) then we go to school on scooters.

Favorite afterschool activity? Relaxing.  I love soccer.  I play forward or midfield. I’m never defense.  I like our coach—Coach Nicarias.  He’s pretty hard.  He pushes us to the amount he knows we can do and then makes us better. Adams on my team.

I like spending my free time….well…I don’t really have time at home now.  School and sports take a lot.  I only have like 4-5 hours.  And I always have like scouts or something.  

Rhett:

Preschool: I’m excited for preschool everyday!  I like that at play time I can play with the batman toy…it’s like a giant house with batman and robin and 2 jokers.  At snack time we always get chocolate milk. Once we even got oreos!  My friends at school are Blake and Tuff.

Teacher: Miss Kristy

Best Friend: Garrett Welch.  I like playing dinosaurs with him.

Barn: We sometimes go to Garretts barn when they are taking care of their horses in Alpine. Last time we went to a secret hideout IN THE HAY!  We ride bikes there and once I even rode a horse (on his grandma’s birthday)

Favorite Food: I LOVE pancakes!  I could eat them every day.  I like cinnamon and sugar toast.  I don’t like mac and cheese. And I eat hotdogs in their bun.

What do you do at recess?: We play at the little playground but one time last week we got to play on the BIG kids playground!

Soccer? I love that my friends can do it with me. 

Temple: At the temple open house, I really liked the giant doors inside.

August 2014-

It was a Saturday morning, we were in full swing of chores.  Rhett went to pick up his heart eraser that he'd gotten from his church class.  He picked it up with such a un-readable face and the words,

"Mom! Someone broke my eraser!"

I looked down at him expecting utter sadness.  Then he looked up and said,

"...and now I have 2!" 

I am the Relief Society Activities Person for our ward.  The Bishop wanted us to do a mother/daughter...so we had a Garden Party! It was so so pretty and lovely, we had a delicious spread, jewelry making, quilt tying and cute little tea cups for all the daughters to bring home.  We had a little photo opp too...here's  me and some of my cutsie friends that I love :)

They said this was the crazy one...apparently I misinterpreted that statement to mean 'very special'.  HA!

A few days before school starting mom and dad took us to the most delicious shaved ice place in the world!  It was called Snoasis and it's in Alpine.  Mmmmm! So so good and I don't even normally like shaved ice at all!  But make it feel like frozen silk instead of chunky ice, then add cream or ice cream to it and BAM!  Delicious!  It was a great way to say good-bye to summer :)

Here's Jess helping Max cut up his binki!  It was a big day for this little guy!  We had a big celebration with singing and cake ('birt-day cake' as Max would say it) and everything!

Opened the pantry door to find.....

One of my funniest friends Shalynn was in town visiting from Georgia! YAY!  

Drove to Jessica's and got to spend a short morning together and it was so so fun.  Just love her.

Rhett was SURE he wanted to be this awesome Knight for Halloween when we saw it at Costco! 

(Did not turn out to be the case--apparently he just wanted that awesome sword....what do you do)

And we got this ghetto little Jake and the Neverland Pirate costume.  He pulls it off well :)

Nothing better than a nice hike to the waterfall with friends!

These kids are adorable!  Their little feet can go so fast and they all had such funny things to say and such a vibrant attitude and demeanor the whole way.  Just one of those perfect days (big boys already back in school at this point)

Jess and I went with some friends to Provo's "Chalk the Walk" on a date.  (local artists rent spaces to make AMAZING chalk art...)  While out and about we saw some of our families favorite t.v. stars!  We LOVE Studio C around here, and Jess made me ask James and Natalie to have a picture with them so we could show the kids. So...yay!

Rhett used his money one day to buy a gum ball machine...as the cashier was handing him the receipt he said, "Wait, I get one of these too?!  with a giant smile. On the way out to the car, "I can't wait for Kade and Luke to get home and I'll tell them I got a receipt!"  Then to max in the car, "Max, did you know I got one of these?!"--showing him the receipt.  And before we left the parking lot I started to text Jess and tell him how funny Rhett was being.  Rhett asked what I was doing, "Texting daddy to tell him about your gum ball machine."  He said, "don't forget about my receipt!!!"

Luke set up a Fortune Telling station for all of us to visit.  See the obvious Crystal Ball?  (not a soccer ball held in place by a fake snake on top of a cooler.)  He was super legit.