Harry and Grant are both huge fans of Geo Trax. Our family has a tendency to find a toy that we like and then buy a bunch of them. Harry and Grant have both been collecting these for birthday and Christmas's the last couple of years. They are so fun!

We have collected 4 different sets now and they all hook together.

Oh and that weird noise you hear is Grant playing with a guitar....not the trains.

Man, I should get paid for advertising Geo Trax so much!

It has been real nice having this long break off from school. We haven't done much but have enjoyed lounging around the house, playing with no where we need to be or rush off to. The kids have been having fun playing with all their Christmas toys, making forts, playing war, reading and just relaxing.

Mitchell has become very conscience lately with trying to be "cool". Lately when we go out to the store, he will do his hair or wears his hoodie, has his new wallet (and chain that attaches to his pants) and his sunglasses on. And while he waits for me to shop he leans back against something with his arms folded and one foot up against the wall behind him. Mr Joe Cool. He is so different than Paige. Half the time Paige leaves the house with food all over her face, hair not combed and a dirty shirt on. I have to send her back into the house to change. She really just doesn't notice or care what she looks like half the time. (unless she is getting dressed up to go somewhere nice, then she will care and put effort into it). It is so fun to see their different personalities.

Paige has dubbed herself a fish geek. She spent her Christmas money on fish, fish books, fish breeders, fish food, etc. She is very excited to try and start to breed her fish. It is all she talks about lately. Paige is someone who loves to have a hobby and can really focus in and learn as much as she can about the subject. She is so fun to be around.

More to come.....

Our family has adopted another family we know that needed a little cheering up this Christmas so we decided to "Pixie" them.
I bought a nativity set that had 12 pieces in it. Every night we wrap up another piece and leave it on their doorstep along with a little gift (cookies, candy, etc). I can't even explain how much fun this has been for the kids. Mitchell is always talking about our plans of execution, who is going to "fly solo" that night, and deciding what to do if we get caught.
It has helped so much to put our family into the Christmas spirit this year!

Matt got a new calling. He is the 1st counselor in Elders Quorum. President Dorious set him apart and gave him a great blessing. He talked about Matt's gift of "loving life" and his ability to share that with others. It is so true! No matter what is going on in his life Matt can find the positive and something to laugh at. He also blessed Matt with "joy and stability in his job at work". Not that Matt was particularly worried about his job, but in this economy that is a nice blessing to have from the Lord. I am excited for him and think he will do a great job.

I love this time of year! The kids are SOOO excited about Christmas. Especially Harry. I think this is the perfect age for Christmas. He FULLY understands what is going to happen and so he has all the anticipation of Christmas morning without any of the nagging doubts about Santa Claus and if he is real. It is going to be great!

You ever have one of those moments where you child brings tears to your eyes because you are so proud of them? I had one of those moments tonight.

Earlier in the day I had taken the kids to Target to buy things so that we could put together a small care package for some of the soldiers. We had talked a lot about what it would be like to be away from your family during Christmas time and how thankful we should be to these great men and women serving our country.

So, tonight we were sitting around the table and as a family writing letters/cards to a unit of soldiers who are serving in Afghanistan. Mitchell left for a while and went upstairs. When he came back down I saw him slip something into one of the letters he had written. Then he sealed up the envelope and went on to writing the next one. I asked him what he had put into his letter and he got shy and said, "I gave him my two dollars."

Mitchell had been saving that money for a few weeks. He was trying to save up enough money to buy something special. I was so proud of him for being so giving and thoughtful that it brought tears to my eyes as I hugged him and told him that I was sure that the lucky soldier that got his money would be really thankful for it.

What a good Christmas spirit he brings to our home. He has a very sweet and tender heart and we are so lucky to have him in our family.

We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving this year. We hosted and had Tony, Traci, Landon, Nana and Megan over. Thanksgiving is just a great time of year! I cooked all day but it was worth it! I was pretty proud at how well everything turned out. It was a very juicy turkey!









Paige won 2nd place in her Turkey contest in 5th grade. She is so fun and creative!

Mitchell was chosen again as Student of the Month! His teacher loves him so much this year and he is doing so great! I am so proud of him.

I did my yearly major power shopping once again this morning. It's hard but it's worth it to be able to stretch out our money as far as we can. The kids are getting so excited for Christmas. It is going to be so fun!

We got all our decorations and lights up. It feels really early to have it all up but the kids were so excited and it is fun to do with all of themhome this weekend.

Well last week was a crazy one. I came down with the flu. The doctor thought it was H1N1 and ordered some Tamiflu. I was sick but doing okay until the flu triggered a migraine. It was one of the worst ones I have ever experienced. Matt had to take me to the ER for a shot and it was a really rough day for me. But I am SO thankful to be up and feeling well again.

We had a really fun Halloween weekend. I took the little ones trick-or-treating at the library, we had our ward Halloween party, went to Papa and Mimi's Halloween party, and went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. At least we got some mileage out of all the costumes we bought!

We also went to the pumpkin patch and everyone got to go on a pony ride! Grant LOVED it and was shouting YEEE-HAWWWW the whole time!

Paige is keeping us all busy with her play practice. It is next weekend and so they are practicing every day now. She told me today on the way home that she has decided she knows what classes she wants to take in high school: Drama, Cello, Swimming, Art, and Spanish. I told her she might have to fit some math and science in there somewhere. She definitely likes to be going, going, going all the time.

Grant is changing so much! He really isn't a baby anymore. He is playing, talking and fighting more on an equal level with his brothers and demanding his rightful place as one of them. I told him to do something last night and he gave me a big sigh and then said, "FINE!" Our family is growing up and I am fine with that! It's kind of fun not to have a baby in the house anymore because of the freedom it gives us. I love my four kids so much and life is so full with them.

We have been so busy lately. I will be very happy when football and Paige's play is over. I really don't have the time to write out a bunch of long posts but there are a few things that I wanted to get down. So......Things I want to remember:
*How cute Grant looks in his Monkey Costume.
*How Grant says the word candy: nanny!
*How particular Harry was with his costume and how I lucked out by finding what he wanted on ebay. I never did get him gold boots though...Sorry Harry!
*What a good big sister Paige is. She is always willing and happy to pitch in and help...especially with Grant. She often helps him without even being asked. She is going to be a great mom.
*How hard Mitchell has worked at football. He really has given it his all.
*How much I love my YW and how much I pray for them everyday that they can make good choices and really learn that they are daughters of God.
*How grateful I am for Matt and how he really pulls himself up from his bootstraps and moves on no matter what life throws him. He is a really good dad and is there for his kids ALWAYS. Matt is who he is...only because he is Matt. (he knows what I mean by that)
*Riding the ponies at the pumpkin patch.
*Grant's love of Barney
*Piggyback rides after family prayer
*Harry using the Hymn book as his scriptures each night.
*What a good grandpa Paul is.
*Praying for Hilary and her family(swine flu). Praying for Susanne (possible moving). Praying for my Grandma and Mom (Grandma getting close to passing away soon).

Harry and Grant have been having a lot of fun with their imagination lately.

Grant has always loved to pretend to be a monkey or a doggy. But the last week or so he has been pretending to be a cowboy. He runs around the house and shots YEEE-HAWWWW and pretends to throw a lasso. He is very cute!

Harry is all about his pretend friends right now. He has three of them. One boy and two girls. Their names are Sign, Left and Right (can you tell we were driving home while he decided on these names???). They are 12, 4 and 2. He talks about them non-stop and really loves to have them over to spend the night. Oh, and they live in Utah next door to his cousins.

Kids are so much fun!

When I was putting Harry to bed tonight we were talking about different Prophets. Then we started talking about Adam. This is how our conversation went:
Me: Who was our first prophet?
Harry: Adam.
M: That's' right! And what did he do?
H: He was in the garden.
M: That's right!
H: Mom, why was he eaten?
M: What? Adam wasn't eaten by anything?
H: Uh huh! Adam was in a garden and then was eaten!
M: LOL! You mean The Garden of EDEN?
H: Ya! See! The Garden of Eaten!

Then I had to explain to him that Adam was not "eaten up" in the garden, but that it was his home and that it was called the Garden of Eden.
I think he still doesn't believe me though!

Grant's personality is emerging more and more everyday as his talking improves. My new favorite thing that he says is "Sure!" He has never said Yes. For a long time he said NO to everything! Then for awhile when he wanted to say Yes he would just repeat the last word you said to him. So I would say, "Grant, you want a cookie?" and he would say "Cookie!"
But now we have finally moved on to "Sure!" He says it like "Sore" and it makes me giggle every time he says it.

When Grant wants every one's attention (which is hard to get when you are the youngest in a family of six) he starts screaming, "GUYS! GUYS! GUYS!" until finally someone will talk to him. Poor guys just wants people to listen to him!

He is trying to learn his colors now. Well, he knows the different colors. Like if I say, "hand me the pink one" ... he will do it. But if you show him something and ask him what color it is he always says Green or Blue. Weird??

Forgot to add:
My other thing to do with Grant is read his favorite book "Where the Wild Things Are". He loves that book and acts it all out and says all the words. I should video tape us reading it together.

So today is the day that Paige gives her big speech to the school and they vote. She is up against 3 other boys for Treasurer.
Here is a photo of her practicing her speech this morning.

So Paige has decided to run for school Treasurer in student council! Anyone that knows Paige knows of her love for all things money. She has a coin collection and a large Piggy Bank collection! She talked non-stop about what she is going to say in her speech and how she is going to make her posters. She is very excited about this and I think she will be perfect!

We had a great weekend this Labor Day. Travis's surprised everyone and decided to come down and hang out with us. We had a blast with them! Everyone got to go to Mitchell's football game and then over to Papa and Mimi's to swim and have a BBQ. Then Sunday we hung out all day again. The cousins love to run around like banshees with each other, Megan and I love to talk each other's ears off and Matt and Travis love to sit around and talk business.
Monday Travis left to go home and Matt and I took the kids to Boomers, and then to go swim some more.
It was also fun to hang out with Tony and Traci (and Traci's mom) and baby Landon. He is so cute and I could hold him all day!

Here is a video of Grant just hanging out (playing dress-up). At the end of the video he says that he is going to give his bear to Traci's baby. I thought that was sweet! Or maybe he just wants to buy Traci's baby a bear?? Either way he thinks the baby needs one. LOL

I had a great day today! I am 33 years old! I have so many blessings in my life that I can't help but be happy and reflect on all God has given me.

Last Saturday was Mitchell's first time playing. It was a round robin! It was a very hot humid day but Mitchell did great! Football is fun to watch....I really enjoy it.
Here is the trophy Paige got for being the Best Improved Girl on her team. She is very proud of it!

Grant was constantly climbing out of his crib so I finally gave in and got him a big boy bed (thanks Emily)!

Harry always keeps me on my toes. He always wants to know what day of the week it is and often asks, "Is it Monday today?", etc.
Anyway, this is the conversation I had with him in the car today:

H: Mom, is it tomorrow?
M: No, today is today.
H: When will it be tomorrow?
M: Well, tomorrow will be tomorrow.
H: Nu-uh, cause tomorrow you will tell me it is today.
M: Every day is today and tomorrow just describes the next day that's going to be coming.
(At this point he was quiet for a while then he said in a sad voice)
H: It's no fair that we never get to have tomorrow happen.

I am still confused at that conversation. He cracks me up!

Mitchell found out tonight that he was going to be a 49'er! (He really wanted to be on the Viking's team cause they have won the last 2 Superbowl's. But I am excited he is a Niner because they practice at the closer high school!)
He worked so hard this week and I am so proud of him! We will see how he does when he is in full pads!

I took Mitchell to go get his physical today for football. It's the first time that he had to do the whole "turn your head and cough" experience. When the doctor told him what was going to happen he looked surprised at the doctor, then at me and then back at the doctor. I realize now that I should have prepared him a bit for that experience. Oh well, I guess that is what you get for being the oldest boy....you have to go through everything first.

I can't believe how quickly the cost of football is adding up:
Registration 200
Cleats 40
mouth guard 15
practice jersey 15
Girdle ? (haven't bought this one yet)
white t-shirt for try-outs 5
New water bottle 10
And who knows what else we will end up buying by the time football actually starts.
CRAZY! This is why we do only one sport at a time in our house. (Well at least while Harry and Grant are still small and can get away with it)

I bought Mitchell his mouth guard for football. (He has try-outs on Monday.)
He has worn his mouth guard ALL DAY today. Literally
Well this evening we went over to one of my dad's rental houses tonight to check on something for him. The key we had didn't work and so we were trying to see if we could get in some how.
Mitchell turned to Matt and said, "Don't worry dad. I have my mouth guard in. I can break the door down."
Hahaha.....apparently having a mouth guard in makes you have super powers!

The last few weeks have been very busy. Mitchell and Harry have been both been taking swim lessons. They have both been doing great and making a lot of improvements! (Maybe I will post photos later...i'm too tired to go find my camera now)

We have been playing outside every evening with the kids and thier toys and bikes. The weather has cooled down a lot and so it has been pleasent every night. This is one of the best things about summer. The long fun nights.

Paige has only two swim meets left....this Saturday and next week. It has been a lot of fun to see how much she has improved the last few months. I am so proud of her. Mitchell starts football in a week or so. I am really worried about him and how he is going to handle it. He usually surprises me so I guess we will wait and see.

Matt and I are still both really busy with the youth in the church. It keeps us on our toes and we are thankful for the oportunity to be with them.

I have a new favorite EASY and FAST meal. I am always on the hunt for these meals and use them when I am in a pinch....especially on days where we are running late from some kind of practice.

Okay first make some kind of garlic/Parmesan bread in the oven. You can either buy them ready to go in your frozen food section or the bakery or how ever you like to make it.

While that is cooking in the oven I make the meatballs. Once again you can make them from scratch or if you are going for the easy/fast idea just grab a bag of frozen meatballs at the store. I nuke them in the microwave for a minute then throw them in a sauce pan.
Then I pour in some kind of Italian/spaghetti sauce like Prego over them....enough to coat the meatballs well.

Then throw it all together: place the meatballs onto the bottom half of the bread. Then you can sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese or put on a slice of mozzarella cheese. Then put on the top part of the bread.

Everyone in my family loves them and they are super fast and easy.

What a fun weekend! Travis and his family came to Turlock and Hilary's family (minus Chris) has been here for a while. We had a great time with everyone here.
On Friday we all piled into our cars and went to SF (minus Tony and Traci because Tony had a kidney stone). We went to the exploratorium which is a huge science museum. We had 6 boys in our car on the way up! Papa got a little lost but eventually found it. The kids had a blast being able to run around and try all the different experiments.

We also we went up to the Oakland temple. It was fun to walk around the temple with all of the grandkids together. (I didn't have my camera then...sorry)

Then we went back to Papa and Mimi's for Tommy's birthday party, swimming, ice cream, playing "papa says", wrestling with Uncle Tony and just hanging out with family.









The next day was Saturday. All the boys left and went to go play at Boomers. They did put-put golf, climbed the rock wall, and did the go-carts. They all said they had a lot of fun.









The girls stayed home and got ready for Traci's baby shower. I have to say a HUGE thank you to my mom for all the money/time/effort she put in to make it a nice shower for Traci. Everything looked great if I say so myself. Traci had a good turn-out and got a lot of really nice things. We are all very excited to have a new baby around!

I haven't blogged in awhile but that is because not much is going on with us. It's summer vacation right now so we are working hard to find ways to fill our days. This means a lot of trips to the park and Dell Taco.

I am so proud of Paige today. She had her first "real" swim meet. There were 4 teams there today. She swam in 4 races. 50 backstroke, 50 breaststroke, 50 freestyle, and the relay where she did 50 freestyle.

When Paige first started a month ago she didn't know how to do any of the strokes properly and therefore was the slowest on her team. But Paige has come leaps and bounds and did great today. She shaved time off every race that she did today (36 sec, 14 sec, and 9 seconds) compared to last time her time was recorded.

She won first place (in her heats) in the 50 back and relay, 2nd place in the breast, and 4th in the 50 free! She was so proud of her self.

At the next meet she will be bumped up to a more difficult heat and so probably wont win those but she is still so excited to be improving.

She has worked so hard every day after school and now it is paying off! I didn't take any photos today cause it is kind of crazy madhouse trying to make sure she gets lined up for the right race. Next meet I will make sure I take some photos.

We went camping this last weekend! It was a weekend with real highs and lows. We tried really hard all weekend but didn't catch any fish. Paige was especially disappointed.



We did have a blast just being away from it all and visiting with family for 4 days. The kids were allowed to play with some hatchets Papa had (don't worry, they were dull) and so they hacked away at logs all weekend and thought that was great.

The bad part of the weekend was when Grant fell and got hurt. He started to run and tripped and hit his face on a cement pad. The poor guy's eyed swelled right up. He now has a black eye and a huge scratch/cut on his face. We were all happy that it wasn't any worse. It's two days later and his eye is still swollen and he now has a huge scab. Poor guy!