Halloween Party and my Tailbone Woes!

We had a Halloween party at my sister Kathy's house, and she always knows how to throw a great party! It was a lot of fun. I love my family! They are fun and crazy, and I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't know how to have fun like us!



So here are a couple of videos of the Human Rubberband Game that we played. I just made up that name. I don't know what it's called, but it was a riot. The videos are really dark, but you can kind of see. Unfortunately I don't have the ones with me in it. Those ones would have put you in tears! I absolute stunk at it. I tried it three times and had three amazingly funny crashes. Each time I fell Drew ran out saying, "Mom, are you okay?" He was so cute. He couldn't quite understand why people would want to continue to do something that makes you fall down. Anyway, the last time I fell I hit my tailbone, and let me just tell you that IT HURTS! I didn't sleep the whole night the first night, and I haven't been comfortable sitting down since. But it was fun before I injured myself! I was talking to a girl I visit teach and I was telling her about what had happened. When I was explaining the game I asked, "Do you know what I'm talking about? Have you seen that game?" . . ."Oh ya . . . I know what your talking about." So I was like, "Have you ever played it?" And she responded . . ."No, not me! I saw a bunch of teenagers doing it!" I was like, "Ya . . . we are kind of immature . . . " But what I really meant was, "Ya! We know how to have fun in my family!"

From the First Date at the Football Game . . .

Okay . . . so I was really hoping that this picture would have been a little bit cuter. Having to squint in the sun did not help me hide the fact that one of my eyes is smaller than the other one. I'm kind of self conscious about that . . . okay not really . . . Anyways . . .
Lamon and I had a fun date on Saturday. We went to the BYU vs UNLV game. It was awesome. I wanted to take a picture because it was almost exactly 5 years ago that Lamon asked me out for the first time, and it was to a BYU football game. I remember when he asked me out I literally jumped around the house screaming! I was so excited. That was the start of our journey together in life and just as importantly our journey together as BYU football fans. BYU football has been an integral part of our romance together. Our first year of marriage we were pretty poor and decided it would be a wise investment to get allsport passes for all of our dating needs. It was a lot of fun. Then we moved to St. George and had to cheer from afar. We showed our support the best we could even by decorating our Christmas tree with BYU colors and homemade BYU ornaments for the last four years! I can't lie . . . I think for a husband to have a wife who is as into football as he is has been a trial at times. It's not like he has been able to just leave me with the kids while he goes to watch the games! No way! But now we're glad to be back close to the Cougs, and I found this moment to be of enormous value! I guess we can start dating again! Go BYU!!!
(A special thanks to all the women in our family who could care less about football and contributed to the tender care of our children on this most important day!)

Drew

It was pretty funny. A couple nights ago Drew went to get a blanket to bring downstairs, and after awhile we went up and found him asleep in the blanket closet. It was cute!

I sure love my Drew boy! He is getting so big. I love to watch Drew do things. He has so much confidence.
Drew always thinks that he is winning, even if he is not. I don't know if this is healthy or not, but it is sure cute. When we were at our friends Jeff and Stacy's the other day, Avery was playing a video game and Drew decided to play. It was a racing one, and Drew's car was just going around in circles, crashing into things, and falling off the edges, but after every game was over he would say, "Yes! I won! I am so good at this." No one was going to intervene and tell him differently. He has come a long way. He used to have an extremely hard time when someone else was doing better than him at something. Everything was a contest to him. If Hayden got dressed before he finished he would start balling because he didn't win. Or if he wasn't the first person to buckle up his seat belt he would want everyone else to unbuckle theirs until he was done because he wanted to win. It was pathetic. We finally got it through to him though that if he does his best than he is a winner. That is probably one reason why he is always thinking that he is winning. Today he was cutting out some shapes at the table, and he was saying, "I am so good at this. I am doing my best!" I love to overhear him talking to himself like that!
Drew is very confident, and he is always offering wisdom. He will say something so off the wall, and say it with such conviction that Lamon and I will just look at eachother and say, "Okay." He just makes me laugh. A week or two ago we invited Lamon's Dad and Annie over for dinner. In the middle of dinner Drew randomly blurts out, "Nephites protect us!" We all looked at him, and Lamon's Dad said, "Did you learn that in Primary? Drew, you are so smart." And in immediate response Drew said, "I sure am!" We all were quiet for a second, and then we all busted up laughing. It was so funny.
One thing that is a byproduct of being confident is that Drew is very friendly. Drew thinks that any kid who is breathing and near him is his friend. He will go talk to anyone. This could be scary I guess, because he really does not have any trepidation in speaking to anyone. When we first moved in he would yell from the door or window when he saw someone, "Hi! I'm Andrew!" or whatever else he felt like saying. He always teaches me how to forget myself, not to be shy, and just to be friendly with people. He is very good at it. I want to be as confident as Drew!

Hayden

Hayden is such a crack up. His little body, with his funny personality together with his mumbled speech (which can be like Mad Gab trying to decipher at times) is just a riot! I love Hayden. He is so much fun. I love it how he will say something that doesn't make any sense to us, and then he will either say, "Ya!" or "That's Right" after everything that he says as if whatever he said made a world of sense.
Hayden has an obsession with gum. If you don't keep an eye on him he will stick as much gum as possible in his mouth. Below is a picture of our little gum thief. I found it funny when I found him with the gum in his mouth though. For some reason the combination of bacon and gum doesn't seem too appetizing to me, but for Hayden I guess it seemed like a winner combo!


What's That Hayden????

Speaking of Mad Gab . . . I want everyone to try to decipher what Hayden says in this video. It is pretty easy in this one. I can understand most of it, but I am just wondering how it sounds to everyone else. My boys are so cute!

Oh the Weather "Inside" is Frightful

When we first moved into the house we experienced some problems with our Air Conditioner, and we lived without air conditioning for awhile. But we set up a few fans throughout the house, and we made it through. And thanks to our cousin Bill we got the Air Conditioner up and running. We were relieved. We were so happy to have our air conditioner we didn't really think to check if our heater was in working condition. Well, it's been getting pretty cold in the early morning hours and the kids have been waking up in the middle of the night really cold in the last week, but the past two or three days have been bitterly cold and . . . no heat was coming from our heater! On Saturday the kids and I were at home and the thermostat read just below 60 degrees or something like that, and that was in the middle of the day. We dressed the kids in multiple layers of clothing, and at night put two pairs of pajamas on them including a warm sleeper. So last night after having a lovely dinner at my sister Karyns house, Lamon lit the fireplace, and set up two space heaters and Drew Hayden and Lamon slept downstairs. When we woke up this morning it was like ice in the house, and the ground was covered with snow outside! We went to church, and when we got home the house was about mid 50's. We bundled up downstairs, and finally Lamon with his manly brains figured things out. He switched the thermostat and there was Heat! I am absolutely sure now that after we have experienced lack of heat and airconditioning, that I would definitly rather have heat!!!! I am so thankful for a Heater!! Although it was pretty fun to hang out next to the fire with the kids!

Ada Girl!

Ada is just amazing me lately. She is so busy all of the time. It just seems like she is constantly using her little brain to figure something out. She has been crawling now for about a month and a little bit, but in the last two weeks she has been pulling herself up to things. Maybe this is normal and I just don't know it, but my boys certainly were not standing up at eight months. I've heard though that girls can be faster at these things. I have developed my own theory though. If you notice in this video, I am taping Ada but her two brothers are being a little crazy in the background. Ada has a pretty rough life with these two crazies. And I think she is anxious to move, crawl, walk and run . . . in order to escape her brothers! I don't know what do you think?!

I'm still a Klutz!!

Warning:This story is lengthy for no reason at all, and has no significant point . . . so unless you just love my stories, you do not have to read it!

Okay, so just in case anyone has any doubts that I am still a Klutz and prone to having accidents . . . I thought I would just share a few of my recent incidents to absolve those doubts.

I am totally a geak. I know this and those closest to me know this, but sometimes I hope that I can hide it from the world if at all possible. I was hoping that I would not do anything embarrassing here at our new residence until we were really established and had friends and all that . . . but that didn't so much happen. Ever since we have moved in we have been being very frugal. We decided that it would be a great idea to ride our bikes wherever it was feesible to ride them. So Lamon has been riding to work just about every day. We also bought a bike seat and we have the Chariot trailer for the kids, so I have been riding around with the kids. And I just will tell you that I look completely geaking with a helmet on and this is the truth. The first time I went to my parents house on my bike, my family could not stop laughing at me when they saw me. But I finally convinced myself that I was really cool for being active and riding my bike despite my geaking looking helmet. But just imagine me looking geaky in my helmet when I tell you these stories.

So a couple weeks ago we were riding to the Macks house, and on the way back Ada was screaming her gutz out so Lamon said, "Mary, why don't you take Ada and Hayden (they were in the trailer) and hurry home so you can feed her." I was like, "Okay." So off I went. Just imagine me in my geaky helmet riding home with a wailing baby . . . this alone would attract some attention . . . but it gets better. So I was approaching the intersection nearest to my home, and I have learned from Lamon that you are not supposed to get in the right turning lane on a bike and I didn't so much want to go in the driving lane (that would've made me feel stupid) So I rode up onto the sidewalk instead in order to cross at the crosswalk. But on the corner of the side walk (where the pole is with the crosswalk button thing) there is a cement circle at the bottom of the pole and the sidewalk sort of narrows right there. When I attempted to round that corner the Chariot got stuck up on that cement part and the Chariot stopped but me and my bike didn't. Me and the bike flipped right over, and it looked hilarious I promise. It was quite embarrassing, I got up on my bike and wondered all the way home how many people I knew were in that intersection at that moment . . . but then I just kept repeating to myself, "Everyone wants to be me!" And that made me feel a lot better. Anyhow, it was awesome. Wish you could have been there.
About a week later, I decided to take the kids over to the Macks house. . . and I got them all situated with Drew on the bike seat and Ada and Hayden in the trailer. And I don't know if anyone has tried to pull a trailer and balance a kid on their bike but it is pretty hard! I got going down the street, and everytime I got on and off the sidewalk I was just praying the I wouldn't fall! When I came to the intersection I was suppose to turn on I needed to turn right, and there was no way in my mind I could manage this without falling so for some idiotic reason I just kept going straight. I don't know what I was really thinking, but here I was taking a trip southbound on State Street for no apparent reason. I was too scared to turn right on my bike so I went past the intersection that took me to the Macks and just kept on going. Perhaps Heavenly Father knew that eventually I would end up in Springville or Spanish Fork or something since I had no plans to ever make a turn on my bike so He intervined I believe on my behalf and we got a flat tire. So somewhere at a tire store on St. Street Me in my geaky helmet and my kids all sat there until my Brother and Lamons Dad came and got us and loaded our bikes in a big trailer and took us to the Macks. Oh I love to be me. I will never run out of stories! In fact here is my last one, and it doesn't involve a bike at all.
At my house we have two sets of stairs. Me and stairs don't get along all of the time, but I haven't really had any incidents for years until the other day. At the very top of the stairs I somehow missed a step or something I don't really know but I tumbled . . . well not really tumbled I sort of flew and just landed on the bottom step. Lamon was downstairs watching television and I was waiting for him to run over to see if I was okay . . . but he just sat there. Finally I sort of laughed a little . . . and suddenly Lamon just let loose. He laughed so hard. I couldn't believe it! How mean! I was telling Liz about my accident a couple days later, and she couldn't believe that Lamon could be so mean. Then later that day I managed to fall down those same stairs, and you know what? Liz did the same thing as Lamon. Only I think she laughed longer and harder! I cannot evoke anything but laughter out of people! I get injured and people laugh at me! Anyway, I'm done! I warned everyone that this would be long. So I do not even feel a bit sorry if you are still reading, and are wondering why you have wasted your time!