Wood Carving

My sister Bethany is getting started into wood carving. She made Andy's plaque of the Alamo. She has since done other plaques, some gun stocks, and some drift wood that are amazing. She just entered a wood carving show and won a couple second places and a couple third places. I as so excited for her that I just had to show off some of her talent!

You can check out more of her work by going to her blog by clicking "TBA" in the family and friends blogs on the right hand side of my blog.

Locked Out!

It has been about a week ago, but I am just now getting around to posting. Anyway, it was a typical Thursday night. Andy got home from work and we all ate dinner together. The boys played with him until bedtime. Then we went through the nightly ritual of pj's, reading the scriptures, saying prayers, and Dad's famous 'Jack & the Bean stock' story. The boys really enjoy the bonding with Dad.

Bradley went to sleep pretty quickly as usual. Daniel on the other hand, kept sneaking out of his room to check on Mom & Dad. We were in the front room relaxing and watching something very forgettable on TV. After Daniel had come out 2-3 times I told Andy that we needed to close the door so Daniel couldn't keep coming out. Andy, being the good, obedient husband that he is, closed the door and came back in the front room.

Soon we could hear Daniel playing with the door knob. He has recently learned how to open doors, and it sounded as if he were practicing opening and closing the door. After a few minutes it was really quiet. Then we heard in a small voice, "Mom...open my door please." I decided to go check on him and put him back into bed. When I got down the hall and tried to open the door I discovered I was locked out! The locks on the door are the kind that need a real key. Unfortunately we don't have keys for the lock.

For the next hour Andy and I took turns trying to talk Daniel through unlocking the door. Andy even drew a picture of a door knob with the lock colored from two different angles. We described the lock as a hill and when that didn't work we tried calling it a nose. Daniel thought the nose thing was very funny! He kept saying, "Nose! Nose!" He thought the whole thing was pretty funny. We even tried using a hair pin to try and pick the lock. They make it look so easy on the movies...but we had no luck!

We knew that Bradley could unlock the door if Daniel could get him to wake up. We told Daniel several times to wake Bradley up. Then we would hear his little voice saying, "Badley wake up!" Every once in a while we would hear Bradley start to whine, but we couldn't get him to come unlock the door. (When Bradley goes to sleep he is a very deep sleeper. It is hard to wake him up, and when you succeed he is an ornery little bear!) Andy kept telling me that it was okay because Bradley would unlock the door in the morning.

I still wanted the door unlocked because Daniel still wakes up crying in the night on occasion. He is really good to go right back to sleep if you go in and tuck him back into bed, so I suggested that Andy check their window out on the porch. I usually keep it locked, but we have had suck nice weather as of late, that I had opened it several times. As luck would have it the window was unlocked. Andy got the screen off and started to crawl threw the window. Daniel was having so much fun! This was definitely an adventure to him. Bradley on the other hand was sulking in his spot because we were making so much noise and he wanted to sleep.

Andy showed Daniel how to unlock the door once he got in there. Then I promptly switched the knob around so that it would lock in the hall instead of the bed room. All I needed was for Daniel to lock himself in again during nap time when Bradley wasn't in there with him. Then Bradley or I would have to climb threw the window again to unlock it. Can you just see me 31 ish weeks a long climbing on top of a chair on the porch so I can crawl threw the window? Not gonna happen!!

The next day Bradley was showing Daniel how to unlock the door. Then later while Daniel was in the bath tub and Bradley was suppose to be getting dressed, I hear, "Mom can you unlock my door!" So this last weekend we went to Home Depo. and bought cheap knobs that can be unlocked with a quarter, a screw driver or even a strong fingernail. Don't worry Aunt Bethany...being locked out will not be an issue when you get here.

P.S. I will do an update on the pregnancy soon! Until then everything is going really well!!

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Last week one of our friends returned from a two + month deployment, so we volunteered to let their little boy come play while they had a date night just the two of them. Aiden and the boys played really well together. As it got closer to bed time we decided they needed to unwind, so I let them watch a couple Thomas the Train episodes on my bed. They were all in their pj's snuggling with their blankets. Then Andy went in to check on them and ended up getting stuck in their with them. I thought it was so cute I had to take a couple pictures.

We are glad you made it back Joe!

Sept. 10-11, 2009

Labor Day Weekend Videos

Friday morning the boys played for a couple hours outside. They were having so much fun I had to document it. There was a great deal of squealing and running going on!

I realize this video documents a little bit of violence, but it is the only one I have of Bradley actually hitting the ball. This one is for you Uncle Scott!

I had to do this one because I thought Bradley was so funny dancing around while he was waiting for the ball. Daniel is pretty funny too, as he pretends to be offended that it wasn't his turn. (What do you think Uncle Scott? Has he got a great stance or what?)

The boys usually play really well together. This video shows how well they get a long most of the time. I love to listen to them laughing and playing.

A Long Weekend with Dad!

We love long weekends when we can play with our Dad! This was a 4 day weekend for our Dad. We did all kinds of fun things with him. Here are some pictures of a few of the fun things we did.

Our weekend started off with Bradley doing his "own birthday shopping." He got money from his grandmas and had lots of fun picking things out. He still has enough to pay tithing and put some in his piggy bank.

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Friday:

Friday morning we got to sleep in/snuggle with Dad!

It was really more of a wrestling match than snuggling after a little while, which is why I am not in bed, but taking a picture of the wild things who kicked me out of bed!
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We played in the back yard a LOT! It was funny because every time Andy tried to come in to get a drink or talk to me Bradley and Daniel would follow him in and say, "Dad we aren't done with you yet!" I just had to laugh!! It made Andy's day though. The boys are definitely his weak spot! :)

Check out the chalk foot prints!

Bradley is getting pretty good at hitting the ball after practicing so much with Dad. This was taken just before that ball hit me and came bouncing into the house.

The boys love the get water on the cement and "make tracks!" They can do that for hours.
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The boys washed both cars this weekend. It has been a long time since we washed them last and they both really needed it!

The boys had more fun with the bubbles than they did actually washing the car, but they did stick with it the whole time!

While they were washing the car I was baking the cookies Bradley and I mixed earlier in the day. Bradley really has become my very best helper!!

Daniel loves to do anything Bradley or Daddy are doing. I think he will turn out to be a great big helper too.

Daniel helped Bradley get a few too many bubbles this time.

They did a great job with the cars. Now we just need another day to do the inside of the cars.

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Saturday:

Bradley got the blue truck last year for his birthday, the red truck this year from his cousins, and the orange one with his birthday money. While we were looking at the toys to see what he wanted to buy he said, "Mom, I have that blue one. I have the red on too...but I don't have that one!" Now he has three of the four trucks in the set! He loves his trucks and trailers.
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We got invited to help our primary mascot celebrate her 1st birthday! They had all kinds of fun things for us to do. The boys loved the bouncy house.

Ben, Daniel, Andrew, Bradley and Logan.

Ben really enjoyed the cupcakes!

Anna did too!

They also had little bottles of bubbles! Daniel was so excited to be able to blow the bubbles all by himself. Then he spilled them on the bounce house. I tried to wash it off a little with my water bottle, but it didn't work very well.

The air blowing out of the seams made lots of bubbles. It was kind of fun to watch!

Daniel was a little bit sad that his bubbles were all gone.

Bradley also got in on the water balloons. He was caring it around like it was the most precious thing he had ever held. It didn't take him long to catch on to the whole throwing it to get others wet.

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Andy occasionally plays Age of Empires III. It has been a long time since he played, but Bradley remembered and asked him a couple times if they could play it. Finally he gave in and the boys loved it! Bradley caught on fast and I would often hear him say, "Dad, Dad! The bad guys are attacking!"

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Sunday:

It occurred to me that I didn't ever get a picture of Bradley in his new church clothes with his belt, so I wanted to get a picture before we headed out to church. Daniel immediately wanted to get in on the photo shoot. These are my favorite ones!

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Monday:

We decided that for our Labor Day we would have a picnic in the park with our Jensen friends. We went to Lagoon Valley Park. It turned out to be a great day for a picnic and the boys enjoyed playing Frisbee.

Daniel and Andrew playing catch with our Dad.

Andrew going for the catch.

Dad cookin' the hot dogs!

We felt bad that we didn't take anything for the ducks and geese...maybe next time.

I thought this was so cute!

Bradley, Andrew, Josh, Daniel, Dad & Logan.

Their dad is in the oral surgery program here at the base, so he couldn't come with us. We are glad they were able to come play with us today!Daniel, Josh, Bradley & Dad

Andy asked them if they thought they could count all the ducks. The boys didn't think they could, so they settled on counting the white ones.

Sept. 4-7, 2009

Swimming Pool Super Heros!

We had a couple of pretty hot days this last week, so we decided to do a little swimming with our cousins. The kids had a lot of fun. Bradley out lasted ALL of the kids though. Everyone else came in and changed, but Bradley kept on playing in the pool. The kids were taking turns running and jumping in the pool. Seth was pretty funny to watch so I decide to try and get them in the air.

Unfortunately I never did get a really good one of Anna in the air.

Anna doing a half twist.

This is the only one I got of Seth, but it is just so good!

Bradley trying to copy Seth's style!

It was really entertaining to watch them run and jump.

Things did get a little wild in the pool. I think Jake and Seth collided enough that Jake called it a day before all the running and jumping started. Daniel loved to watch and take turns running up to the pool, but he wasn't getting in with those wild things!

Daniel got in at the very beginning, but soon lost interest when the splashing and wild play started.

Anna, Jake, Bradley Seth & Daniel. Daniel kept begging to get out!

Happy 4th Birthday!

We celebrated Bradley's 4th birthday at a couple different times due to the fact that the boys got a nasty little cold. We did presents on his actual birthday and then went to have cake and ice cream with our cousins a different day. Just so you don't feel too bad for him, we did have brownies on his birthday!

Cake and Ice cream with our cousins.
Bradley looks stoned, but it is really just his cold.

Bradley showing us how old he is.

Bradley has always been afraid to get ice out of the fridge door because of the noise it makes. He is good to get me water, but can't do the ice. A couple days after his birthday he finally got some ice and water out of the door. Andy and I were so proud of him. We made a big deal out of it and he said to us, "Yeah, I am big now. I am 4 years old!" We just laughed and laughed. Bradley certainly keeps us surprised and entertained.

August 21 & 23, 2009