Trains, Trains, Trains!

I don't know if everyone was aware of this or not, but my children are obsessed with trains. If you were to come to our house on any given day you would be able to hear the sweet sound of my childrens voices mimicking train sounds as they play. Okay, so not so much sweet sounds, but more like high pitched squeaky voices and a lot of crashing sounds. That accompanied with an overusage of the word, "No" and "Mine!" They play well together for a good portion of the day but it seems like I've been opening a lot of cupboards in our kitchen lately with a forgotten train at the top from an earlier squabble where Mom or Dad had to confiscate the item of contention. It's amazing how many trains we have here!
Anyway, we have been trying to help the boys behavior by rewarding them with pennies when they are good and the kids have been really getting into it. Drew wanted to get a Thomas the Train movie with his money and he saved up his pennies. We found one for a dollar at Savers and he was super excited. It was fun to see him give the cashier his money that he had saved.
Well, Drew woke up the other day and said, "Mom, I want to ride on a train." I said that I thought that would be fun, and maybe someday we would do that. He kept asking me when we would ride on a train though, and for Family Night on Monday we did. Well, we sort of did anyway. We rode on the Trax train in Salt Lake. The kids didn't know the difference. They were loving every minute of it. Maybe sometime when we are really rich we will take them on a real train.

Halloween (for me or the kids?)

We had fun trick-or-treating on Halloween. Liz and Sue came over to go with us and the kids. When Liz came over we were trying to find something for Tyler to wear. He was not into the costume thing. He wouldn't wear any of them. So Liz and I put costumes on our heads trying to show Tyler how cool it was. I turned to Liz and said, "Hey Liz, . . . I will wear this costume around the neighborhood if you will!" Liz was like, "Okay!" So we did. I thought Lamon was completely embarrassed by his crazy wife until he walked out of the house with a costume on himself. And he looked the best by far! I love my goofy husband!

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!