Sunday Afternoon: Birthday BBQ at the Park

After driving through the canyon, we found a park to go have dinner that would allow dogs. Unfortunately, the only site available was about a mile away, which meant A LOT of stuff had to be hauled from the cars. In the end, it worked out nicely because we were at the end of the park and pretty much by ourselves.

Once everything was hauled, the BBQing and food prepping began.


While the food cooked, the kiddos played.



I tried to get Declan to practice walking . . .


he didn't care much for that. Of course. No surprise there!


We had some frisbees and some footballs that we played with for awhile. The kids had so much fun running after them.


With Francie around and balls and frisbees to fetch, it was no surprise that the girls decided to act like dogs.


Declan had fun crawling around, but of course couldn't stay and play on the HUGE grassy area, but instead always tried to escape and go places he shouldn't. Naughty boy.




After awhile, the kids decided to play "Red Light, Green Light." Everyone took turns. After a bit, Taylor got upset because she kept getting caught moving. Tom told her had an idea. If she stood right behind him, then no one would be able to catch her moving. She liked that and so they continued playing with her standing right behind Tom. Well, all of a sudden we hear her yelling at Tom. "That was NOT a good idea, " and she was upset and crying. Apparently, he had tooted; well, with her right behind him, she caught it full force. She was SOOOOOO upset. Of course we couldn't help but laugh.


For the rest of the night, she was not happy. We had to do a lot of convincing just to get her to come back and sit down and eat. I did feel bad for her, but it was FUNNY!


For dinner we got to enjoy seasoned tri-cut steaks from Costco. They were DELICIOUS!!! I think we had potato salad and rolls to and other things, but the steaks were sooooo yummy that I can't remember much else.

Tom got Declan to mimic him. It was cute!


This was Francie as soon as the eating began . . . beggin'.


Here's the birthday boy grilling away.


Tom put Declan under his shirt and they just giggled away. This is a game they play at home, but with blankets. They both go under, and Declan just LOVES it.


After playing and STUFFING ourselves, it was time to clean up and head home. What a perfect Sunday afternoon!

Sunday Afternoon: Drive through the Canyon

I spent 4 years going to school at BYU here in Utah. Every September we'd talk about the leaves changing colors and everyone would talk about how more beautiful it was when you drove through the canyons to see it up close, but I NEVER EVER did it. Well, this year we WERE going to do it. It just so happened that during this past week Jeremy had a birthday that we were unable to celebrate because he had been busy at work all week long, so we planned a drive through American Fork Canyon to see the leaves to be followed up by a birthday BBQ in Provo Canyon.

It was breathtaking. The colors were so vibrant.


On our climb up to the summit, we stopped at a large parking area to look down at the valley and to snap a few pictures.



Once we crossed over the summit, we started seeing the aspen trees. They were just barely changing colors, so they were only yellow, but some of them were the most vibrant yellows. They were beautiful.


I was amazed at the variety of color. The red on this tree was so beautiful.



It was just so beautiful and amazing the entire ride through the canyon.




Finally we ended up in Provo Canyon, passing Bridal Veil Falls.


We will definitely be doing this every year! It was amazing and breathtaking and awe-inspiring!! I am grateful to live in such a beautiful place where I am constantly reminded of God through the beauty I see each and every day.

A Little Stuck

It was a Saturday morning, which means the kids were up WAY before I wanted to be, so I was "sleeping" as best I could on the couch while they watched Saturday morning cartoons and played. All of sudden I heard Declan squawking. I look up, and I guess he'd decided this was a great place to sit. I was laughing. Of course he couldn't resist smiling for the camera even though he was stuck.


The funny thing is he's done it again. I guess he just can't resist sitting in something that he thinks is just perfect for him!!


At least this time he kept his feet in so that he didn't get stuck!

Naughty Noonoo

Along time there was a show called Teletubbies. Shelby would watch it and really enjoyed it. On the show there was this vacuum called Noonoo, who always cleaned up the Teletubbies mess, but would sometimes clean up things he shouldn't. At that point, the Teletubbies would always say, "Naughty Noonoo."


We now say that to Declan whenever he does stuff like this:


He is definitely the naughtiest of all my children. We will go upstairs to the kitchen, and he'll go to the Tupperware cupboard and start emptying it out (or trying to). When someone stops him, he'll go to the cleaning cupboard and try to empty it out. When he's stopped again, he'll try the next spot, whether it's the corner cupboard or the recipe cupboard or the pantry or Francie's food or the big Tupperware cupboard or the trash can. He just has to go from one naughty thing to the next.

On this day, he'd been stopped a few times from emptying out a cupboard. Cynthia and I had been distracted by the door I believe, so our naughty little boy took advantage, as he always does, and had his fun emptying the cleaning cupboard. Madison found him a little after he started. Because of this naughty little tendency, you can often hear us telling him, "Naughty Noonoo."

While the Parents are Away . . .

Cynthia had a bead show to go to, and, with Madison and Ryan agreeing to watch the kids, we headed to the show with her. It was fun to get out with Cyn (and without the kids). While we were gone, the kids had fun playing, and of course someone had to take pictures. My guess was either Madison or Taylor; they are the two who love to steal cameras and take pictures.

Declan of course enjoyed playing.


Shelby, not surprisingly, enjoyed some reading.


Aha . . . a self-portrait . . . the camera thief is caught. I was right . . . it was Madison.


Ryan enjoyed some Skippyjon Jones. Can't blame him. Tom's not a fan of reading, but he loves reading those books to the girls, which is why we have all of them except the new one that just came out (which will make a good birthday present for Miss Taylor).


Taylor and Payden enjoyed jumping on the bed, of course!


I'm sure Declan tried to enjoy it, but it was probably too crazy with the other 2 little monkeys jumping on the bed.



We were grateful for Madison and Ryan and glad the had fun!

I've Thrown my Pacifier out of my Crib . . . Now What?

Declan has lately decided to mess around instead of going to sleep. I remember when Payden did it, and it STILL drives me nuts!!! He likes to throw his pacifier and blankie out of the crib and then cry so that we'll come give them to him. What he doesn't realize is that I'm onto this little game of his. Generally what I do is leave him for an hour to give him time to work it out. If he's still awake after an hour, then I go in, rock him again, tuck him in again, and leave. He almost always goes back to sleep at that point.


I guess this day after tossing out his pacifier and blankie and after the crying didn't bring me in to return the items to him, he decided to use his thumb and fell asleep that way. When I went in to make sure he'd finally gone to sleep, this is what I found.


It is super cute!!! I'm just glad he doesn't do this on a regular basis. It took me until I was 6ish before I FINALLY stopped sucking my thumb. Since he doesn't EVER suck his thumb, I can look at this and think how cute he looks sucking on his thumb!!

Shelby's Class Play

We got a letter from Shelby's teacher that they would be doing class plays. Shelby's school does tracks. Half the kids come at 8:00 am, and the other half come at 9:15. They use that hour to teach reading to the first half of the class, and then the other half get their reading after the first kids leave. It helps them to be able to work with the kids better on their reading. Anyway, during their reading time, they had read books in groups and then made some props to put on a play about the books they read.

Since the plays were to be done from 8:15 to 9:15 and Taylor's school starts at 9:15, we had Taylor come with us and left Payden and Declan, who we thought would be too wiggly and noisy, home with Cynthia.


Shelby's play was the last one to be done. Her book was about an owl who all the animals thought was SOOOOOO wise because he knew everything. The animals would come ask the owl questions. The owl would ask them what they think they should do, they would answer, and the owl would tell them to go and do. Hahaha . . . I guess you'd call the owl wise because he made the animals do all the thinking.


Shelby got to play the owl. She was so excited to wear the little owl beak that they had made, and then we dressed her in brown for the day. Her friend Haley got to be the narrator, and the boys in the group got to be the animals, which they had made puppets for. Shelby did a really good job. Since the owl did the same thing for every question the animals asked, she got to repeat the same lines over and over again. She actually didn't seem nervous one bit. We all enjoyed watching her, especially Taylor. I'm glad the teacher thought to invite the families to come watch.

Chillin' at Home

We were chillin' at home and decided to take some pictures. After seeing us play Rock Band many times, Declan has discovered something that he enjoys . . .


Drumming!!!! He loves drumming! You just have to make sure that it's not on your head.


He's also discovered books and loves reading them just like his big sisters!! I love watching my kids read! Reading is such a wonderful thing, and opens whole new worlds to those who love it!


I decided to lay on the ground while we were relaxing, and, when I do this, Declan can't resist crawling on top of me to give me HUGE hugs! Of course I am happy to oblige!!


Shelby, Ryan, and Tom were playing Xbox.



This is Tom's "I'm playing video games" face. I'm not sure why, but he makes it every time he plays. That's how I can tell he's playing in this picture even though you can't see the controller in his hand.


Of course, since I obviously wasn't taking the picture, there was someone else behind the camera. She can never resist taking a few self-portraits.


I did delete most of her other pictures. The blurry ones. The ones of random toys and objects. She really tries a variety of pictures when she's snapping away. Anyway, it was nice to have some time relaxing as a family.