New bed

Gideon upgraded to a toddler bed last night. Ayla in FINALLY out of the tiny bassinet and in a regular crib. I predict she doesn't take long to go from one end to the other at night. I also predict Gideon falls out of bed alot the first week.....so far so good. My kiddos are so cute when they sleep!

Trunk or Treat

Brady REALLY wants to do a family costume every year for Halloween and I just don't ever get around to it.....until this year. He LOVES zombies - it must be a man thing - but the kids didn't want to be zombies......so we compromised and did the Plants vs. Zombies video game. Ayla was "eating" her way out of my tummy - such a cute baby zombie. Gideon was the sunshine token the player earns as zombies are killed - his sunshine was taped to the back of his shirt so he wouldn't rip it off. Zenock was the green pea shooter plant. Ammon was the blue pea shooter plant. Brady was the daddy zombie. We had such a good time. I really enjoyed doing the latex makeup for the zombie effect. It made me miss my theater makeup class at ISU back in the day. We opened one of our van doors and made a Frankenstein head for it. The other side was black and said BOO and a ghost spray painted in white. We has some glowy balloons taped to the antenna. It was so awesome!! I am really happy I got on the ball this year and actually made the effort to do a family theme complete with vehicle decoration.

This was at our church parking lot tonight for the trunk or treat tradition. We had chili and cornbread in the parking lot. Carnival games were set up in the center of the lot and all the cars parked around the perimeter. It was so awesome, and we could not have had better weather. There was no breeze, and the temps were in the low 80's today so it made the evening wonderfully pleasant.

Zenock the green pea shooter

Best looking zombie couple in the world.

8 is great!

Singing the Happy birthday song

Opening his double barrel nerf shotgun....he's been wanting this thing for over a year now.

Gideon loved Ammon's card from my family because it sang a song. He kept opening and closing it to make it sing again.

Lego Ninjago icecream cake. It's supposed to be the black ninja, but I just really suck a getting food coloring to do black. It always comes out purple. Thank you Sam for letting me borrow your cake decorating tips!!!!

The birthday loot: nerf shotgun from siblings, scriptures and case from us, plants vs zombies and lego ninjago ds games from Brady's parents, two different nerf guns and extra darts from Brady's sister's family, and the totally awesome cub scout uniform from my parents - he can't wait to go to scouts next week!

This picture belongs at the beginning. We surprised him with chocolate chip cookies - Ammon's favorite - for his class on his birthday. He insisted he get a picture with his two cute friends, Angie and Kaylie.

Sharing

Do you want to know what makes a whiney toddler happy? Sharing my ice with him....it works almost every time.

Saying truck

Here he is getting excited about truck videos on youtube. It's so fun to watch him!

Gideon's word list

So far these are the words Gideon actually says:
-ball
-truck (meaning anything large, from delivery truck to bus, semi, construction, etc.)- sounds like agackga
-dog (whether he can see them or just hear them barking)-sounds like agackga
-cracker
-bye bye
-hello (while putting something up to his or another's ear for a phone)
-hi (accompanied by a very loud voice and animated wave)
-Ayla (he says the "la" sound while sticking his tongue out and wagging it back and forth)
-banana- sounds like anana
-all done
-car -sounds like ga
-all gone
-oh dude
-boo

His sign language vocabulary hasn't increased yet but these are the signs he knows:
more
please
thank you
vacuum
all done or all gone
milk
food

He is really good at following simple directions. He knows dirty diapers go in the trash. If he sees one he will throw it away without being asked. He knows dryer lint and dryer sheets also go in the trash.

Gideon's giggles

A few weeks ago my friend and her girls came over to borrow my Silhouette. Her oldest daughter is 4 months older than Gideon......apparently they like to do similar things. Who knew that throwing rocks was so entertaining? I love watching life through the eyes of a child.

Jumping beans

She was watching me vacuum

She loves this jumper. She'll be content in it for over an hour straight.

It's getting colder

Finally, the temperatures are getting to very comfortable levels around here. Today we had crazy wind speeds though, so even though it was 70* at 6:30pm, it felt like 50*. We got caught outside in it for two hours of soccer practice, and silly me didn't think to have everyone change into pants and bring jackets. It was freezing!! We have shorts weather during the day and pants/jackets when the sun goes down....it feels like Idaho :) I am now aware of my sensitivity to cooler temperatures. It makes me feel like I am turning into a heat rat. Thanks alot Vegas....you've made me go from a tough Idaho girl to a wimpy Vegas 85* lover. At this point in time I would still rather have Idaho weather all the time than the extreme summer heat we have here. I am honestly looking forward to when Brady can apply for promotions and such north of here. Graduation, hurry up and get here already!!

3 Doors Down Concert

Tonight the Americans For Prosperity group hosted a free concert with 3 Doors Down and had free food trucks. They had two olympic medalists encourage us to vote before the music started. They called it Freedom Day because today is the first day early voting is open in Nevada. This was the first music concert - big name band and not church related - that I have ever been too. We both thoroughly enjoyed being out on a date together....with Ayla :). It was also nice that the event was early enough for us to go to and have Brady still be on time for work tonight. The above picture is the stage lighting for their song, our favorite, Citizen Soldier. Below is how Ayla spent most of the evening. She is such a sweet little baby.

Hey, I'm 6!!!

Zenock started off his special day with his choice of breakfast: french toast.

I surprized him at school with made from scratch brownies for his whole class.

He picked a friend to come over after school to play. Homemade pizza and breadsticks was on the menu for dinner. That kid can eat pizza three meals a day, every day of the week. This is his requested Batman ice cream cake. Brownie on the bottom, cookies n cream icecream, then crushed oreos, chocolate icecream, and frosted with cool whip. My lettering is terrible thanks to air bubbles in the piping tube. It looks like a cake wreck but tastes delicious. He loved it.

Everyone pitched in to help him build the bat cave.

He LOVES the batman motorcycle from Grandpa and Grandma Deitz!

 

 

The loot!!!! Dino legos from great grandparents, Spongebob legos from Grammy and Jerry, Batman blocks from us, and the rest of the Batman stuff from Grandpa and Grandma Deitz and aunts. It's hard to believe that only six years ago he came into the world two hours after I had an ambulance ride to the hospital. Zenock, we all love you and are happy you are in our family!!!!

Fireside

I was just thinking when was the last time I went to a fireside.........and it's been years and years......probably before Ammon was born. Tonight there was a finale fireside for a multi stake youth conference. They had Brandon Flowers of The Killers speak. The link on his name directs you to his mormon.org video about being a rock singer and a Mormon. Brady had the opportunity to be part of the security team for the event, and I got to go with some ladies from our ward. He was able to come sit by me when our stake president was introducing Brandon and his wife, Tana. They are an amazing couple!!!! Life is never easy, and for someone to be able to practice the LDS faith amongst so much "worldliness" is amazing. He is often asked about the difficulty he has keeping such high standards while being exposed and pressured into the drug and sex world that is out there for famous entertainers. He told us tonight that it isn't a problem, and it never has been. His lifestyle defines who he is, defines his music even....and having a successful music career is no match for his faith and testimony of Jesus Christ. The area authority seventy, Elder Gibson, also made remarks after the Flowers' were finished. I feel so blessed that we both were able to attend this fireside. I know we were blessed to find someone to come be with our boys at home so Ayla and I could go with Brady. It was no small task to find someone who didn't have to stay home with their own children while the other spouse went with the teenagers who were old enough to go to the fireside too. Today I have definitely been spiritually fed.

Motivation

Right now I'm just writing a few things down to get myself motivated to exercise before I go to bed. Today was a really long day. Ayla has decided that sleeping 8 hours is not cool anymore, but waking up 2 or 3 times a night is the best thing ever. The other night I just didn't want to feed her at 1:30am, so I made her cry in the hopes that she would get herself back to sleep. Twenty minutes later she was still crying, and I just couldn't take it anymore - even with earplugs in. So I gave up and fed her....and she got up a few hours after that to eat again....big surprise. Last night she started crying at 11pm and let tell you, I was absolutely NOT feeding her after she had been asleep for just under 3 hours. I checked on her and rolled her back onto her tummy, covered her up, and she was out in less than 5 minutes. She is 4.5 months old now, and not even close to sleeping through the night anymore. She did soooo good for a while sleeping 7 or 8 hours at a time, but she won't sleep long anymore and I don't know why. I feel like she is old enough to be able to last 8 to 10 hours a night without eating and I don't know what to do. I had to train Gideon to sleep through the night, and I didn't get the guts to do that until he was 9 months old. I REALLY don't want to drag this sleeping at night thing out that long with Ayla....but I feel so....stuck.

After grocery shopping and getting Zenock from school today, my friend came over with her girls to babysit for us so we could go to the temple. I haven't been since the month before Ayla was born. Six months is a looooooong time to not go to the temple, especially since I am used to going every month. Poor Brady was feeling under the weather though, so after 15 minutes of proxy work he had to either be done or be sick. Although we were there only a short time, I am still very, very thankful we could go inside and do some work for those who have passed on. We helped people who were born in the 1700's and 1800's today. The officiator did a few of the ordinances in Spanish because he thought the people on the other side would appreciate it more if it was done in their native tongue...and those people were from Uraguay in the 1800's. It was a neat experience. Although I couldn't understand the words he said, the feeling was still the same. I love going to the temple because I always feel happy, whether it's my own happiness or the happiness of those beyond the veil I can't be sure.....but in the end I don't think it matters. What matters is being worthy to be inside the temple, and making the effort to attend.

After school got out the boys did homework and then soccer practice. Thankfully the weather is cooling off somewhat so it's not so unbearably hot for practice anymore. Gideon loves running around.....all the time. I got him to actually eat some food while we were there since practice is during his dinner time. He tripped and dropped the last chunk of his banana.....and he cried because it had dirt and rocks on it. This picture was taken after the banana casualty. I distracted him with a nutrigrain bar which he happily ate. Zenock wasn't using his shin guards so I put them on Gideon. He loves wearing those things.
And now that all 4 children are tucked in bed and my husband is off to work since no one could cover his shift for him, I am sitting on the couch wanting to do nothing but sit.....however, I can technically do that on my rowing machine as well....I just have to move my arms and legs and sweat and breathe hard.....but I am sitting. I do not enjoy exercising....but it seems that this baby weight isn't going to disappear by itself, and watching what I eat isn't helping much either. I have resigned that I have to exercise.....but the results I want aren't happening fast enough. It's only been a week since I started doing this, so my expectations shouldn't be high...but they are anyway.

Smith 350

These are the only pictures I took last Saturday when we went to the Smith 350 truck race at the speedway. I ended up spending most of the time out front with the concession stands. Ayla's ears are too small to keep the earplugs in or earmuffs on, and she really didn't like the noise. Brady said Gideon did pretty well most of the time. He like watching the trucks pass us. There were a few good wrecks but no one got hurt. We love getting free tickets!

My favorite wall

This is my finished family photo wall. I realize now after seeing the picture that I should have straightened the frames and made the art  hanger about 8 inches longer. I made all the vinyl words myself with my silhouette and the boys each painted a wood block for the art hanger. I think I want to add a letter L next to the happy ever after saying.....but I can't find one I like that I'm willing to spend money on, so I may make one myself....when I get around to it.

All the art on the wall is Zenock's that he's made in kindergarten. My very favorite one in the paper with the blue car on it. He said, "it's the car that starts with letter L that drives really fast, but I can't remember how to say it." He was talking about a Lamborghini. I'll have to get a close up of that one because it's just so awesome! The othe pieces are a lady bug for letter L, a picture of our house he drew in art class, and an octopus for letter O.

Ammon

It's fun to make Ayla laugh.

I can do something my mom can't do: roll my tongue.

First soccer game. I am #6

I love soccer. I run and get really sweaty, but it's fun when I score a goal in my first game.

Zenock

I love to hold Ayla.

First soccer game! My team is the Blue Monkies

 

Playing in the rain at my friends house.

 

I got the ball!!

Gideon

Push me right now Mom!

Soccer practice is fun!

When Mom isn't looking I can make a huge mess with all her eyebrow waxing and hair stuff. Her drawer is fun to play in too. I can reach her brush in there and do my own hair.

Zenock's shin guards make me look cool!

Faster, Zz, faster!!!

Ayla

Suckin her thumb

Ugh! The light is so bright. I just want to sleep.

Soccer practice is really boring from my point of view.

She loves this toy.

4 months old!

First solid food, oatmeal. She loved it and ate all I made for her, about 2 tablespoons.