Ammon's first book report

He spoke very quietly, so turn up the volume on your computer to hear him. He did an excellent job on his report. He wrote about a biography of the Wright Brothers who invented the first airplane. I recorded it mostly so Brady wouldn't miss it because he was still sleeping since he had to work tonight. I had both little kids on my lap, so my cinemaphotography skills are extremely lacking here...so sorry! At one point I almost dropped Ayla while filming....mommy fail. It's hard juggling the two littlest ones by myself most of the time, and this was no exception. I wish I could have entertained them better so they could have both stayed quietly in the stroller....but in a small classroom I didn't have many options except my lap. With that said, enjoy the show!

Railroad Trail

After stake conference we took a short drive to get out of the house. This trail is on the way to Hoover Dam. The map of the trail in the above picture shows the route with 5 tunnels dug into the mountain side way back in 1931. It took the workers 5 months to complete the tunnels and lay the tracks for the train to pass through to bring supplies to build Hoover Dam. The tracks were used for a while after the dam was completed, not being removed until 1964. The little visitor's center at the beginning of the trail was pretty fun to check out. They had things for the kids to touch, and a cool interactive map to show the layout of a portion of the Colorado River, Grand Canyon, and the Las Vegas area. The trail goes all the way to Hoover Dam, 3.7 miles away. The first tunnel was about a mile from the trailhead...so we did okay for the conditions I guess. Next time we go I want to go through all 5 tunnels and maybe even to the Dam. I'm not sure the kids would last that long, but it would be fun to try if the weather was nicer.

It was a very windy day. The kids didn't like being out in the wind much....and I was constantly worried about Gideon and Ayla being too cold. Brady also decided we need a jogging stroller with big wheels or take the kids in backpacks next time because the trail was pretty rough with our plastic wheeled stroller. We only made it through the second tunnel before going back to the van. The above picture is the first tunnel.

At the entrance to the second tunnel, with the first tunnel behind the stroller.

Entrance to the second tunnel.

We had a picnic dinner in the back of the van before heading home. The kids loved having the seats down in the back so everyone could sit down. Gideon was climbing all over everyone and their food....it was mildly annoying.

While sitting in the parking lot we got to see the moon rise over the mountain. It was very pretty in person....this picture is pretty crappy compared to what it actually looked like.

For the love of tractors!

I'm so glad we kept this movie from when Ammon and Zenock were this age. Gideon loves it too. He is even louder than this in the car when we drive past the school bus lot or any construction site. It's pretty hilarious.

She stands

 

On everything.

 

 

My sister's roller coaster ride

So if you follow me or any of my family of facebook you are well aware of my brother-in-law's health condition. The short story is he went to the doctor for knee pain and came out with crazy blood pressure, so high he could drop dead any moment; crazy blood work numbers indicating kidney failure; and an imobilized knee. He's know about his kidney disease for 7 years, and 7 years ago he was functioning at 80%. After a biopsy procedure following this ER visit, his kidney's were functioning at 7%. Dialysis and transplants start when kidney function is at 10%. So he got a catheter inserted into his belly and started dialysis two weeks ago. He doesn't have health insurance, so paying for all of this medical stuff is crazy expensive for them.
A silent auction, dinner, and raffle are being held for them next Saturday to raise money to help with expenses. HERE is the contact information for that event. If you can go eat some potatoes, PLEASE go!!! They are asking for $25 donations for dinner per family.
Another donation site has been set up for them so that anyone can donate any time. The link for that is HERE.
Cash and check donations can be made to William Lot Adams donation account and taken to any East Idaho Credit Union. You can also mail these donations to my sister Alayna Adams. Let me know if you need her address.

Through this whole thing many tears have been shed, prayers offered, and I have thought alot about driving up there to help out. Unfortunately, it's really hard for someone with kids in school and nursing babies to drive that far alone while the husband stays home to work. So I'm trying to offer support however I can from here. I've asked my friends to donate items for the auction, I've called temples, we all say many prayers every day asking for things to be okay for them, and I try to call regularly just so my sister has someone to talk too. I remember when Ammon was at Primary Children's Hospital when he was a baby and how helpless and scared I felt. We were also alone most of the time, even more so when Brady had to leave us there and drive back to Idaho for finals week at BYUI. It was a rough time for us, but we made it through. I know that Alayna and Lot will make it through this too. It's hard and tiring, but through medical technology and these fund raisers for them everything will work out in the end.
To find out all the details and keep up with their progress, you are welcome to check out their blog: http://ourseminormallife.blogspot.com and click on the link in the left column called roller coaster ride. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and donations on their behalf. May all of you be blessed for your service to my family.

Babies and jobs

So I have some extremely cute little children who are REFUSING to take naps today. They are both so grumpy...and I love them so much, but it's hard to be a happy mom with them when I feel like all they do is whine at me for everything I do. Ayla was asleep when she ate, and then yanked off of me - which really hurt in case you were wondering, so I laid her down...and then she cried so I went to check on her and she was standing up in her crib! I have since had to go in there 5 times in the last 30 minutes and lay her back down. Gideon has gotten out of bed once...so far.

On another note, Brady has an interview today with his company for a lower management position. He really really wants to move up in his company, and has the edcuation and job experience to do just that. We have been hoping and praying this whole week that he will say and do the things the interviewers are looking for in someone in this position. He knows all of the people who will be conducting the interviews thanks to the monthly safety meetings he attends on behalf of his account. We need this job for him to move up and eventually become an account and branch manager. While he doesn't want to be in contract security forever, we realize that he needs to stay with his company for several more years for job experience and longevity. Keep your fingers crossed for him today please!!!

Ayla is getting big

She's so hungry that she thinks books are a good snack. She always goes for this one and has almost ruined the binding.

One of these days I'll get her to sleep all night in another room....until then she's still with me. So when I have to do stuff in my room with the light on after she goes to bed for the night, this is what we do. It works perfectly! She isn't as light of a sleeper as Gideon was at this age, so it doesn't bother her for me to be in my room doing laundry, putting things away, or whispering to Brady while she's sleeping. I feel it's a small blessing because I couldn't do anything in there when Gideon was little.

Before church a few weeks ago. I couldn't resist taking a picture of her in the dress I made for her before she was born. Mom, take a look at the collar....this is what I came up with to fix the bunching problem I origionally had with it. Thanks for the suggestion to take it apart and clip the curve, that was a huge help as well. I made the matching bow too.

This is Ayla's favorite corner of the room. She always finds her way under these tables. I finally put our small toy ottoman in front of it because the last time she got stuck under there she was all the way in the back and hitting her head on the wall trying to turn around. It was really frustrating to climb under there in order to pull her out. She's all over the place in our house now. Wednesday morning she went from the living room all the way down the hall to Gideon's room and then across the hall into the boys' room. All in about 15 minutes. She loves to check out everything and see what everyone is doing around the house. If I am cooking in the kitchen she'll come find me. All of this is with her cute belly scoot she does. We have decided she crawls...she just does it in a special way.

Ayla stole Gideon's favorite blanket and was sucking on the tastles. He didn't like that very much at all......I can only guess why as we have to take this dang blanket everywhere.

The saw has many uses

I am SO thankful Brady is a good handyman with power tools....and that we have access to such tools. This is a 10x12 sign I made for my brother-in-law's fundraiser....I'll blog more about that in a few days. Brady cut the scrap wood up from the project below for me, and we stained, glued, and reinforced the back, then I made a stencil with my silhouette and painted it. Two coats of varnish later, and this is the final product.

Working hard drilling and drilling and drilling all the pieces of wood together on a Monday afternoon/night two weeks ago to make this.....

Isn't it beautiful? There are 5 columns for #10 cans that we get all the time from our cannery. The blue labeled cans are all noodles! We didn't make enough columns for each kind of food, but we grouped them into similar columns so it will be easier to see what we have and what we need. It is so easy now to see what we need to use first.

The next projects are some shelving for our bug out bags and emergency supplies and a necklace holder for me.

I don't remember if I ever showed you the final product of our stocking/art hanger. It's just a 6 ft fence post that he notched out the other end to match the top of the board. I thought at first we wouldn't need all 6 ft, but I am glad we did because the size is perfect. I love the satin lime green paint sample I used too. I really love having a place for things, even simple things like the kids' art from school. It looks better having the papers hang from this than having them all taped to the wall like we did before. I definitely feel more organized and put together.....at least for a little while :)