LABOR day

So our Labor day was really a day of labor... We have been putting off painting the house all summer, Steve kept saying he was going to hire our 16 year old neighbor to do it, Steve really didn't want to do it. We finally just did it, it looks so much better with the house all one color... :)

Steve, the man the mystery...

I haven't been keeping up with Steve's stuff...
His annual trip with his dad and brother (and whoever else they can talk into going) was to Lake Powell. It was in May... I'm a little slow! They had a great time. It is so beautiful, I would live in Page! Too bad Wal Mart is the only employer in the town...

Cliff jumping, I think it was a little game of one up until they ended up at the tallest point of this cliff...


Beave and Brian


Beave on the wake board.







Beave's dad.

Running just as fast as we can...

Which by the way is not too fast... After a 5 year sabbatical from running I decided to take it up again. I no longer feel the need to take my kids, a triple jogger does exist but really am I going to push 80 pounds of kid around my neighborhood?! Nope! I tried to run a little when I first moved to Flag and was just pushing one kiddie but even then I didn't really get into it. I finally decided to get a babysitter and run on my own, I'm just not a stroller runner. Today was my first day; Leo fed, movie on, babysitter here and off I went. I'd like to say it was wonderful but when I looked at my watch 4 minutes into it and thought, REALLY?!, I remembered again how much work it takes before running is "fun." I finished 15 minutes later with a 19 minute first run under my belt, it will get better right? I have to stick with it long enough to be able to just take off for a 1/2 hour and not be sucking wind the whole way. Not too lofty of a goal?! I may even do a road race again someday, my 10 year old race t-shirts are getting rather holy!!
Even though it was not an easy run, I still enjoyed my 19 minutes of alone time and I can imagine how great it will be when I can think about something besides putting one foot in front of the other....

Kyla counting

Steve had a hand full of treats tonight and asked Kyla to count them, she counted 1, 2,3. Steve added a few more and asked again, Ky looked at them a minute and said, "Oh, that's a lot!!"

Please Bless...

Kyla's prayer at dinner tonight included a request to "please bless us not to listen to the bad manners."

Being 2...

I love the wisdom of a 2 year old...

At dinner the other night Steve asked Johnny to eat his dinner to which Johnny replied, "No, no, its too tasty!!"

Bed time is always a bit hectic, one night while in Utah I told Ky and John they were melting down and it was time to go to bed. Johnny came back with "I'm not melting down mom, I'm growing up!"

On the way home from church last week Kyla was telling us about her sunbeam lesson on eternal families. She told us she would be our daughter forever, Johnny joined in with "me too!" Steve tried the rest of the drive home to convince John he isn't a daughter, he is a son. Steve finally gave up when Johnny disputed his best argument, that John is a son because he is a boy, with, "I'm not a son, I'm a boy daughter."

When Johnny is finished at the dinner table he tells us he is all done because his "hands are full."

Johnny was reading scriptures last night and apparently the Lamanites were having a hard time in the shower... And he swore "and he swore" in his wrath "in his bath"

This stuff makes laugh out loud, we love a little comic relief around here!

Kyla's first day of PRESCHOOL!!

I know it is only preschool and only two days a week but it was still a little hard for me to drop Ky off at school. She loved it though and only cried once... when I told her it was time to go home...

Tired

John is a little worn out for our trip, this is where I found him after searching the house and checking with the neighbor. I had to do a double take to figure out the lump at the top of the stairs was my sleeping boy.

Kyla's Photos

Kyla got a hold of the camera and went to town, she took 50 or so, here are just a few...

Leo Blessed

We blessed Leo while we were in Utah so we could have family there. We are 3 for 3 now, all our kids have been blessed at grandma's houses in Utah...
It was a nice day, thanks to all the family who came!

AUGUST

For the past three years we have spent most of the month of August in Utah. School is seriously going to cramp our style... We enjoyed our last August in Utah with lots of fun with cousins and friends. I was not as good with the camera this year, only 160 pics of half the things we did...

Leo's first interactive smile, the day Steve left for Scotland.


Dinosaur park with Seamons cousins is a tradition, Johnny loved all the dino's, except the ones inside that looked and sounded a little too real!!


Kyla has a dress she calls her dinosaur park dress, she was distressed when we didn't pack it this year, "What will I wear to the dinosaur park?!" Luckily Grandma bought these matching dresses for Ky and her cousin, Erica, it is the new "dinosaur park dress."


The orange bench bunch. It was so nice to spend time with cousins! This year our Idaho cousins came to grandma's too so we got to spend some time with them, yeah!


Johnny and Kyla love to "chalk." They got really into it this day at grandma's!!





Kyla had been asking to go to the temple and I planned on going to temple square but grandma went to a neighbor's sealing at the Ogden temple so we just tagged along with her. Ky was remembering the Snowflake temple and asked if there would be two fountains and a bridge, like the Snowflake temple, I said no, just one... mom was wrong, there were lots of fountains and a bridge!! The first thing Ky told grandma when she came out was that "Mom was wrong."


We went to visit my Grandma Oliver. She was asleep when we got there and took a minute to wake up, but as soon as she opened her eyes she got a huge smile! She was happy to meet Leo and happy that Kyla would give her lots of "loves."


Lizzy's beautiful Isabelle! She is such a sweet delicate girlie girl, we love her. She and Johnny are a month apart but so different, Johnny is all boy!


Lizzy's neighbor has 5 cats and they spend half their time at Lizzy's house, more if she feeds them. :) Kyla LOVED the kitty's! Poor girl, her mom won't get a pet.



Cute cousins!


Silly girl!


My Grandma Grover with the boys.

giggles!!

We are in Utah playing with cousins and grandmas while Steve is "working" in Scotland. While Steve has been gone Leo has started to smile (in response to us, not just randomly) and then today he whipped this out. He is a wonderful sweet baby, we love him!!! Thanks to Aunt Lizzy we got it recorded.

Kyla and her best bud Jade...

Kyla has had a best best friend all her life, Jade. They are 6 weeks apart and SO much a like! They have had tons of fun this summer...

Swim lessons



Dance class


Silly girls in their matching jamies made by Jade's mom.



We are so glad this family lives here in Flag and are dreading the day Jade's dad will finish school and they will move on...

Funny Johnny

John has had some winners this week, he has kept us laughing.
He is really into Bob the Builder, for awhile he wanted us all to call him Bob. He is over that but still sings the theme song when he plays, "Can we fix it? Yes we can! Bob the Builder, get the job done." So this afternoon he was outside playing with Kyla and I heard him say, "let's get the job done, Kyla." I am not sure what the job was but they got it done...
He and Kyla are always asking for snacks and treats, they are hungry little monsters. The other day John said "Mom, I'm a lot of hungries!" That meant he was really really hungry, not just ordinary hunger.
And speaking of food, in sacrament meeting this week after eating the bread he said "YUM YUM THAT'S GOOD BREAD!!" and yes, he yelled it! The bishopbric have told Steve they watch our kids for entertainment...
He has learned some Jedi mind tricks to get his way, when he asks a question he follows it up with "yes?" He tells you the answer you are suppose to give, no need to think... ok maybe not Jedi but it does work to convince me sometimes. "Mom, can I have a treat? Yes?" Half the time I say yes because I think he is so cute!
He is a cute little boy and I love him lots!

sleeping through the night...

Last night when Leo woke up to eat "in the middle of the night" I checked the clock, I always do, I am not sure why it matters but I like to know what time it is when he wakes up... Anyway, I was SURPRISED to see 5:30 on the clock! He usually wakes up around 3 to eat, another 2 hours is one huge step closer to sleeping through the night. I don't consider 5:30 am to be morning... he has to make it to 6:30 or 7 before I will give him the real sleep through the night title. So even though Johnny was awake all night coughing and in and out of my bed all night I still felt like I got a great nights sleep until.... Steve's alarm went off, I checked the clock, it said 8 am... Steve's alarm goes off at 6 am... my clock was 2 hours ahead!!! What a cruel joke! At that moment of sleepy disappointment I remembered Ky and John playing on my bed the night before and realized they must have changed my clock then. So Leo and I are still on the night shift... we are both ok with it, for now.

Dare Devil Johnny

Yesterday I came out of my room to find Johnny standing in a small tote ready to slid down the stairs. When I asked in my super calm mommy voice what he was doing he informed me he was riding his "gate board" down the stairs. I suggested that might be too dangerous. He told me "Mom, its not dangerous, its FUN!!!" Steve has been waiting for the day our mostly timid Johnny Boy would turn over a new dangeroso leaf, the day may have arrived. I just hope he manages to stay out of the hospital!

Pics of the CUTE kiddos

My latest attempt to capture these beauties in a pic...



Getting all three at once was fun, I was holding Leo with one hand and taking the picture with the other...









Repeat of this pic, it is my favorite! I didn't get any better ones this day.






Johnny is growing up! He lost all his hair in a freak accident... that is what Steve thought when he came home. He asked, "What happened?!" Truth is I gave him a hair cut, that is what happened. :) It is a little shorter than I planned...





Kyla is such a beautiful girl, inside and out!






A new family picture is on the list, we will see if we can get it done before Leo grows out of his "picture outfit"...

Happy Pioneer Day!

Our little Leo! I just love those big eyes!! He is such a sweet baby. We ALL adore him.




I was trying to get some pictures of Leo and Johnny was trying to play with him at the same time. Play is much more important, right?! Oh and Kyla took the picture, I am going to have to get her a camera of her own, she is always asking to take pictures!




We have finally got out rainy season, yeah for monsoons. We love to play in the rain and the flowers love the rain too.




Pretty flowers.




We don't get all the excitement of celebrating the 24th in Utah but we still had some pioneer day fun and festivities. Our stake had a breakfast and crafts. We had told Ky it was a pioneer party so when we got there she was looking for the balloons and cake! My super talented friend made Kyla this little pioneer outfit. Her little girl has a matching one but they were at grandma's for the day so we didn't get pics together. Kyla thought it was the best!

random

Some random things, that is pretty much our life right now, no schedule or any idea of what will actually happen on any given day...

Leo and big brother Johnny.



Kyla and Johnny love to hold Leo... still.



We made a video for grandpa Seamons' b-day last month and never sent it, we talked on the phone instead. It is such a cute one of Johnny though that I am sharing it.



Kyla has been on an extremely aggressive "why" kick lately. The other day she was talking to Steve and asked three quick why questions in a row not waiting for an answer to any of them and followed that up with "Why dad? Why, why, why?!" When I tell her "I don't know" she says "try mom, try to tell me." I try to explain that no matter how hard I try I can't tell her why the person in the car next to us is driving a red car, why they are driving to town, or why the girl is driving not the boy. Sometimes a guess works, "maybe red is their favorite color..." She is a smart girl and I am glad she is so inquisitive, I am also glad when daddy gets home and can share the responsibility of answering her endless questions. :)

Jam Jam

We made strawberry jam today. Nothing too exotic, just freezer jam that takes a half hour. We love it though, especially on Steve's warm homemade bread!! It is a good thing it is quick Kyla and Johnny were drooling the whole time, they could hardly wait. Thankfully Leo did wait, not only will he take a binky but he also tolerates his swing, at least long enough to make dinner etc. What a great kid!