Alyson's Blog

Service Project

2012-01-14T11:10:00.000-08:00

Alex and Drew did their "Citizenship in the Community' merit badge class this past fall. They had to do an eight hour service project as part of it. They choose to make 2 blankets each to donate to Primary Children's Medical Center.

Part of their service was choosing the fabric, cutting it out, sewing it together and putting a decorative edge on it. (They did have some help from their Mom!)

Alex knew just what to do since he is taking sewing lessons. He had already made a blanket to give to his 4th grade teacher who had a baby. This is part of the reason that we choose this particular project.

Drew loved the train blanket he did so much that he wanted to keep it.

The decorative stitch that Drew did looked like a small track going around the edge of the blanket.

Once they finished the blankets we drove down to Primary Chilren's in Salt Lake where they donated them for sick children.

Yeah! I was very proud of them and their hard work.

Halloween

2011-11-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

This year we tried a new Halloween activity. Instead of going trick-or-treating we went out to dinner and watched a movie. This is a bit of a change from other years!

Our three oldest boys decided at the end of February last year to cut back on sugar. This was their own decision, though we definately support them. All of our kids love Tepanyaki. We ate their once when we celebrated Cayden being asked to particpate in the state geography bee. We decided that the money we'd save from buying costumes and candy for nearly 400 trick-or-treaters would allow us to go. All of the boys liked the idea, including Adam and Isaac. After dinner we went to Brad's parents to watch a movie. I did have to buy Adam and Isaac each a giant candy bar, but it was worth it!

I was feeling guilty about their missing out on Halloween and mentioned how next year they would likely go trick-or-treating and Isaac said, "but I want to go to Tepanyaki." Phew. I'm so glad they enjoyed it. It was a nice night out as a family.

Adam and Isaac used their chopsticks for most of dinner. At one point I suggested to Isaac that he might get more to eat if he used a fork. He then picked up his fork with his chopsticks and attempted to do both. It was cute!

Shields

2011-10-30T17:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the boys are so creative! Yesterday I was going through our toy closet and getting rid of things. I had two extra lids from bins we were no longer using. I asked Cayden to take them out to the garbage and he asked for them. That turned into the boys (and neighbors) getting more lids and making them into shields. Cayden has been using the drill to put holes in them to make handles. Of course, many of the lids are still in use so we will have bins with very colorful tops.

Isaac wanted in the action too.

Family Pictures

2011-10-30T15:00:00.001-07:00

We recently had family pictures taken. I'm sure one or two of them will make their way onto our Christmas picture this year. Enjoy!

Boys' Pictures

2011-10-30T14:54:00.001-07:00

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed going to a pumpkin patch this weekend with Linz and my mom. This is about as much Halloween as the kids will get this year. They've all agreed to go out to dinner and a movie on Halloween night this year and skip trick-or-treating! Yeah! We are saving their teeth.

Isaac insisted on a picture with the pumpkin that he "loves." (He also insisted on wearing pajamas. Can you insist so much when you turn 7?)

We all took turn being navigators through the maze, but really Brad is the one who kept us on track.

PLUS:

Really Cayden. Do we have to have 4 boxes of life cereal open at a time?

Alex reading

2011-10-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

Alex has been a total reading manic since school started. He's read all but one of the Artemis Fowl series (we need to get the newest book from Linz), and is on the 5th Harry Potter book. He's also been rereading a lot of books.

Early last week I noticed his light was on when I went to get him up for school. I also noticed that he had a bookmark near the end of Harry Potter #3. Now I knew he'd been reading #2 when he went to bed. Come to find out he'd read most of the night. That happened again this week. He read over half of #5, after finishing #4. We are both proud and worried. Yeah that he wants to read, but upset because he tends to be irritable (to say the least) when he is tired.

Last week I saw his teacher at the school. She mentioned that he was reading in class when he was suppose to be doing math. When asked about it he said he couldn't help it, "he comes from a long line of great readers." She thought it was so funny she wrote it down.

Yeah for reading but perhaps more during the day and less at night! Above: Sometimes when Alex tries to read early in the morning he falls asleep.

Bandit

2011-09-18T08:33:00.000-07:00

Alex has been asking for years if he can get a kitten. At first the answer was no because we had Albany (Ashley's cat lived with us while they were in California for 4 years). Once Albany left the answer was no because we would be gone to Mount Rushmore for a week and wouldn't be around. Finally we said yes in July.

We found her listed in the classifieds on KSL. She was listed as part ragdoll (a very loving breed of cat) which Alex wanted. Alex and I drove down to Sandy to check her out. Alex liked what he saw and we brought her home. Naming her was a chore. He finally chose Bandit (one of my many recommendations which I prefered it to Snowy and Paws).

We had a few issues with her (thinking bathmats are a littler box, loving people food) but have been happy overall. She can be very playful. Her main playmate is Drew. They play a good 30 minutes a day. It is so funny to watch.

She is not mean. She just gnaws on him a little in play. Drew gets down on his hands and knees and chases her around the house. They both seem to love it.

Unfortunately she loves to sleep in my plant. She is just too cute in it to move. I did have to put a towel over the dirt, however, because she likes to dig and I was finding potting soil all over the counter.

It took Adam and Isaac a little while to get use to Bandit. As a kitten she was often playful and they were a bit nervous of that. She has mellowed some plus they have just gotten more use to her. They both love to have her snuggle up on their laps. She loves to lay on us when she is tired.

Bandit is a fun addition to our home. It is fun to see the boys with her and even their friends. She is also very popular in our neighborhood. I've seen many people stop to pet her on the walking path that goes by our backyard. What a good idea to get a cat Alex!

Summer fun

2011-09-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

We had a great summer and did a lot of fun things. Here are a few highlights. We went camping in Big Cottonwood Canyon near Salt Lake City.

We enjoyed a Farmer Family Reunion in Ashton, Idaho. This included a fun 5 miles rafting trip.

Brad and I were able to go on Trek as a Ma and Pa. We had a great group of kids. I bet those from Wyoming recognize where we were from the windmills. Any guesses?

A big highlight was our family vacation to Mount Rushmore in June. I am in love with the Black Hills. They are beautiful!

Edible Bouquet

2011-06-11T13:36:00.000-07:00

Brad sure knows the way to my heart. I will enjoy eating the celery, radishes and parsley! Thanks Brad.

Heartache

2011-05-20T12:02:00.000-07:00

Adam and Isaac are having their friend Meg over to play today. Isaac mentioned in casual conversation that he is going to "marry Meg." At this Adam got up, went in his room and shut the door. I followed him in and found him with a long face. I asked what was wrong and he said he didn't like what Isaac said (which is nothing new, Isaac has been saying this for months). I reminded him of his affection for Kate (a girl in his class that he has been claiming he'll marry for a while now too). Adam's response was, "she has found someone else to love." Poor Adam.

I've requested that all discussions of marriage wait until they are older. Since they are playing house it has been a big tricky. At the moment Meg is the Mom, Isaac the dog, and Adam the baby. So far so good . . .

European Vacation

2010-05-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

I am going to try to be brief about our recent trip to France and England. There is so much I could say and so many pictures I could add (over 500). If I don't just give a quick blog then I'm afraid I won't get it done because I will try to do a novel. For those who want more detail- just ask! That said, here is a quick recap of our wonderful vacation. We went on our trip with Brad's parents and two youngest siblings, Tadd and Marissa. We visited Paris, the Loire Valley and London, England. We spent 3 1/2 days in Paris, 2 in the Loire Valley and 2 in London (not enough!!!). We left on Friday April 23rd and returned May 2nd.

We saw many sites in Paris: the Musee D'Orsay, the Eiffle Tower, the Louvre (above), Versailles, the Musee de L'Orangerie, Sacre Coeur, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and Sainte-Chapelle.

After a few busy days of sightseeing in Paris we slowed down (?) and rented a car that we drove to the Loire Valley. We started at Vaux-le-Vicomte. It has an interesting history. King Louis the XIV was so jealous of this chateau that he arrested the owner, stole his architect and his landscaper to build Versailles. Fascinating! Marissa and Tadd (with much pressure) dressed in costumes to tour the chateau (below). It sure made the tour more realistic!

My birthday was spent visiting Chenonceau and Villandry. I couldn't have asked for a better day. The garden's at Villandry (below) were perhaps my favorite part of our trip to France. We also saw the chateau at Chambord.

London is one of my new favorite places. I think we really needed a week to visit it. We sure crammed a lot into our two days. We toured the Tower of London (I think my favorite tour in London. It was fascinating, all of those be-headings!), The British Library (I loved seeing the original Handle's Messiah), Platform 9 3/4 (below, Marissa wanted to see many of the Harry Potter sites which was really fun!), The Imperial War Museum, The London Eye, Shakespeare's Globe, Westminster Abby, and The British Museum. In truth, we could have spent a lot more time at each of these sites. It was amazing! We also saw (though didn't tour) London Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben and Parliament.

It was an amazing vacation. I am very grateful that Brad and I were able to go. At first we were just going to give advice to Brad's family about what to see, but once we started talking with them we knew we wanted to go too. It was fun to share the memories with them. I especially appreciate my sisters, Linz and Hilary, who made is possible (babysitting) for us to even go.

P.S. I wanted to add this picture of Marissa because I love it. She was enjoying a cup of hot chocolate for breakfast when we were in London.

Spelling Words

2010-04-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

I couldn't find Alex's spelling words in his backpack today so I tried to find them on-line. Unfortunately the new list wasn't up so I e-mailed his teacher. This is how she sent Alex home with his words. I guess we will for sure have them for tomorrow. He had two extra lists in his backpack.

Quiet moment

2010-04-08T18:19:00.000-07:00

I just caught Cayden and his friend, Grant, reading in the backyard. The weather has been so nice today. Maybe spring really is on its way.

Modified Spring Break

2010-04-08T15:05:00.001-07:00

We planned to go to Wyoming for Spring Break. Perhaps we'd have made it if I hadn't stayed home to do laundry on Monday. The plan was to head out on Tuesday but by the time I packed and was ready to go the roads were closed due to bad weather. The next plan was to leave early Wednesday morning. It would make for a quick one night trip, but still allow us to do some sledding in Ryan Park and visit the hot pool in Saratoga. Unfortunately the roads were still closed Wednesday morning. We've tried to make the best of being home, though the boys were all very disappointed. Just this morning Isaac ran into my room to tell me that the roads were clean (no snow!) and that we could drive to Grandma and Grandpa Rosses' house. I hated to disappoint him but we couldn't stay in Wyoming past today (Thursday) because Cayden will be competing in the State Geography Bee tomorrow morning.

Today we smashed all of the fun we could in for our spring break. We went for donuts at Krispy Kreme this morning, went and all chose a little something at the dollar store, went to see How to Train your Dragon at the movies and also went to lunch at Wendys. It certainly wasn't as fun as Rawlins, but I think they enjoyed themselves. Adam ruined the fun mood a bit by throwing a huge tantrum about going to Wendy's and not McDonalds. No fun! Actually both Alex and Drew thanked me for the fun time so I know that most of them had a good time.

Men in Black etc.

2010-03-09T09:27:00.000-08:00

Sunday the boys decided to dress up as Men in Black. They, however, called themselves the Naught Boys and requested pizza. Hmm?? It was cute . (Drew was pouting in his room so he didn't participate). Speaking of one of the boys, Cayden had good news yesterday at school. I mentioned a few weeks ago how he won the geography bee at our elementary school. He then had to take a test (70 question multiple choice) to see if he could compete at state. He learned yesterday that he passed. We are so proud of him! Way to go Cayden. I'm sure we'll have more details soon.
Blue and Gold was two weeks ago. Alex and Drew earned their Bear rank advancements. Way to go!
Drew enjoyed (?) a sour ball.
Alex enjoying the "Happy 100 Birthday BSA" theme.

Cayden's Birthday

2010-02-09T10:43:00.000-08:00

Today is Cayden's 11th birthday. Cayden is such a great person. I love how sensitive and inquisitive that he is. He loves learning. He is also quick to give a hug. I am so blessed to be his Mom. We are celebrating his birthday, along with his cousin Elise's birthday, in Centerville this Sunday. We also went out to dinner last night to celebrate. Cayden choose Chinese. Any birthday wishes that you post I will be happy to pass along to him.

Cayden was able to join the scouts on the Klondike camp out last weekend. Brad went along too. The good news is that they were well prepared and were warm. Yeah! (I enjoyed having some friends over for a girl's night while they were gone.) Here are some pictures that Brad took of Cayden at the Klondike.

Since Cayden was the smallest and lightest scout he often got pulled in the sled in the different races that they had:
Campfire lessons:
Cayden with a few of the other scouts:
Fun but exhausting:
Also, a few weeks ago Cayden and Alex were able to attend a UPS sponsored activity with Jazz player, Ronnie Brewer, thanks to Brad's UPS rep at work. They not only met Ronnie, but they also participated in a basketball camp with him at the Jazz practice gym. They both came home with a shirt and small basketball.

Old photos can bring a smile to your face

2010-02-07T12:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took a little time to clean my sewing room. I had left it a total mess after my sewing marathon in December. As I cleaned I came across a few boxes of old photos. Remember before digital cameras how you use to print a roll of film but then not always do anything with the pictures? Well I've got hundreds of pictures sitting in boxes in the closet. I had so much fun looking at the pictures of my kids when they were younger. I brought a few upstairs to put on my fridge just to enjoy.

I scanned these photos (the negatives are in a box too) so they may not be as clear, but they sure are fun to look at. What cute boys! Adam and Isaac were a few weeks old in this picture but it was taken in the first few days of their being home from the hospital. I forget just how tiny they were.
These are for Marissa. Wasn't it fun to dress up? All of our boys have loved dressing up at Grandma's house. They still do.

BYU Basektball Game

2010-01-31T15:22:00.000-08:00

We took almost all of the boys along with a few friends to the BYU vs. Utah basketball game last night in Provo (Isaac stayed home sick with a cough). My parents drove down from Wyoming to join us and Hilary and her two girls also came along. It was quiet a party.
Adam wasn't too sure that he enjoyed the game. He preferred covering his ears, or having one of us cover his ears.Towards the end of the game Adam found that he could crawl under the bench for some peace and quiet.
Cayden, Adam and Scott Hughes. (A neighbor who often comes over to play with Adam and Isaac. He doesn't have any little brothers of his own.)
Alex, Cayden and Dallin Smith, a friend of Alex.
Drew and Cayden
We were happy that the Cougars won but there were some intense moments in the game. BYU/Utah games are never dull.

Cayden artist activity badge

2010-01-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

This month in Webelos I am working on my Artist activity badge. I did this picture of my house with oil pastels.
I did these models of the Monitor and Virginia. They were the first Ironclad warships. They fought each other in the Civil War.
This is a profile of Drew's face.

Tonsils Out

2010-01-15T18:09:00.001-08:00

Today was the big day. We left this morning a little after 7 a.m. to head for Primary Children's Hospital for Adam and Isaac to get out their enormous tonsils. (Cayden, Alex, and Drew were left home alone and they were able to get themselves out the door to school by themselves. Of course, Drew told me that they did play some game cube, which we don't usually allow before school).
There were smiles and happiness in the beginning. Adam said, "This place is amazing." He and Isaac really liked the toys, pictures on the ceilings and elevators, and toy cars they could drive around in the halls. Isaac even found the stirrups that were folded up in the table in the exam room. The nurse told us no one had found those before (we weren't surprised).
Adam, Isaac and I watched a movie about getting surgery at the hospital yesterday so they were all ready for today. Adam had decided that he wanted a wagon ride to the operating room. Isaac wanted to go in a wheel chair.

Unfortunately there were less smiles after they got their tonsils out.
We had to wait for a few hours in the recovery room after the surgeries. Adam had gone first. The staff was great to have their surgeries back to back and put them in recovery rooms right next to each other. Brad and I took turns going between their rooms. Both Adam and Isaac had a bandage on their hands where the doctor had tried to put an I.V. Both ended up with one in their foot instead and which they noticed immediately once they were awake. They also complained about it constantly. I think that their I.V.s were the worst part for them. Once they drank enough liquid the nurse took it out. Besides drinking lots of water they also had a red popsicle (hence the red lips).
Once they got their I.V.s out we were able to change them into their own clothes and get ready to head out. Isaac looked a little bit more relaxed towards the end.
Both boys got a ride out of the hospital in a wagon.
The boys laid down and watched movies for a long time after we got home, as well as held their new toys (a pirate ship and batman plane). I'd prepped them by getting each a toy to open after their surgery along with movies to watch and popsicles to eat. They really wanted to get their tonsils out yesterday and were very disappointed to have to wait until today. Eventually they both fell asleep. They've since woken up and had a little snack but are now back on the coach laying down and watching another movie. I'd say, "this is the life" but neither has a very happy look on their face.

Tonsils Out

2010-01-14T19:05:00.001-08:00

Early in the morning (Fri. Jan. 15) Adam and Isaac will be getting out their tonsils. They both have HUGE tonsils and I figure this is a good age to get it done. Please remember them in your prayers. Thanks!

Geography Bee Winner!

2010-01-13T07:39:00.001-08:00

Cayden was the winner of his school's geography bee yesterday. You could tell how excited he was by how he carried his trophy around the house all evening. As the winner he gets to take a really hard test to see if he knows enough to go onto regional. We'll have to keep you posted on that.

The competition was held after school yesterday. I had previously arranged with Lindsey to watch Adam and Isaac just as soon as she returned from work. The geography bee started at 3:45 and Linz didn't get home until a little after 4:00. I knew I'd be a little late but hoped I wouldn't miss much.

When I arrived I saw my friend Shalise Marx out in the lobby with her son, Liam. I asked how Cayden was doing and she told me that he'd just barley gotten out. I was bummed that I missed him completely. I contemplated if I should even still go in or not. I decided that I could at least show Cayden that I'd come to support him, even if he was no longer participating.

I was surprised to see Cayden still sitting up on the stage in the gym with about 8 other contestants. The announcer was saying something then about needing two winners and only having one correct answer from one boy in the previous round. That boy was able to sit out while the rest competed for the other winner slot. Apparently Cayden had gotten out 3 times but so had everyone else, so they got to keep going. The competition went to 3 remaining after a question about a south west state that had saguaro cactus. Three kids had Arizona (including Cayden) and the others had New Mexico. The answer was Arizona. Cayden later told me that he read a book in third grade about the saguaro cactus. Good thing he is a big reader. Later he answered a question about which state was the first to let women vote. Good thing he knew Wyoming or I would have been really sad.

In the end it was Cayden against the boy who was the only one with the correct answer from a previous round. There were two winners, but they had to see which one of them would be able to go on (if they pass the test) to regionals. I found that they got an equal number of wrong answers as right. It kept going as long as they were both wrong, or one was right. Cayden finally won on a question about which small Asian country had the worlds largest mountains in it. Nepal.

I was sorta glad to have been late. I didn't expect the pressure that was in the room. All the same, it was a neat experience for Cayden to be able to participate, even if he hadn't won. The competition was the top three winners from each class in fourth, fifth and six grades against each other.

Way to go Cayden!

2010 Goals

2010-01-07T09:03:00.000-08:00

As an extended Farmer family we are setting goals this year based on the Bible verse from Luke 2: 52 "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." Here are my goals for 2010.

Wisdom: I plan to read one current events article a week. I find that I rarely know what is going on in the world. Lindsey and Brad at times ask my opinion on things and I am lucky if I've heard of it. I'm sure I wouldn't know details. My plans is to find article on-line, most likely from the Wall Street Journal or other Brad approved sources. I may even try to have an educated conversation this year sometime.

Stature: I am planning to run in a Ragnar relay with some gals in my neighborhood in June. My parts are two 3 mile sections and a 7 mile downhill section. I need to especially train for the 7 mile part. The most I've ever run is 3 miles. I plan to exercise 3 times a week but that may be running, weights etc. I will hopefully start next week. I went in yesterday to get a steroid shot in my foot because of a neuroma. (Pinched nerve between my 3rd and 4th toes). Hopefully it will go away now and I can train with no pain. Yeah!

Favor with God: This is my biggest goal this year. I am planning to do a service daily for others and to keep track of them. I think Christ's life was about serving others and I hope to try to be more like Him by following His example of service. I am hoping to find things outside of my normal activities (like cooking for my family, doing their laundry etc.). I am trying to make these acts of service a part of my daily prayers and asking for direction on who might have a specific need. I've already started this. I hope at the end of the year to have a mini book of the acts of service I've done throughout the year.

Favor with man: Brad and I both plan to invite someone in our neighborhood into our home each month. This maybe a family for Family Home Evening or a couple for a game night. There are so many possibilities. I am working on our first invite for this Sunday.

Brad has made us a weekly check list for our goals. He actually did a few months ago and it has been helpful. I actually have a few more goals on that list as well like remembering morning prayers, reading scriptures daily, reading the Ensign magazine cover to cover and attending the temple twice a month. I feel much more optimistic about my goals this year then I have in years past, because many of them I've already been working on for a few months. Other goals like exercising and reading a current events article are new and a little bit more intimidating! I am hoping to win the big prize of an all expense paid trip to Hawaii. Wasn't that what we decided on? Maybe not. Well, I'm sure doing these things will be an award in themselves.

I also have a secret goal that I am working on this year. The goal is sealed up in a white envelope with the Christmas decorations to be opened next year. It is something that I've wanted to do for sometime and with all of my other goals, won't take up too much time.

Somehow reading my goals all listed out this way seems enormous. Good thing I'm only accountable for the first four in the family competition. The rest are constant goals that I am always trying to improve on. Wish me luck!

5 Quilts for Christmas

2009-12-30T12:08:00.001-08:00

This Christmas was about giving the gift of time. Brad has always been such a good example to me about giving meaningful gifts for Christmas. In the past few years he has put all of our parents (both sides) camcorder movies on DVDs, made a highlights DVD for his siblings, formatted our family memory books and this year he made a book all about his dad, including his father's mission journal. Several of these projects took most of the year to do. I know I'm not the only one who appreciates his efforts. With his example in mind, I decided to try to do something more meaningful this year for Christmas. Unfortunately, I didn't think to start early in the year.

When both Hilary and Brandon (my sister and brother) got married I offered to make both of them quilts for wedding gifts. Hilary got married 9 1/2 years ago and Brandon got married 8 years ago. I started both of their quilts at the time of their marriage but somehow never finished. Hilary and Lee's quilt was mostly done (all but the sashings I added around the edges) but got lost in Wyoming for many years. My mom finally found it this summer. Brandon and Michelle's quilt was all cut out and I started sewing it together, but didn't get further then that. This year in the sibling exchange I had Brandon and Michelle. I had this great idea, based of course on Brad's example, to finish their wedding quilt. I think it was a great original idea, but somehow it got a little out of control.

Some months ago I saw a beautiful jean quilt (lap size) that Brad's mom, Marilyn, had made for one of his cousins. It was very cute and I thought of the 6 years worth of denim in my closet. I decided to make a jean quilt like it for Alex because he is always asking me to make him a quilt. I finally got around to it in November. As I stared cutting out denim I saw that I had enough to make another twin sized quilt. So I decided to make Cayden one too because he'd been complaining of being cold at night. When I told Marilyn what I was doing she pointed out that Drew might feel left out so I thought I'd better make him one too. I originally planned to make him a denim throw blanket, but somehow it turned into a full blown quilt. How does that happen? One reason is because I didn't have enough denim, and also because he has a queen sized bed. I ended up asking Drew to choose a quilt pattern that he liked. We found one on the Company Store website, but it was just a picture of a quilt with no pattern. Next thing you know I am making up a quilt pattern. Fortunately Brad's Aunt Deb, gave some much needed advice on how to get the look I wanted. Oh, and I also thought I'd finish Hil's quilt for fun if I had the time.

It was a marathon 6 weeks of sewing. I am grateful to Brad and Linz who helped a lot with the kids so I could sew, and to Scooby Doo, who at times kept Adam and Isaac busy. Brad's sister, Marissa also pitched in by cutting the seams in the jean quilts (it took her 8 hours). I was sewing and binding quilts right up to the end. What an experience. I had no idea it would be so much work. Who ever thinks projects will take as long as they do? Here they are, the 5 quilts of Christmas:

#1 Brandon & Michelle's quilt
#2 Hilary and Lee's quilt
#3 Cayden's quilt
#4 Drew's quilt
#5 Alex's quilt
My project wouldn't have been possible without the use of Marilyn's quilting machine. For those who don't know, this is the quilting machine. You place the pattern on the table and follow a little laser light on the pattern and the machine copies you onto the quilt.
I used a popcorn pattern for Hilary's quilt.
I used this flower pattern for Brandon and Michelle. Then I made a hexagon pattern for Drew's quilt to use on the large hexagon parts, but just did a free for all on the rest. It is definitely unique, but fun. I got enough fabric to make curtains to match the quilt in Drew's room and we are going to start painting. We were suppose to paint his room for his birthday in August. Oops.
Here is the pile of denim/plaid fabric that I put together for Alex's quilt. The first quilt I ever made is in the background.
I grateful to have a little time to relax now that Christmas is over. My kids and house both need a lot of attention. I have to say that it was a great experience to serve others during the holidays. In retrospect I might not have done quiet so many at once, but Brad kept encouraging me and telling me what a great thing it was that I was doing. I sure had a few moments of panic but it all worked out in the end.

Brad's birthday

2009-12-27T16:55:00.000-08:00

To celebrate Brad's birthday on Saturday (Dec. 26th) we invited all of his family (who are in the area) over for a party. We had soup and rolls for lunch at our house and then headed over to the church gym for a few games. First came volleyball. After playing for a little while my boys started to complain about the hard volleyball so I ran home to get a beach ball.
I couldn't find our beach ball but I remembered that I'd gotten a blow up globe from National Geographic that I took over. It seemed to work well. Cayden had the quote of the day when he stated, "I wonder if this is what it's like when the gods have a birthday." I suppose they might play volleyball with the earth. I think Cayden is reading too many mythology books! Volleyball was followed by a lively game of basketball.
Drew did a good job guarding his Uncle Tadd.
Cayden takes a shot.
Tired players!
The party ended back at our house with pumpkin pie, Brad's favorite. We sure appreciate everyone who came to make it a special day for Brad.

Piano Recital

2009-12-17T15:37:00.001-08:00

The older boys had their Christmas piano recital on Tuesday night. Each played two songs. Brad was able to do duets with both Drew and Alex. They did a great job.
Alex had a bit more of a challenge with the recital. His Christmas music went missing a few weeks ago and I only started looking for it two days before the recital (shame on me). We were able to locate one piece (the duet with Brad), but we never found the other. He ended up playing a song he'd only played a few times before. The day of the concert he practice the new song over and over. Thankfully everything went well!
The recital was held at the public library. Afterward the boys (and Aunt Marissa, who came to listen with Grandma and Grandpa Farmer) went over to the library to find some books. I don't usually carry my camera with me at the library but was glad I had it to catch this picture.

Decorating for Christmas

2009-12-06T08:34:00.001-08:00

We set the tree up last Sunday. We had varying levels of help from the boys. Mostly they enjoyed playing with all of the new toys (decorations). Cayden immediately started in on reading Christmas books.Drew became Santa Claus.Last year for Christmas, Brad's sister Jill made us this beautiful advent calendar. We have put the names of all of our Christmas books in the pockets and we pick one out each night to read.
We were doubly blessed last year with the gift of this quilt from Brad's mom. Both quilts add beauty to our home and remind us about the gift of sacrifice and of serving others. Thank you both for taking the time (hours!) to make them for our family.
Our tree was eventually finished. We are happy to have been able to decorate it from top to bottom for the second year in a row. I do find ornaments on the ground occasionally, but I think our cat, Albany, is the culprit.
We hope your homes are also full of holiday cheer. We look forward to hearing from you during this Christmas season.

November happenings

2009-11-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

I really have had plans to blog every Sunday but unfortunately it hasn't happened every week. Now I have 3 sets of pictures to add so I'll just do them all that once. Here goes . . .

Cayden getting his WEBELOS

Cayden got painted up along with the other scouts getting rank advancements last night at Pack Meeting. He earned his Webelos badge, a compass patch and two compass points. The good news is that in Webelos the leaders do all of the work so we just had to show up to see him get his award! Of course, by this time next year I should be working as a Webelos leader (I just changed from the Wolfs to the Bears).Congrats Cayden!

BAGGING LEAVES

Brad came home for lunch last week and blew all of the leaves in our backyard into 3 large piles. I got the lucky job of telling the boys that we got to then bag the leaves. I sure got a lot of complaints. Everyone's attitudes improved when Cayden's friend Grant showed up and was recruited into helping. The boys all had fun dog piling to get the air out of the bags. It was amazing how many leaves we could then fit in a bag once they employed this technique.We bagged 7 1/2 bags in less than an hour.
Where is Alex? Actually a better question would be, where are Adam and Isaac? Adam came out to help for half of the time but then he went in the house with Isaac, who wouldn't come help. It turns out they made messes in the house while we were working outside. At least I wasn't in a race against a snow storm in the house to get them to clean up their messes, unlike bagging the leaves. We will have to do leaves about 2 more times before we are all done. We already have a lot on the ground again in the backyard.

THUMB WRESTLING

Cayden bought a book about thumb wresting last week from the book fair at the school. He and his friend Sam then made a thumb wrestling arena out of an old box. I was very impressed with them. We then held a thumb wresting competition for an activity. Brad took it all.

"Team Farmer" (Halloween)

2009-11-08T17:34:00.000-08:00

For the past few years we've attended a costume party at church for Halloween. Several families wear themed costumes likes the characters from Sponge Bob, Indian Jones, the Wizard of Oz etc. Since I often hear that I have a basketball team when I mention having 5 boys, I decided to go with that. Last year I ordered basketball jersey's on-line that say "TEAM FARMER" and have the boys names on the back. Unfortunately they got sent to our first home in Layton and we didn't get them in time for the party. I was bummed, but figured we could just wear them this year. Then they ended up having a hoe down instead of a costume party at church. I didn't want the costumes to go to waste so I insisted the boys wear them trick-or-treating. Most weren't too excited about the costumes. (Isaac wanted to be a wicked witch, Adam an army guy and Drew a girl.)
To help the boys feel better about their costumes I painted basketballs on pillow cases for the older boys to use for trick-or-treating. I also got them headbands to go with the costume. They were good sports in the end. Adam and Isaac helped me to paint the basketballs.
We talked Hilary into bringing up her girls to join us for the holiday. Brynne helped Brad and Isaac carve a pumpkin.
Cayden
Alex
Drew
Isaac and Adam. I got them these baskets at Easter. I would have gotten some for the older boys, but they like to hit the entire neighborhood and need a much bigger bag.
Linz dressed up as a BYU fan. She is actually a University of Wyoming fan and I never thought I'd see her in a BYU shirt. My youngest three siblings all attended UW.
Adam, Brynne, Morgan and Isaac trick-or-treating.
Hilary and I. I went as a basketball referee.
The boys checking out all of their loot.

Soccer

2009-10-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

We signed all 5 boys up for soccer in the fall. Soccer season is now finished, but I still wanted to report on how it went. Here is Adam. He decided right off that soccer wasn't for him. He'd rather play on the playground. He sat out his entire first game and we passed the jersey to a neighbor boy who wanted to play. This worked out just fine for Adam. We will ask him again if he's interested during the spring season. I'm not holding my breath.
Isaac didn't much enjoy soccer in the beginning. He rarely played more than a quarter (5 min.) before he was out crying because "they took the ball away" and "didn't share." He was often in tears. I had to explain that this is the only time in life when you don't have to share and that you want to take the ball away from everyone else.
Drew and Alex played on the "Fighting Falcons" team this year. It was put together by a neighbor. They played really well for their first season against teams that have been together for years. There games are very fun to watch, though harder to get pictures of with my camera. Here is Drew and teammate, Tacum.
Cayden plays for AYSO again. He plays 11 on 11 and the field is huge so I didn't get any pictures. Most of the family enjoyed watching him play. Adam and Isaac weren't as fond of the games since there was no play ground at the junior high where his games were played. Cayden has some real fancy feet work!
Alex is #2 in the huddle.
Good News! Isaac decided in the last few games that he likes soccer and he stopped crying and became more aggressive.
See the difference?
It was a fun soccer season. I felt like a true soccer Mom with chairs and blankets permanently in the back of the van. Brad coached Adam and Isaac's team and assistant coached Cayden's. I'm sure he is looking forward to a break until spring season. It has been a lot of fun to watch the boys play.

Adam and Isaac's 5th Birthday Party

2009-10-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

One day recently it suddenly hit me that Adam and Isaac would be turning 5. I didn't see that one coming. We quickly got planning for a friend birthday party that all of our boys have gotten to have at age 5. They choose Pirates as their theme. Thanks to birthdaypartyideas.com we had lots of fun activities to choose from. Issac is modeling the invitations.Grandma Farmer helped out by putting together a fun treasure chest birthday cake.
As the friends came we dressed them up as pirates and took a picture of them in front of this great pirate picture that a neighbor lent to us for the party.
Alex learned how to make balloon swords and supplied everone with their own. Then Brad helped them with the proper sword fighting techniques. (Notice Adam's wooden sword. He wasn't too happy when it got taken away and replaced with a balloon one. Fortuantely those were some of the only tears at the party.)
I'd tried to locate big boxes to make pirate ships, but had no luck. Instead we made card tables into pirate ships and had a big battle. The losing ship (the one with the most cannon balls in their basket) had to walk the plank.

Everyone got the chance to walk the plank. Fortunately no one was hurt by the dangerous sea animals.
We played a few other games and gathered pirate loot as we went.
I made a cannon ball pinata earlier in the week that the boys broke. Unfortunately the pirate treasure was stolen and the kids had to go on a treasure hunt to find it. Once found they were able to put all of their loot in their pirate chest to take home. (The chests were huggies diaper wipe containers spray painted brown with gold paint stripes for the straps. This was the hardest part of the party gathering 12 diaper wipe containers from neighbors!)
Happy 5th Birthday Isaac!
Happy 5th Birthday Adam!
P.S. Yesterday Adam's teacher at church brought him a castle cake. She is so thoughtful, and both Adam and Issac thought it was so cool! It was yummy too.

Trip to Provo

2009-10-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

In order to continue indoctrinating our children to love the only true blue school, we took a trip down to Provo at the first of this month. Since our flexibility was limited due to a demanding soccer schedule, we were only there on Thursday night and Friday morning.

Thursday night, we went to the women's soccer game and were able to get a visit from Cosmo:

The boys had a lot of fun, and we had the added bonus of having Uncle Tadd at the game with us.

We stayed with Hilary and her girls that night, and then went back to campus on Friday morning after Hilary's yummy breakfast. First, we stopped at Tadd's apartment and were able to see the shabby chic design style of the typical college student (thank you, Tadd!) Then we went to campus and showed the boys some of the buildings on campus, including having a fun science adventure in the Eyring Science Center.

We finished at the Wilkinson Student Center, where we said goodbye to Tadd and waited to meet up for lunch with my cousin, Allison. I stood in line for french fries with Adam, while Alyson held the table with the rest of the boys. After about 10 minutes had passed the fire alarm went off! My first thought was wondering which one of our boys had pulled the fire alarm. Soon, the Cougareat was closing up and they were kicking everyone out of the Wilkinson Center. I walked over to find Alyson, and her first question to me was, "Did Adam pull the fire alarm?" When you pull the fire alarm once, you are forevermore a suspect!

When we were finally able to go back in the Wilkinson Center the fire alarm had worked to our benefit, because we hurried and got in the front of the line at the food court. It was great to eat lunch and catch up with Allison, then we got some of the great BYU dairy ice cream as a treat! (Although we had learned from Tadd that they were remodeling the dairy, so the ice cream we were eating was actually six months old)

Another show

2009-09-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

Brad is having fun putting our home movies on youtube for your enjoyment. Here is a movie we made a few years ago when we went camping. The boys all love to watch it. We hope you enjoy it, but maybe you only will if you are a relative!

Our Movie

2009-09-20T20:09:00.001-07:00

We finally got the movie we made with our Cub Scouts up on YouTube. Check it out!

Labor Day weekend

2009-09-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

My quilt is finally finished! Yeah! It only took one and a half years to do. Of course I only worked on it a little bit at a time, mostly during the summers. I finished it the day we headed to Wyoming for Labor Day. Notice the curtains I made to go with the quilt. My next project is the dust ruffle and pillows.
We went to Wyoming over Labor Day to visit my parents. We went as a surprise to my Mom to celebrate her upcoming birthday. Cayden and Alex had a little tug of war while helping with the corn. Notice their BYU shirts? We all wore them on Saturday to get a little Cougar spirit. What a game . . .

We enjoyed playing a lot of games with my parents. Here Brad, Cayden, Alex and Drew, joined my Mom in a game. It is really fun to be able to play more strategy type games with our older boys now.

Adam and Isaac had fun playing with legos. Actually all five boys had fun with legos. We all had a wonderful visit!

One reason sons are better than daughters

2009-07-03T20:32:00.001-07:00

I returned from grocery shopping this afternoon to find that Isaac had been up to some naughtiness. When Brad wasn't looking he'd gone into our bathroom and found some little scissors and given himself a haircut.
Because I had recently sent our hair cutting set to Ashley (we never used it) I didn't have the equipment to give him a buzz myself. So we headed over to Kristen's house (our family beautician) to get the problem fixed. He looks irritated in the picture but he wasn't. Both Adam and Isaac enjoy getting haircuts. They don't get them often since Aunt Lindsey is very partial to long hair and curls. By the way, she doesn't know about the buzz yet.Talking to Kristen about kids own haircuts made me realize how much worse it could have been. The change in Isaac's appearance is much less dramatic that a daughters might have been. I always appreciate the small reasons to not feel sad about having all sons. Alex pointed out that Isaac looks a lot more like Cayden now.Despite the buzz, you can still see Isaac's haircut. It will take a little bit to grow his hair out.

Family Trip! (Yosemite Edition)

2009-06-20T23:11:00.001-07:00

Our full day in Yosemite was spent in Yosemite Valley. Adam and Isaac were very excited about the hot tub at the house we stayed in, and wanted to swim before we went to the park. We told them we were going to wait until we got home that night.

However, Isaac had different plans. We stopped for lunch at Sentinel Beach, a spot on the Merced River where a lot of people were picnicking and swimming. We told the boys that they could take their shoes off and wade in the river. Isaac, however, had planned ahead. He stripped off his shorts - he had, without our knowledge, put his swimming suit on under his normal clothes so he would be prepared to swim in the hot tub. So, he was prepared to go swimming in the river!
We took a walk to the base of Yosemite Falls, the highest waterfalls in North America. We were close enough to fall the spray of the falls.

We took a bike ride around the valley - through the parking lot, the housekeeping village, the parking lot again, and then finally found a path that gave a great view of Half Dome.

One of the beauties of Yosemite was the stunning views we found around almost every turn. There were turnouts with things to see all along the road. Here is a little waterfall we found on our way out.

We loved the house we stayed in in Mariposa! There were toys for the children, so the television didn't come on once while we were there. We were able to cook dinner and have a low key evening together.

And of course, everyone was excited to get in the hot tub. No one even minded that a frog was sharing the tub with us that night.

The next day, we got up early to start our drive home. We didn't encounter a lot of traffic on the early roads through Nevada. On one particular road, a nondescript sign next to the road said, "Dip - Next Miles". What an understatement! The road proceeded to move up and down like a roller coaster - in fact, everyone in the car put their hands in the air, which made it a fun ride instead of a sickness-inducing one.

We tried to capture the road with its ups and downs:
Since we took the back roads out of Yosemite, we were able to meet up with Tilly in Tonopah and accompany her to visit Goldfield where she grew up. We were able to see the house where Ken was born, the joshua tree where Tilly had a picture taken many years ago, the school Tilly went to, and the house Tilly lived in for many years (shown below).
We have been home for a few days now, and are finally recovering from our whirlwind trip. We had a great time!

Family Trip! (San Francisco edition)

2009-06-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

You'll notice that my sister, Marissa, came with us on our trip (we'll have a later post with all of the ways that Marissa has been a blessing on this trip). I was anxious that Marissa understood exactly how Alyson and I grew up on our family trips - without the catatonic stage induced by the TV in the van.

While all the boys were watching the TV, I started yelling, "He's touching me! Stop touching me! Stop touching me!!" to give Marissa a sense of what things were like. Of course, Adam and Isaac thought that was a lot of fun, so they spent the next five minutes yelling, "Stop touching me!" and laughing.

I don't think they got the point of it, though, since I reached back from the driver's seat to tickle Isaac a few minutes later and he said, very politely, "Please don't do that." Kids these days!

Our first stop on day three was the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, California. Unfortunately, the factory was on their annual retooling shut down so there wasn't much going on the floor. It was fun seeing the robots and production lines, although Adam and Isaac just wanted to eat jelly beans and got very impatient when we wouldn't get them refrigerator magnets in the gift shop.

For our next stop, we wound our way north of San Francisco and toured the Muir Woods. This turned out to be a pleasant walk through giant redwoods, and it was nice for the boys to get out and stretch their legs a little bit.

We stretched our necks, too, trying to see the tops of the giant redwoods.

The boys found many "caves" inside of the trees. It reminded me of the book My Side of the Mountain where the main character lives inside the hollow of a tree.

After we left Muir Woods, we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge to San Francisco! We were amazed a how enormous the bridge is. It is incredible to imagine an engineering feat like it being accomplished even with today's technology.

The Golden Gate bridge left us on Lombard Street - how convenient! We followed the street up Russian Hill trying to find the famous curved road. The hill kept going up and getting steeper and steeper. I started wondering if the van could make it up the road. We followed another car up, and I kept hoping it wouldn't stop - which it did at the top. I had to stop on the incline and screeched the tires to get going again. Happily, the famous "Lombard Street" was right over the hill. We drove slowly down the crossbacks, which by this time were anticlimactic after my vertical start on the opposite side.

After the Lombard adventure, we headed for our apartment, which was in the Glen Park neighborhood of San Francisco. It was a wonderful little nest that fit us perfectly, including a garage that just barely fit the van.

Wednesday morning, we got up really early to walk down to catch the BART - San Francisco's subway. After the BART, which was its own adventure for the boys, we caught a streetcar that went down the pier. We got tickets for a later boat to Alcatraz and then started exploring.

Two fun adventures we had on the pier were touring a submarine and a liberty ship (one of only two remaining). It was amazing to see the cramped quarters on the submarine, and how the doorways were small even by children's standards.

Then we went to the Aquarium. They have two large tanks where you walk through in glass tunnels underneath. The most fascinating fish in the large tank was the "diver fish", which was apparently in there trying to catch one of the local specimens.

The tank with the little rays and sharks that you could touch was also a big hit, although Adam and Isaac were excited for the rest of us to touch the fish, and not so much for themselves.

The cable cars were fun too - Adam insisted that it was safest if he could grab on to the strap (even though we had seats).
By this time, the littlest boys were exhausted - and it wasn't even lunch time!

We had to wait quite a while for the cable car ride back. In fact, we had to run most of the way to the dock and barely made our boat!

Alcatraz was really interesting. Everyone loved the boat ride to the island. The older boys and Marissa listened to the audio tour (Alyson and I shared one and took turns being Adam and Isaac's full time keeper)

By the time we returned from Alcatraz, everyone was exhausted!
So, we decided to have a quick pizza dinner and ice cream on Ghirardelli Square before heading back to our apartment.

One Thursday, we packed up again and headed out for Yosemite. On the way out, we stopped by to see the Oakland Temple.
We didn't do much in the park on Thursday. We got some pictures by Bridalveil Falls and the Tunnel View:

And then saw enormous trees in the Mariposa Grove. In case you can't tell, that's me standing in front of the Grizzly Giant, the biggest tree in the park with a girth of almost 100 feet! It looks like a Disneyland ride, but it's the real thing.

Family Trip! (Reno edition)

2009-06-15T21:43:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, the one place we did not have internet access on our trip was San Francisco, so I wasn't able to finish this post earlier.

After finally rolling into Mariposa at 10 pm tonight after spending time at the Oakland temple, winding up the sides of an interminable series of mountains, gaping at the wonders of Yosemite Valley from afar, and feeling Lilliputian next to the Sequioas in Mariposa Grove, I decided to finish up the posting for the first two days of our trip.

You'll have to tune in later for the description of the wonderfully harried days three and four, at the Jelly Belly factory, Muir Woods, BART, and downtown San Francisco. I don't think I have it in me tonight. Maybe tomorrow, since I am the only one who forgot to pack his own swimsuit for the hot tub.

So, here is our travelogue as photo captions, starting with visiting Tilly and Ken for a wonderful barbeque dinner on Sunday night. The older boys became fast friends with Ken after he showed them his Flight Simulator program on the computer. Drew caught the point early on and flew under the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge. Cayden and Alex thought it was more fun crashing the plane in unique ways (remember that if either of them end up following in their Uncle Lee Roberts' shoes). All the boys (even Marissa) enjoyed seeing Ken's Vietnamese medicine with the real cobra in the bottle - I guess there really are snake oil salesmen!

And of course, it was wonderful to see Tilly, and the boys were very proud to show off the completed lessons on Nevada history that she had sent them.

The next day, we got up early and went to Tilly's for yummy cinnamon rolls. We then drove up a steep, winding road (which seems to be pattern for this trip, we seem to encounter at least one steep winding road every day) to Virginia City, at one time the largest city in Nevada. Now, it is a tourist town with attractions from its heyday as a mining center. We took the tour bus around the town with Tilly:

Then we went underground for a mine tour. Drew got to be the assistant miner, Isaac complained when they turned the lights out to show us how dark it got, and I bumped my head on a board. It is hard to know how much gold they really dug out of Virginia City mines, because we heard numbers ranging from $426 to $60 billion.

We then found a lovely picnic place in front of the St. Mary in the Mountains catholic church, which was being renovated.

Our final stop on the Virginia City tour was taking the steam train down to Gold Hill and back. The entire day, Adam and Isaac were so excited for the train ride. When we got on the open train car, they were not happy that the train actually made loud noises and curled up into us. We were able to move into the covered car for the trip back, which was fortunate since it started to rain.

I think Adam and Isaac's romanticized view of trains turned out to be very different from the real thing!

We came back from Virginia City through Carson City and then drove over to Lake Tahoe. We got a brief view of the lake before it started pouring rain, so we weren't able to play there as we had hoped.

We drove back to our house in Reno, ordered pizza, and watched the US men's soccer team have a strong first half against the Italians and then collapse in the second half. I have to admit I had very mixed feelings watching the game!

Brad

Alyson' Birthday

2009-04-28T08:08:00.001-07:00

Today we have a guest post by Brad (unbeknownst to Alyson).

This post isn't about naughty children, projects in progress, or fun trips. It will undoubtedly be embarrassing, as such things are; but you must sometimes cause embarrassment to truly honor and appreciate a person as amazing, beautiful, and fruitful as Alyson.

It is her birthday today, and I'd like to do something off of her wish list (undoubtedly to her consternation!) For today's post, I'd like to embarrass her completely by listing some of great characteristics Alyson has.

Faith. Alyson has a very strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She has always been diligent in serving the Lord by serving in the Church and helping others. She is constantly trying to improve her personal obedience and faith and teaching our children gospel principles.

Friendship. From when we met, I was impressed with Alyson's commitment to other people. From remembering my name (we had only briefly met in the halls of the MTC) to her vast catalog of letters sent and received from friends, I knew that she is a tremendous influence for good in the lives of many people. Once Alyson gets to know you, she doesn't forget about you.

Enthusiasm. Anyone who has worked with Alyson in Cub Scouts knows about her enthusiasm. When she catches a vision, she instantly immerses herself in the project, developing the necessary expertise and knowledge with incredible energy. Her excitement infects others around her and she is able to help others develop the same excitement.

Compassion. Alyson is the most non-judgmental person that I know. The outward appearance or inward beliefs don't matter to her, Alyson simply cares and befriends. She has a gift for seeing everyone as a child of God and treats them accordingly.

Humility. With Alyson, what you see is what you get. I have never seen her put on airs or try to be someone she is not. I can be pretty demanding and difficult to live with, and Alyson has shown great patience and love for me. No matter how petty or small my concern is, she is understanding and helps me through it.

Alyson, happy birthday! In Mark Twain's Diaries of Adam and Eve, Adam's final entry after Eve's death was, "Wheresoever she was, THERE was Eden." Thanks for building Eden for our family. I love you!

Brad

P.S. To complete her embarassment, please add your comments to this post, or send her an email today to wish her happy birthday. Thanks!

March/April Happenings

2009-04-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry to be absent for so long. Here is a quick update of our goings on for the past few weeks. In March I went on a sister (plus a bonus Mom) trip to California. We dropped in on my youngest sister, Ashley, who didn't know we were coming (we had let her husband, Derek, in on the secret). We spent a day in Disneyland and a day doing lots of random activities: going to the beautiful Long Beach Temple, playing with my nephew, having tasty frozen yogurt and sitting in the hot tub. Besides all of the fun with family I enjoyed being able to read while driving to and from California. Thanks to Brad and my mother-in-law, Marilyn, for helping out with the kids.
The last week in March was the pinewood derby. The boys designed and painted their own cars. This is the only year Brad had to help with 3 cars. Usually it will only be 2!
Since I had a nice break with the Ross girls, I thought I'd give Brad a little break by taking all of the boys on a trip for spring break. We first went to stay at my sister, Hilary's, in Spanish Fork. It was the first time we've stayed the night at her house. Hil and I worried that the boys would get bored with all of the girl's toys (they didn't) so we had planned a few little outings. We went to the Bean Museum on BYU campus and swimming in Provo.
Our trip ended with a drive to St. George where I went to visit my former mission companion, Soeur Welch. We haven't talked in YEARS. It was so nice to catch up and the boys seemed to have a fun time too. We went on a little hike around Kim's backyard (amazing huh?), swam for a few minutes in their pool (the breeze made it a bit too cold), roasted marshmallows and just enjoyed hanging out. We were fortunate to see a few lizards and rabbits on our hike and around the house.

This is one of my favorite times of year, when my bulbs all start to bloom. We have flowers coming all over our front yard. The picture doesn't do it justice.
We are looking forward to warmer weather next week. We have had a lot of snow and rain this past week. I feel like I haven't been warm since the week before I left for California. Hooray for spring.

A variety of "Boy" activities

2009-03-01T18:20:00.001-08:00

We attended our Blue and Gold Banquet last night. The theme was American ABCs. Alex and Drew both got their Wolf rank and Cayden got his first activity badge (showman) as a Webelos scout. It was a fun night. All of the scouts getting a rank advancement had to dig for their awards in a pie tin of whip cream. I am very proud of the older boys and how hard they worked to get their scout awards. The younger boys were up to something different this week.
Last weekend I took the older boys to get haircuts at our neighbor Kristen's house. Kristen cuts hair in her basement. While one boy gets a haircut the others run around and play. Kristen has daughters and just before we left Adam and Isaac found her girls' dress up clothes. They really wanted to play with them, but we were on our way out so I said, "Later!" Well, Monday morning Isaac asked me right away if he could go to their house and play with their "princess" clothes. Hmmm. I had a cub scout planning meeting so I asked my friend, Angie, to bring along a few of her daughter Katie's dress up clothes. Adam and Isaac were sure excited. I hate to tell you but they played "princess" all day!!!
Not only did they call each other "princess" all day, but they kept saying things like "hat-chew, I have a cold." It was both hilarious and disturbing. Once they went to bed I put the dress up clothes away and we returned them to Katie. I hope that is the only "princess day" that we experience.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day just might be my very favorite holiday. It has only been the past few years that I've come to enjoy it so much. I think I have a lot more fun than the recipients. This year we sent the "We love you!" picture to family members. I got the idea from my friend, Jennifer Erickson (she did a variation) and also from an ad in a magazine. I love to copy others' creative ideas! Usually I get my ideas from Family Fun Magazine.

Cayden really wanted to give fortune cookies to friends so I came up with a little saying and Brad made these cute cards. We then stapled a fortune cookie to the card. The boys gave them out at school, and Brad and I even gave some out to friends and co-workers.

In addition to making valentines, I really love to decorate Brad's office and the kids' bedrooms and make a nice breakfast for the boys. This year I did all crepe paper and continued the theme throughout the house. The boys especially loved taking down pieces and jumping over them. We also had a nice valentine's breakfast that Brad made us this year (he is usually at work).

Brad and I also tried something new this Valentine's Day. We took a little get away trip to Salt Lake and left Linz home with all of the boys (thanks Linz!). We stayed at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake. We had dinner at the hotel (it was delicious!), went to the Desert Star Theater and saw Home School Musical which was very amusing, and just relaxed. We both took a book (see Brad's in the picture?) and laid around and read with no interruption. It was fun to be together, plus have a little rest and relaxation.

In case you thought the pictures on our valentine just happened easily, here are a few "bloopers." The hardest letter to get was "W." We tried several ways.

"O" also had its difficulties:

As a final note, Linz keeps telling me that I need to put an update of my haircut on the blog. I got it cut a little shorter. I also took some of your advice (Michelle included) and pulled my bangs back, something I never thought I'd do.

Thanks for reading my blogs! I hope you had a fun Valentine's Day!

Cayden's 10th Birthday

2009-02-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

We had a great big snow storm on Monday (Cayden's birthday). The snow was very heavy. Not too far into the day (or my laundry) we had a power outage that lasted for several hours. I think the snow was too heavy for the power lines (just my theory).
Our shoveling did no good, but the boys had fun anyway.
Despite the weather Linz and I had agreed to head over to the school to surprise Cayden with a pizza lunch. He was surprised and seemed happy to see us, but in his excitement over the power being out in the school too and indoor recess, he took only a few bites of pizza and left the room. (I called him back to get him to say thanks and goodbye). It was rather a disappointment to Linz, Adam, Isaac and I. Linz had to get back to work, but Adam and Isaac stuck around the lunchroom and had lunch with Alex and Drew too (there was plenty of pizza).
We hunted Cayden down in his classroom after lunch to take a picture.
Not only did we get to see the older boys for lunch, but a lot of their friends said hi too.
Happy Birthday Cayden!

Hair Cut

2009-01-22T14:06:00.001-08:00

I really needed a change from my tradition bob so I got a haircut. Actually the real reason I got it cut was because I couldn't stop "playing" with it (OCD). I'm still in the early stages of not being to sure what I think, but I think I'll like it once I get use to it. I am putting this on my blog to help eliminate some of the uncomfortable moments of, "You got your hair cut. . . it looks nice . . . do you like it?"

Adam's Holiday Activities

2009-01-19T20:38:00.000-08:00

I was just telling my friend, Chrissy Young, that life with Adam and Isaac is getting a lot easier. At the time I said it I hoped I wasn't jinxing myself. Apparently, I was. Adam sure was busy today!
The first thing I noticed was that Adam put one of the tracks from his geotrax train into the fireplace. Of course, there was glass covering it, but he managed to put it in a space above the glass. What you are seeing is what was behind glass (Brad took it off to clean it). I'd already pulled off what didn't make it in. Fortunately, the fireplace is unharmed, though the same can't be said for the track.I next noticed that the door to under the garage was covered in pencil and other marks. Adam told me his brothers wouldn't let him in so he tried to get in with a hammer (a mallet actually). The good news is that the pencil and mallet marks came off with a magic eraser. It took a while.

Just a few minutes later I went upstairs and found the lid to the crockpot melting inside of it. The ceramic piece was in the dishwasher ready to be washed. The plastic lid was just resting on top of the crockpot. I grabbed it thinking I needed to wash it too and got a little burned. After questioning I found that Adam plugged it in and turned the power to high with the lid in it. Now we have to buy a new crockpot. All of this happened within an hour's time. I hope tomorrow is better.

Finished Basement

2009-01-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

Lindsey keeps telling me that I need to put pictures of the finished basement on my blog and I am finally getting around to it. We have been enjoying the space now for about two months and I am still so grateful and happy each time I go downstairs. I'm also still in the phase where it is new enough that I like it to be clean. We only had the main room to finish, but we repainted and recarpeted under the garage and down the hall to help with the flow.

Here the boys and Brad enjoy a game together and also a show. I'm not sure what they were watching- it looks like nothing. The camera didn't pick up the movie. The area to both sides and above the fireplace are where we hope to put our bookshelves one day. The room will then be the "library."

We now have furniture in the room, thanks to Mark and Heidi . Thanks guys! They gave us an old sectional that they weren't using. Now we can watch movies while sitting on the couch. We also found the boys train table makes a good foot rest. Just behind the couch is our family Christmas gift- a Foosball table. Adam and his preschool friend are my models today. We will also put a kitchen in downstairs . . . one day. We started with the tile!

The only room downstairs that was finished when we moved in, was under the garage. It was our storage area and Lindsey's room for over a year. It became the t.v. room once we finished the bedrooms about 3 years ago. In preparation for the new carpet (it just had a Berber glued to the concrete) we patched over 100 holes and repainted. It feels like a new room. That may also be because we moved the furniture around too.
Here a few preschool buddies are modeling our exercise equipment.
I am sure this is Brad's favorite room. It is the "entertainment" closet. Brad has it all wired so that we only use one remote to control everything and you can do it from the couch. He is amazing. Of course, I love the extra storage space. We keep this room locked. Of course sometimes we forget and Isaac has already had a little "accident" in the room and Adam dumped out a bottle of tile cleaner. I guess our basement is officially broken in.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-21T19:45:00.000-08:00

Since we have been so busy finishing the basement we didn't get our leaves bagged as early this year. We have 7 grown Japanese Elm trees in our back yard and we get a lot of leaves. Last weekend we rushed outside to finish bagging leaves before the snow storm hit. We ended up doing a lot of raking in the snow, but we made it. Almost all of the boys pitched in to help.

We decided to make friend gifts this year. My hope was that the boys would learn how good it feels to do something for someone else, rather than my just buying a treat for them to share. Everyone pitched in to make rice crispy treats. In case you can't tell we made a strand of lights. Our card said, "Thanks for making my life brighter!" They didn't turn out quiet like the picture I took out of a magazine a few years ago (does anything ever?), but we were all pleased with them! It was a true family effort.My sister, Ashley stopped in with her husband, Derek and son, Marshall this weekend. They are on their way to Wyoming to visit family for the holidays. My boys were very excited for Marshall to come. Cayden, Alex and Drew followed Marshall around all last night and played with him. It was very cute! I think Marshall loved all the attention.
Merry Christmas to all! Here is a Christmas photo from four years ago. Boy have our kids grown! Adam is now wearing the Church clothes that Drew has on in the picture.

Basement Progress

2008-11-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd give a quick update on the basement. Despite the fact that we have been painting every night for over a week, we still aren't done and I'm getting no sleep!!! This has to do with the multiple coats of paint that we are putting on and the late nights are because of the large area we are doing. I can't complain too much since Lindsey has been a huge help. I can't over state how much she's helped. Her friend, Kim, has also come a couple times, as well as my friend Angie. This has helped to lighten the load. My late nights also have to do with the fact that Brad was gone most of last week. I'm so glad to have him home so now we can both stay up until midnight or later (the company is nice, just not the late hours). When Brad was gone I was up most nights until 1 a.m.

Besides working on the unfinished room and hall, we also decided to do under the garage. It has been patched (too many holes to count), primed and painted with two coats of the "crisp khaki." Right now I'm working on putting gloss on the baseboards and door frames as well as the door casings. I still have to do touch ups of both the flat paint on the ceiling (oops, did I forget to mention the two coats of flat on the ceiling too?) and touch ups of "crisp khaki" on the walls. Brad is currently working on putting down the tile.

We were suppose to get carpet tomorrow, but it has been put off until next Wednesday. Yes, that is the day that some of you are arrive for Thanksgiving. Hope you are prepared to move furniture back under the garage so you'll have a place to sleep. That reminds me, we will also need to move it out before getting carpet. We also need to take out the carpet under the garage and in the hall. There is just still so much to do. We need to put up the baseboards and door frames, patch the holes we nail in to hold them in place and then touch them up. We also have shelves to paint (white satin) and to put up in the electronic closet. I don't think putting together all of the electronic equipment can be considered work to Brad.

I'm stressed just typing this blog. Maybe I'll get to start sleeping next week. It will be wonderful to have it done.

A little help from the boys and Grandpa Ross when he was visiting (careful not to come see us in the next few days or we may put you to work). Much to the boys disappointment, they haven't got to help much. We work once they are in bed.

I decided not to take pictures of the time that Adam and Isaac got into the paint. We shouldn't have let them "help" because the wanted to do it again.

This is not related to basement work, but Adam and has had his first black eye. On Sunday night he bumped his eye on the table. When he woke up it had spread to all of his eye. I had an appointment for him to get his pictures at Target on Tuesday but Isaac took his place. That is one blessing of having twins.
Yeah, Brad is back from Houston. He got in about 22 tiles tiles last night, only 114 more to go.

Lots of little things

2008-11-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

I have been meaning to add several things, so I'm going to add them all at once. For those of you who don't know, the Farmers have a new tradition of passing a troll around. We only became aware of it recently when Tadd blogged about it being ducked taped to his car window while he was at work. I think it had made a lot more rounds before that. Tadd kindly gave it to us. We got this little package on the day of Alex and Drew's baptism while we were distracted. We'd just fixed our toilet for the hundredth time (this time finding a pencil in it). We were so happy to have a working toilet for our company. Anyhow my sister, Hilary, came to tell me that something was wrong with the toilet. I was nearly relieved to find the troll and not something else. We've since passed it on and you can see Marissa's blog for that. We had great trauma with our Halloween costumes this year. I'd ordered a family costume but they were accidentally sent to our old house and we didn't get them back in time. We had to improvise and will use the other costumes next year. Adam and Isaac wanted to be Rico (a bad guy from the Disney movie Home on the Range). The older boys just wore their Harry Potter costumes from last year. It was an anti-climatic year, but tune in next year!
Ahh, a parents dream. All of the older boys reading without being asked.
A little mess we found this Sunday compliments of Adam. Who forgot to lock the bathroom door? (Sorry about the wrong direction of the picture)
We are up to sheet rock. Currently we have someone doing mud and tape. We will start painting early next week, install the tile (the darker color won), do all the trim work etc. and have carpet installed on November 20th. I just like to sit and stare at the room. It will be so fun to have it done!!!!

Finishing the Basement

2008-10-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

Neither Brad or I have gotten much sleep recently. We have been staying up late working on a project. Honestly, Brad is doing the work. I help when I can and ask lots of questions about what he is doing.

We have one room in our basement that isn't finished and we are working to remedy that. Brad (with the help of his dad and uncle) finished the rest of the basement about 3 years ago. We are now working on the "great" room. It will actually be our "library" since we hope to have bookshelves filled with books at some point. It will also be our home theater. Here Brad and his dad are making a box to hang a screen on that will come out of the ceiling when we want to watch a movie. Brad had originally wanted to put a screen on the wall but based on past performances of Adam and Isaac, I recommended against that idea. The question is how long would it have taken them to ruin it?You can see down the hall that part of the basement is already done. We have a fireplace in the left corner (it is hard to see behind the dresser that I bought two summers ago at a garage sale for Alex's room. Guess what I need to get done?). We will eventually have bookshelves above it and around it on both sides.

Brad's main project has been wiring. See all of the cords he's been playing with? Last night he took time off to answer a lot of my questions about how it all works exactly. Very interesting! What a smart husband I have!!!!
One of my jobs is to find carpet and tile. Do you prefer the tile on the left or the right? We are both leaning to the darker on the right. I really like the carpet.

We will have the sheet rock installed on Monday (Nov. 3) and then I get to start painting. Hopefully Linz will help me. I haven't gotten to wall color yet. Maybe I can think about that sometime today. I'd hoped to have it all done for the BYU/Utah football game, but I don't think I'll be able to watch it even if the big screen is ready.

Brad, Lindsey and I like to sit around and discuss what movies we will watch first. I think Lord of the Rings is our first choice. Of course, we have to come up with a first movie to watch with the boys too. So far we plan on Harry Potter. Does anyone have any other suggestions of what to watch? Anyone want to come over and join us for a movie?

Adam and Isaac's 4th b-day party

2008-10-15T20:56:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Isaac suddenly decided that he loved trains. I'm not sure where it came from, but he has been obsessed ever since. It is the first time that he's shown a consistent interest in something. Adam had an interest in cars and trucks for a while after watching the Pixar movie, Cars. Adam seems to like trains too, but maybe not to the extent that Isaac does. It is sorta fun seeing Isaac get so excited. In honor of his new found love we decided to have a train birthday party.

I had Alex and Drew help with some of the party planning so that they could pass off some Scout electives. Brad encouraged me to be simple, so we planned for only two games. Even Isaac helped with the party. Here he is helping work on a poster to put on the wall for decoration. His cousins, Morgan and Brynne also helped with the poster.

I got boxes from the warehouse at Brad and Linz work and spray painted them blue. I had Alex and Drew both make a stencil of the #1 to have spray painted on the side. They then helped cut out black circles to make for tires (or what ever they are called on a train). All the boys and their cousins got to wear a train for a game like a cake walk. He is Adam.
And Isaac.
Here are all of the cousins (with help from Daddy, Aunt Marissa, and Aunt Heidi) playing the game. Cayden controlled the starting and stopping of the song, "I've been working on the railroad . . . " The other game was a racing game where you had to put "coal" (black socks filled with marbles) in the furnace.
Adam and Isaac sure seemed to enjoy the party. Thanks to everyone for coming (those who live in Utah) and for their thoughtful gifts.

Fun Birthday Parties

2008-10-15T20:12:00.000-07:00

I had forgotten until recently just how much I enjoy throwing parties. Alex and Drew had a friend party for their 8th b-day in August and Adam and Issac had a small family party for their 4th b-day just last week. I have had so much fun preparing for the parties and they've turned out so well. I'd like to claim originally, but I just get on birthdaypartyideas.com and pick and choose my favorite ideas and modify them. I'll first talk about Alex and Drew's b-day, then I'll do Adam and Isaac.

I admit that I may have gone a bit crazy with Alex and Drew's but it was a blast to do. They chose to have a "Webkinz" party. For those who might not know, "Webkinz" are stuffed animals that you can buy. They come with a code that allows you to enter a virtual world on-line. You make money playing games and can then buy things for them. Cayden, Alex and Drew are all into them right now, so we based the party on the website and had everyone bring a Webkinz or favorite stuffed animal to the party.

We played 9 different games and at all but two of the games they made "Kinz Cash" based on how well they played the game (just like on the Webkinz website). The other two games they had to pay money for. That was to buy their dinner and desert and to spin the "Wheel of Wow." At the end we had a "W Shop" where they could buy things (party favors) for their stuffed animals with the money the made at the party.

Here is Brad directing "Quizzy's Question Corner" (like trivial pursuit) with Alex and friends.

Here is Drew and his friends playing the "Curio Shop Gem Hunt" (I buried fake gems in sand and they had to find them)
Aunt Marissa helped with the party. Here we are letting the kids buy things at the "W Shop." They could buy a toy ball, crayons, gum, small stuffed animal and a blanket for their stuffed animals.
Alex and Drew with the poster Marissa made for our front door.
Alex modeling a game we played. It was like scrabble. We also had take offs on "Wacky Zingoz," "Zingoz Bounce," "Operation Gumball," "Chef Gazpachos" (dinner), and the "Wishing Well." The kids were invited for two hours and we took up every single minute of those two hours. I admit that I had as much fun, or more fun, than the kids.

Brad's Horrible Realization

2008-09-25T20:01:00.000-07:00

You know how children always identify with the characters in the movies they watch? I was thinking about the movies our boys watch and remembered how cute "Toy Story" is. It was then that I realized...

My children are Sid.

Small incidents

2008-09-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

I must admit to being hesitant to add a new post. It is hard to follow my last two posts with something else of interest. Don't misunderstand, I am grateful we haven't had anymore late night raids to write about. The reason is our door alarm. You all had great ideas (Velcro the boys p.j.s to the bed, put cages on their beds etc . . . )but the alarm was the winner. We activate the alarm before we go to bed and then disarm it in the morning. If the door is opened when it is activated it goes off. It is very loud (Brad wanted to do a sound bite but since he isn't here to show me how to do that you'll just have to take my word). Adam and Isaac hate it. I always feel so bad because it scares them. They say, "I not like that!" We have slept more peacefully since installing it.This isn't to say that we haven't had more messes. Here are a few of their activities during the day while my back is turned. They drew all around the walls in the family room with a pen. Here is a small sample.
They wiped some of their diaper rash cream on the side of the couch in our living room. Unfortunately it is in a most obvious spot.
Did you know that "Off" bug spray literally takes the paint "off" the walls? It is hard to see in the picture but they sprayed the wall above Adam's bed, part of their door, part of their dresser, and on part of the wall in the hall. I just need to figure out how to get it off so that I can repaint. It looks like streams coming down from the wall.
This was yesterday while I was cooking dinner. They sure had fun. They both asked to do it again. I let them play since it allowed me to finish getting dinner in the oven. We had clean up time while the dinner baked!
Cayden, Alex and Drew started school again at the end of August. Here they are the first day of school.
Alex and Drew are now in cub scouts with Cayden and I. They got their Bobcat rank at their first pack meeting.
Alex and Drew were baptised by their Dad the first part of September. It was a great day and we appreciate those who could come support them. Don't I have a handsome bunch of guys?

Breakfast anyone?

2008-08-20T06:16:00.001-07:00

Would you prefer:
a. hot dogs in a relish sauce
b. shaved turkey and peanut butter simmered in a light teriyaki, ketchup, and worcestershire sauce
c. peanut butter dollops with our special peppercorn dressing blend
d. shaved turkey lightly dusted with mayonnaise and bathed in a ketchup and worcestershire reduction
Brad claimed this morning that the boys were not intentionally trying to make a mess, as I suggested, but were actually trying to make us breakfast. He also claimed that this mess was not as bad as the last, but I disagree. Brad's point of view is naturally the cost - replacing half the contents of our fridge is a lot cheaper than a new camcorder. My point of view was simply the amount of time it took to clean (2.5 hours).

I got up early to go to the temple this morning. I noticed immediately that the light was on in the hall. Adam and Isaac were not in their beds. Brad soon heard, "No, no. . . . oh no, NO!!!!!" and came out to see the mess. I'm sure he knew once the first "no" left my mouth that it had something to do with Adam and Isaac. This is our "trail of destruction two!" (in our house, trails of destruction always come in two)
This is must be one of their cooking prep areas:And another:A full seven course meal, cooked while we were still asleep! What considerate children! (Thank goodness they didn't turn the oven on!!)
As always, we found the innocents sleeping. This time they were downstairs with the Gamecube (the rip in the coach was actually done by the older innocents some time ago):

It's time to raise our parental supervision level to defcon 2. Brad suggested we start sleeping in shifts. I think we'll have to start putting a lock on their door. Should my suggestion pass in committee then I've got to minimize the damage they might do in their room by removing all nonessential books, toys, clothes, bedding, furniture, etc.

Once Isaac woke up this morning Brad asked him, "What did you do this morning?" He replied, "I cook hot dogs, tip over."

Trail of Destruction

2008-08-14T07:06:00.000-07:00

Brad and I have been getting far too little sleep lately. Last night was no exception as we got home late from attending a Brian Reagan comedy show at Thanksgiving Point. We were both exhausted. I was awaken sometime in the night by lots of laughter. I found Adam and Isaac awake and out of bed. I escorted them back to bed and climbed back in bed myself. I heard them laughing again soon after and went and told them to go to sleep. I then drifted back into slumber. Apparently they did not and I was just too tired to wake up again. This morning Brad woke me up and said I need to come see the destruction.

What a mess! My first view was the cereal all over Adam and Isaac's bedroom floor (not a shocker, they've done that before), next was the living room. There was cereal on the couch and Adam was sitting there shoving a wooden block into the game cube (hopefully it still works).

Here is a picture of one of the culprits . . . Isaac

I next saw how the love seat was a pincushion for tacks and that there were staples, nails, paper clips, rubber bands etc. spread out all over it from a bin being dumped out. The desk was similar. They'd gotten out another bin (from the cupboard above the desk) and spread it out, not to mention dumping the pens and pencils out, but at least they dumped them in the proper drawer. I then saw ice cream on the floor in front of the fridge. Too bad they weren't hungry enough to eat what they'd gotten out. Oh yeah, there were some hash browns out too, but they were mostly left in the bag.

I noted that the camera and camcorder bags weren't in the cupboard. I could see Alex's fisher price camera on the ground too. I asked Brad if he'd seen the camcorder. Isaac said, "It's downstairs." I went down and it was tied up with the game cube cords on the entertainment center. It is broken. The bag and tapes were all over upstairs. Those are not all blue blocks on the couch in the picture with Isaac, there are also tapes. I settled for documenting the event with the camera which I soon found on the ground.

As Brad left for work he asked if I was going to blog the event. I said I would. When I went to put the memory card in the computer to do this blog I found that a piece is missing from the camera. It will not be impossible to get out the card and battery, but it will be a hastle. As I put in the memory card I found 44 pictures that has been taken by either Adam or Isaac. Here is proof that they had the camcorder.

I put both Adam and Isaac in time out (any ideas on what their consequence should be?) and started cleaning up. I realized right way that not all of the tacks were accounted for. Alex later found them for me downstairs. I haven't discovered if there is more damage downstairs yet.

So where all the little darlings? They both feel asleep in time out and I moved them to their beds. Don't they look angelic?

Yellowstone Vacation

2008-07-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

Brad has wanted to take a family vacation to Yellowstone for a while now but I said no to the idea because I had this fear of one of the boys falling into a hot geyser. I finally relaxed about it but by then everything was booked and we couldn't find a place to stay. I kept checking and was finally able to find what must have been a cancellation. We found a condo available in West Yellowstone. Yeah! Brad's youngest sister, Marissa, wanted to come along too! We left Wednesday July 16 and spent the night in Blackfoot, Idaho with Brad's grandmother. We then got up Thursday morning and headed to West Yellowstone. After a picnic lunch in their city park and after checking into our condo we went into the park. We spent the rest of Thursday, and all day Friday and Saturday enjoying the sites. Wow! I'd been there as a child but there is so much that I didn't remember. I'm not sure if the boys enjoyed it as much as Brad, Marissa and I, but they did have a good time. The best quote from the trip was Drew saying, "But I don't want to go to Redstone!"

Cayden and Adam at West Thumb Geyser Basin

We enjoyed a boat ride on Yellowstone Lake. We learned a lot, like that there are active geysers on the lake bottom.

Here we are enjoying ice cream cones after dinner.

The end!

Ross Family Reunion

2008-07-24T19:40:00.001-07:00

July 10-July 12

We hosted the whole Ross clan for our annual family reunion. Often our reunion is spent camping at Hogg Park in Wyoming, but sadly the trees were all eaten by pine beetles last year and it is now closed. I think we managed to still have a fun time. On Thursday half of the adults went to the Ogden Temple while the rest of us took the kids to the Tree House Children's Museum. On Friday we spent the majority of the day at Cherry Hill water park. That night we made and shot off bottle rockets across the street from our house. Saturday was low key with some time spent at the city park and the rest of the time we just enjoyed each other's company. It was a fun time.

Tagged!

2008-07-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

4 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Brad and I went to St. George, Utah to celebrate our first anniversary. I learned that you never go to St. George in July.
2. I was about one month pregnant with Cayden.
3. I was reading The Children of Promise books by Dean Hughes.
4. I was working at the MTC Health Clinic as a receptionist.

4 things I was doing 5 years ago:
1. Our family went to Washington State for a Ross Family Reunion.
2. I took my three boys on "Thursday Trips" all summer visiting various locations in Utah (Zoo, S&S Shortline Railroad in Kaysville, Dinosaur Park in Ogden etc.)
3. Brad and I went on a get away to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
4. I played too much spider solitaire.

4 things I did yesterday:
1. I did laundry (Monday is laundry day!) and put the house back in order after having the Ross Family Reunion at my home this past week.
2. Ate 1/2 bag of carrots (I have an addiction- watch for orange skin soon)
3. I researched the prices for bike racks- wow they cost a lot.
4. I got the closest I've ever gotten to the creek in our backyard. I had to rescue the boys football that had managed to get in it.

4 tv shows that I like:
1. Psych
2. Arrested Development (Brad's gotten into this and invites me to watch)
3. I survived a Japenese Game Show (another Brad influnce)
4. Olympic tryouts (Lindsey influence)

Do any of these count since I watch every one of them on my computer and not the t.v?

4 biggest Joys in my life now:
1. Flower gardening
2. Sleeping children (you wanted honesty right?)
3. Reading
4. Hanging out with the Cleverly Family (neighbors)
5. Brad (oops, I had to add one more)

4 things you don't know about me:
1. I just finished listening to The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough on c.d. (It was fascinating!!!!)
2. I bought three books at Barnes and Noble today (The new Artemis Fowl book and two books about Yellowstone to take on our trip tomorrow)
3. My Grandpa Ross called me Snickle Fritz
4. I just planted Sedum on the side of my house.

4 people I TAG, if you want to:
1. Hilary
2. Ashley
3. Brandon and Michelle
4. Lucy

July starts with a bang

2008-07-15T13:31:00.000-07:00

I must admit that besides a trip to Wyoming in June, last month was boring. July will not be the same. We have most of our summer fun scheduled in July (I hope August isn't too dull!).

Our fun started on July 4th. We went to Centerville to watch the parade with the Farmers (all of Brad's siblings were home for the holiday). Besides the parade, we had a nice picnic lunch and the kids had fun trying to catch water balloons that we were being launched by their dad and uncles from the next door neighbor's yard.

The boys all had the chance to catch water balloons but all exclaimed that it hurt. The adults enjoyed watching and even an occasional hit ourselves, to cool down. Adam and Isaac preferred the little swimming pool with their cousin, Elise.

Our tradition is to do our own fireworks in the front yard (don't tell the boys but it gets them to bed earlier). For most of the fireworks they had to watch from a distance, but they did like getting into the smoke bombs path.

We had a fun visit a few days later with the Miskins. Brad and Russell were roommates at BYU and when Brad and I got married we lived in the same complex as Russell and Jen. We've kept in touch since then. They live in South Carolina and were in Utah for a few weeks. We enjoyed having them in our home. Russell got some of the kids to make boats from the sticks in the backyard and then he launched them off the bridge into the creek that goes through our backyard. We enjoyed a BBQ later with both the Miskins and the Buskirks (more college friends). We topped the evening off with a tour of Brad's work (I watched 13 of 14 children on the front lawn while the adults went inside) and with fireworks. After the kids were in bed we adults enjoyed a late night visit.

Why I am the mother of boys

2008-07-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

I have been composing this blog in my head since last October. We actually set up our blog at that time, but I just never got around to doing it. The idea has remained and I am glad I can finally express it. I have learned why I have all sons.

I have been working with the Cub Scouts at church for 2 years now. Last October the theme for the month was "Down on the Farm." In the program helps I came across an idea for a neckerchief slide. It was to make cow pies. I was so excited and thought it would be lots of fun. I even special ordered the flies from Zurchers.

The cow pies were made with plaster of paris. My first attempt looked like our cow had the runs so Brad helped me thicken them. What a great guy! I selected a perfect shade of brown. I was so pleased how they turned out (Cayden is my model).

I was showing them off to a few friends and they
were not impressed, which surprised me. I
thought they were adorable and worth a great laugh. It was at that time that I realized I must have a sense of humor that was meant for boys. I realize this is all just funny, but it was also a comfort. You'll have to all let me know if you think they are cute or not. Maybe you'll find that you are meant to have all daughters (if it were only that simple huh?)

To be honest, it wasn't just the neckerchief slides that convinced me about why I have all boys. I have also been observing those around me who have daughters and have found that girls have a lot of emotions that I am not used to. My hats off to all of you who have girls. I am very happy with boys- well, most of the time!

Home Improvement

2008-06-30T07:58:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a few new projects. I'd intended to show them in reversed order, but I am still learning how to go about adding pictures and this is how they came out. Oh well. I have been excited to show off my home improvements, but was going to have to wait until you came for a visit. It is exciting to be able to share them in a blog.

Brad and I recently painted our bedroom and it was fun to be able to decorate a little. Tilly has had pictures of her children above her bed for years and I always wanted to try something like it. Here is what I've got. I am pleased with it except for the extra holes behind the pictures from trying to center everything. The quote about joy is to remind me of it when I'm not feeling it.

When I was in Wyoming my Mom and I worked on curtains for Adam and Isaac's room. My friend Darcy had suggested the pattern and the fabrics match the quilts I made for their beds. I was able to get most of the sewing done in Wyoming since Isaac was sick for part of it and I didn't have to follow him around. I did have to take breaks to hold him. I think they turned out so well!!!!

Here is a picture of our desk area. We have had our computer on a table for nearly four years. Since the computer is here to stay we decided to give it a more permanent home and also to get all of our desk supplies out of the laundry room. It is a nice addition to our home!

I love home improvements!

Our Isaac

2008-06-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

I planned on showcasing some of my new projects for my first blog, but then I saw Isaac and changed my mind. We noticed he was missing after dinner. After a brief search Brad found him in the garage. He'd gotten into some paint that I'd left out to return to a neighbor. He'd opened the bottle and painted himself. I also discovered some extra art work he'd done, besides himself. Our van. Fortunately both Isaac and the van were fairly easy to clean up. The only casualty was his shirt. I couldn't get the green paint out of it. Isaac didn't want his picture taken so I had to hold him up to get a picture- I'd have preferred to stay out of the shot. Thankfully these experiences with Isaac are getting less frequent, but he is the one child I really have to watch out for.