Christmas 2012

Trey at his Preschool Christmas party singing Rudolph the Red nose Reindeer

 

We started the Christmas season with a lot of cold and flu symptoms.  I think everyone had a cold at least once in the past few weeks.  A cold wasn't enough for Curtis.  His back has been bothering him for a few months he decided it was time to seek medical treatment.  He had a few Dr. appts, an epidural injection, and MRI, and finally came to the resolution that it was time to have another back surgery for a herniated disk.  That is on the calendar for January 8th.

Trey had his annual Pre-School Party.  The kids did a really good job performing this year.  Since all 3 kids have gone to Miss Angela's preschool and I have seen this many times.  These kids really got into it this year.  Her little dog Iris was dressed as a reindeer.

 We made gingerbread houses this year.  The kids did a great job with them and got creative and added their own details to make each one unique.  They really enjoyed making them and eating them.

Christmas morning, right before the kids tear into the paper to see what Santa brought.

As usual, they were spoiled rotten.  They each got a personalized crazy straw with their name making the straw crazy. 

 Trey got this fun little car track with cars that ran through it really fast. He played with it most of the Day, along with a few remote control cars.  Derek got a wave board, like a wiggly skateboard.  Dax was excited they get the next two books in the Psion Beta series.  The thriller for all three boys was the Lego Batman game for Xbox.  They have really had a lot of fun with it.

Grandpa Brent sent everyone in the family a matching BYU sweatshirt.  Something Dad was thrilled to get and see his family in.

We are very blessed to have so much.  We wanted to give back a little so I went with Dax and Derek to work at the Chandler Food Bank.  They really worked hard helping to fill some carts of food for the needy people in the community, and I think they enjoyed it as well.  It is a nice thing for them to do while they are on break.  I think we will try to do it more often.

Derek's Big Day

Derek turned 9 on December 23rd.  When I asked him wanted he wanted to do for his Birthday he said to go to Flagstaff, see Papa, and play in the snow.  I thought it was a great idea since his birthday is so close to Christmas, it is hard for us parents to make it a big deal for him, and Flagstaff actually had a decent amount of snow at the time.

We pulled all of our winter coats/ snow clothes out of the closet and hauled them up to Flagstaff.  The kids were happy just playing in the snow in the backyard.  Since it was Derek's birthday I decided to get them these little saucer sliders.  Trey calls his the "skateboard"  and he loved the blue one he picked out.

They played with them that night as soon as I brought them home.  They had a great time in Papa's backyard, even though I didn't think there was much of a slope or even snow for that matter.

I just took them around the corner to the ballparks, where we used to sled as kids.  Not much of a slope, but it was all they needed.  They got some good runs in.  It was a fun day for the kids, and Papa was glad to have us visit.  We gave him his Christmas gifts of a bass (from Bass Pro) antenna decoration and a photo book I made of old photos which he really liked.

Then we headed home to open gifts with Dad.  Derek got a watch that lights up green, and red and does all kinds of stuff, and the Kinect game Wipeout. We also went to dinner at the Teppanyaki  Grill.  The kids were not all that excited at first.  Then when the flames, knives, and onion volcano they loved it.  They said it was dinner and a show.  Happy Birthday, Derek.  You are a great kid and we love you.

The Little Things

It is cold and flu season and these past few weeks, we have all been sick.

Last week I had a really bad cold, which turned into a sinus infection.  It has been a while since I have felt that sick.  I usually make the kids their lunches before school each day.  It was one of those days that I felt horrible and I would have loved to stay in bed and tell them to get school lunch.  The only problem was Derek was going on a field trip to see the play "The Quilt maker's Gift"and of all the days for me to be sick, he had to have a sack lunch.  I got out of bed and started making their lunches.  I figured as long as I was up, I might as well make Trey a lunch now too, because I didn't know if I would have the energy to make him one at lunch time.  I made him the exact same lunch as Derek and put it in a lunch sack with his name on it, just like I do for Derek.  Trey saw that and he was so excited.  "I get my own lunch sack" He was just excited to open it up and see what was in it.  Of course he ate the Oreos, and Capri Sun first, then the grapes, not sure if he ever ate the sandwich.  When he was done I threw it all away.  A few days later he kept asking where his "own" lunch sack was.  I told him I threw it away because  the sack gets torn etc..  I made him another one, just like Derek and he was just as excited to have his own lunch sack.  These little things make him so excited to be like his brothers.

Yesterday morning, I was up getting ready for the day and it was getting late, the boys are usually up by this time.  The days are short, it is dark later, so it seems the boys have a harder time getting up. It was about 7:30 and Trey woke up and came in to see me. I asked him how he was etc. then I said "Are your brothers up?" he said "no", I said "not one of them??"  Dax is usually up, bathed, dressed by now.  Trey no "no, not two of them"  ha ha they take things so literal.

Baseball

Derek had been wanting to play Baseball for a while, there is no way I wanted to sit through those games in the summer, so I waited until Fall to sign him up.
 His team name was the Giants.  Apparently, I picked the wrong league because we didn't know one kid on his team, not from school, church, or the neighborhood, and the games were in Tempe.
He started out strong and seemed to have some good batting skills etc, then the season was pretty UN-eventful and we wondered how much Derek even wanted to be there.  Then the last game Derek got up, swung the bat, gave the ball a good spank and he hit a double.  Great job!!  Up to that point, the game was beyond boring.  The pitcher from the other team was a little wild, the coach had him too far back (these kids are only 8 playing on a middle school field) and everyone was getting walked.  Derek's team won their last game because of his great play.

New Cousins

 My Brother Darrell's twins arrived on 11/20/12.

The boy is named Drew Robert, and the girl is Harper Kayla.  All is well and very healthy for the twins.

When the babies were born Darrell sent an e-mail with pictures.  I showed them to the boys and Trey could not wait to see those babies.  He asked me where they were and I told him the Hospital where they were born.  He kept asking if we could go to the "Dr. place" to see the babies.  Trey and I went and visited them in the Hospital.  We were their first visitors.  Trey kept talking about them and wanted to see visit them again he keeps calling them "My Babies" and sometimes he mentions "my baby cousins"  He keeps asking when they will walk and move like him.

Papa with Drew and Kayla

Dax holding Drew

Derek and Trey with Harper

Birthday Season

Trey turned 4.  He is such a little car freak.  He wanted a birthday cake that looked like a road.  I had taken a picture and this is what she came up with.  There are little cars on the "4 shape road"  it is hard to see, she left the lines off the road which I think would have added to it, but she disagreed.

Trey also got a little power wheels truck that he can drive himself.  You can see from the look on his face that it is pure joy and he loves his Ford truck.

Trey turned 4 and I turned 40 two days later.  I flew to West Virginia to have a fun weekend with my cousins Amy and Amanda (Cousin-in-law) and my Aunt Paula.  We had a fabulous time, going to "Twilight Hi-light" parties and watching the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn pt 2.  It was great to get away with the girls, then great to come home to my sweet boys.

Halloween 2012

We had another fun Halloween.  We did the usual -Trunk or Treat on Saturday, where the kids get an obnoxious amount of candy within minutes, then Trick or Treating through the neighborhood on Halloween night.  After Trunk or Treat at the church, the kids seem the think the Trick or Treating in the neighborhood is too much work to even walk the entire street to get their buckets filled.

Derek was a mummy, which was a bust.  I had him all wrapped up and within minutes the wrappings started coming off.  He opted to just pass out candy from the house on Halloween night. Trey dug out the well-loved Spiderman Costume.  Dax is getting older and didn't feel like dressing up.

Trey and Ms. Angela as Marty from Madagascar

the 

kids' current favorite movie (Afro Circus)

Trey pulled out the old "PacMan" costume for the church Trunk or Treat

Flagstaff

We took a quick trip to Flagstaff during Fall break.  Papa took us to Meteor Crater to check it out.  Of all the time I lived in Flagstaff, I never saw it.  It was interesting and the kids liked it.  I think my Dad loved it, even though he had seen it before.  There wasn't much to take pictures of.  The more impressive pictures are from way up above (like space). 

I just snapped these pictures of the kids going out to walk the dogs with Papa.  Something everyone loves to do up there.  The kids, dogs, and Papa.

Meteor Crater is a more interesting view from up above.

Disneyland

During Fall Break we went to Disneyland one more time before our passes expired.  We always have such a great time as a family there.  Trey is such a car freak, we wanted to see Cars Land and just enjoy the parks.   We had seen pictures and snippets of it from our previous visits, but now that it was open we wanted to experience it.

Here we are at Cars Land

Inside It's a Small World.  Our favorite thing to do is look for the hidden characters in this ride.  I think the kids got up to 30-something.

Dax and Derek after they got soaked on the Grizzly River Run

Mater

Wearing our Bug glasses to see the Bug's Life 3D show

Happy Anniversary

 Curtis has a group from his office that have an arsenal of guns and ammo.  They invited us to go out in the desert and shoot guns one Saturday morning.  It happened to be our 17th Wedding Anniversary.  I had never shot a gun before.  It was an interesting experience.  We are not into guns, but we are not against guns.  I don't think I realized the power those things had.  Not quite like the movies.  After our fun day of shooting a variety of handguns and semi-automatics, I have no desire to own a gun.  If I ever need one, I know who to call.

 

Out of the Mouth's of Babes

So the kids like to watch videos on YouTube.  I have mixed feelings about this.  Mostly just because there are no controls or ratings with what gets put up on youtube.  Occasionally I will overhear stuff I don't want the kids watching and immediately make them turn it off.  They try to be pretty good about it, but sometimes you don't know the video is bad until it is too late.  Trey has no clue what a bad word is, he just hears us talking about them. Trey will usually sit down and watch some YouTube videos (car wash ones are his favorite) and he will sit there and tell me "this one doesn't say bad words"  Most of the time the videos just sound loud and obnoxious, but they are still clean.  Dax and Derek are pretty good, that if they see Trey watching a video they know is "bad" they will tell him to turn it off.  We try to keep it clean, but we know some slip through.  The other day Trey was watching Derek play a video game, Derek did something cool and Trey said "That is BAD ASS"  oops.  We didn't want to laugh, but it was funny because he used it in perfect context and he had no idea it was bad.  We told him don't use that word.  He used it three more times throughout the morning because he honestly didn't know why or what was so bad.  He finally figured it out.  I apologize if anyone hears my three-year-old and his potty mouth.

Monday night I was putting Trey to bed.  Lately, he has been horrible about going to bed.  He keeps getting out of bed, he harasses his brothers, he comes into our bed, and we keep putting him back.  We spank him, and we make him sleep in the basement alone.  Yada Yada.

I just brushed his teeth, put him in bed and told him, don't get up, don't turn on the light, don't talk to your brothers,  STAY IN BED, then I said "I love you, but I don't want to see you anymore tonight"  then Trey smiled, and acting all innocent said "then don't look at me"  Stinker.  He still got up, but when you act that cute, you get to stay.

Ms. Angela, his preschool teacher, always tells me the funny things he says.  The other day she took the kids to the park.  When they came back they were talking about their favorite thing about the park, Trey was talking about some round thing he was running or jumping on, in his words...."I was running and running, then I was falling to my death, then I stopped and I was alive"  she just about died laughing.

Summer Summary

 Trey loves swimming lessons.  This is the end of the lesson where they get to play in the boat.  He is such a great little swimmer.

 Trey got on this Bowling kick.  I don't know how it started but he kept asking to go bowling.  We went a few times this summer because they have summer bowling programs, where it is free for kids to bowl, they just have to pay for shoes.  Once we pay for shoes, and myself it still seems to cost a fortune.  $30 for "free bowling"

 Once Dax and Derek went back to school, Trey still wanted to go bowling.  Here he is with his friend Soren Anderson. Soren's Mom told me that she just tells the Bowling alley that he is too small to fit any of the shoes.  I tried it this time I took both these little guys and what to do you know.  It actually was "Free Bowling"

 A Big Week.  Derek earned his Wolf on July 31.  His motivation was just to stick his face in the whip cream pie.  I'm just glad it's done.

 The very next night Dax got promoted to First Class Scout.  Wahoo.  You would think with all this scouting going on between me being Derek's Den Leader and they both getting awards and higher ranks that we were really a "Scouting Family"  not so much.  The boys enjoy it, and the parents just go with the flow.  We honestly don't know much about Scouting, but we are learning.

Some Birthday fun at Peter Piper Pizza with their Cousin Jacob.

Youth Speaker

Two weeks ago Dax was asked to be the Youth Speaker in church.  This would be his first time since turning 12 and  He was actually very excited when he was asked. I think most people try to avoid this as long as possible, especially the youth.   He likes to speak in public and carries himself with confidence and usually does a great job. After he noticed that the kids speaking in church were his age, he asked what you have to do to get asked.  Curtis let the Bishop know and within a couple weeks Dax was asked to be on the program. The topic he was asked to speak on was Keeping the Sabbath Day based on the guidelines from the "For the Strength of Youth" manual.  We gave him the info and gave him some guidelines on what to put in his talk etc.  He wrote the entire talk himself.
He is so confident when he speaks he didn't want to read his talk, he wanted to just use bullet points and actually get up and speak to the congregation.   He went over his talk with both Curtis and I we gave him some tips on how to improve it.  He seemed like he had it down.

Because life is ironic, Dax just so happened to be speaking about the Sabbath Day on a day that I was not keeping myself.   I had an old friend in town, who I had not seen since we were in 5th Grade.  She had been in town for the past week, but because of our schedules, the ONLY time we could meet was Sunday Morning. So we met for brunch. I was late to church, but I did make it in time to hear Dax speak.  Very Ironic.  I didn't tell Dax exactly what I was doing, because I feared he would throw me under the bus in his talk.

Dax gets up to speak with his usual confidence and the first thing he says is something like "Call me  Captain Obvious but  I am the youth Speaker"  We had warned Dax to not do too many jokes.  This was not the time or place for middle school jokes.  We were a little embarrassed, but he continued.  He gave a long youth speaker talk.  He gave a 12-minute talk with just a few bullet points Not too long in terms of a talk running on and on, but long as in youth speakers end really early. He continued to throw in his jokes, and he even told a story that I had shared with him halfway through the story, he looked at me and said " Am I telling it correctly mom?"  I nodded and he confirmed "she said yes" and he continues with his puns and antics.   We felt like Dax took his assignment as Youth Speaker as though it was "Open Mic Night" and he was on his comedy tour.

As soon as church ended people were sending us texts and posting on Facebook what a great job he did.  We were still in shock at what went on up there, not sure if these were sincere compliments.  We felt like we would just lay low for a couple of days then people would forget about it and move on.  . We continue to bump into people and they would always tell us what a great job he did.  Curtis had an interview with the Bishopric(Gavin McPhee) this last week and they mentioned it.  He said to Curtis "did you see what Dax did after his talk"  oh no he thought.  Gavin said as soon as he finished he turned around made a fist pulled it in and said "yes" as if he had just nailed it.  Gavin said that everyone on the stand was in stitches. Nobody does that after a talk in church.  Curtis told him we were too embarrassed by his comedy tour that we couldn't even look at him.

Today has been two weeks since his talk.  It should have easily been forgotten by now, but not so much.  People are still coming to Dax, and the parents and saying what a great job he did.  Now that Curtis and I have had time to take in this experience we know he did do a great job of standing up, speaking with confidence, and presenting himself,  what he needs to work on is his restraint and understanding what is and what is not appropriate.  Curtis said if he wasn't "his kid" up there, he would have loved it and thought "this kid needs to speak every week"  which someone did say to me.   I am glad he is showing signs of his speaking talent, next time we will give stricter speaking guidelines.  We are proud of him for having the courage to do what he did.