Funny kids

Here is something really funny Zenock told me tonight. The scenario is me putting our fake tree together and discovering half the lights don't work, even after changing fuses.

Me: Dang it, the lights still don't work!
Z: Call Cox, Mom.
Me: No, I can figure it out. It's okay.
Z: Mom, call Cox. Not the Cox's in our ward, the electricity Cox. (What he doesn't know is they do phone, cable, and internet, not electricity).
Me: No, I don't need to call anyone.
Z: Mom, CALL THEM! Sometimes people need help. CALL THEM!

So there you have it. Sometimes people do need help, and calling someone....even if their specialty is not exactly related can be helpful according to a seven year old.

And, Gideon is finally beginning the word explosion phase. Yesterday he said park and Grandpa. Today he said Bethany, beads, bath (the right way), and back (pointing at the back door to go outside). He used to do about one new work a week...and now we have 6 words in two days! Speech therapy is working!!

Ethel M. Chocolate Factory lights!

We had family home evening on Tuesday since Brady was home that evening. We took the kids to see the lights at the chocolate factory cactus gardens. Ayla's coat is 18 month size, and it's ginormous! I love my purple marshmallow.

They were both running around and didn't want to come back by Daddy and the stroller. They both melted on the sidewalk. Gideon got up before Ayla, obviously, but he looked just like her a second before.

The penguins in the igloo behind them popped up and down. Ayla was freaking out with excitement about all these inflatables, as seen in the picture below.

No, she's not mad...quite the opposite. I think she would have loved to get on the other side of the fence and give all those inflatables a big cuddle.

These two pictures were my favorite part. I love peacocks. I have Ayla's room in peacock colors...and I just love it.

Gideon was SO excited about this huge polar bear. It must have been 8 feet tall. He was shouting, "WOAH!!" And he also found a rock to stand on so I could take his picture. He likes to look at pictures of himself in the camera. Now he will even smile for me, if it's his idea first.

Goofy kids of mine

 

Gideon was so mad that Ammon had the bear on his head.

Gideon sleeps with a brother every single night. No matter how many times we put him back in his bed, he still ends up in someone else's bed. Usually Ammon is the lucky one with a companion; however, last night he slept in Zenock's bed all night...not even getting up once...which NEVER happens.

A note Zenock wrote to Ammon while he was at a birthday party a while ago. He has a really hard time being home when Ammon is with his friends. It says "Dear Ammon. I miss you so much."

 

She found a Santa hat.

This is her first time eating peanut butter on apple slices. She ate most of it, but there was still peanut butter schmear all over her.

Getting her hair done for church

She's so dang cute!! I tried to get a good picture of her that wasn't blurry, but she moves too fast.

AFV

We love America's Funniest Videos at our house. We watch it religiously, and now Gideon loves it too. The dog montage segments are his and Ayla's favorite parts.

To share, or not to share...that is the question.

Family cuteness 2013

These were taken the middle of October. I love every single one of the people in these pictures. Although not everyone cooperated at the same time, we still got it done. Yes, the boys needed haircuts...and I just didn't get to it in time. Oh well!

Rockets, Jumping, and sleeping

Ammon and Brady built the rocket he got for his birthday. We took it out to the soccer field to shoot off, but something didn't connect right so it did nothing. Brady tried a few different things, including switching out the engine for a new one, but it still didn't go off. Hopefully after some internet researching he'll figure it out and we can try again soon. Everyone was disappointed...except Ayla who just wanted to play in the dirt the whole time.


Sometimes getting ready for bed means jumping on it instead.

Zenock has wanted a sleepover with his mattress on the floor for a very long time. Now that Gideon's mattress is on the floor since his bed broke, he has increased his asking...and I finally gave in. It took them all forever to fall asleep. Right before I went to bed this is what I found.

Shooting Pumpkins

Yesterday the kids didn't have school, and Brady was home just waiting to get called in for work, so we went out in the desert and blew up some pumpkins. Gideon's been wanting to for a few weeks now, especially after he saw Brady put the pumpkin we carved out on the porch. He ran over to it every morning asking to blow it up. All of us had a great time! I'm especially thankful the Frazier's joined us and helped keep the little ones entertained. I'm loving the weather being cooler now so we can go do this more often. This first video is Brady shooting the first of our 5 pumpkins.



I shot the next one.



And this one is me too. Ryan shot one and Brady shot another with his 9mm.



Ammon specifically asked us to bring the .22 rifle so he can have a chance to shoot some pumpkins too. He did really well.

Ryan is 13 and has never been shooting before. Here she is with the .22 rifle. Later she had the courage to use the mini 14 which shoots .223 caliber. She blew up a pumpkin with it!! Brady loves teaching people how to use firearms. Someday I hope he can get his instructor license with the NRA...I think it would be a great "retirement" job.

This is Ryan's mom, Sandi. She hasn't been shooting since she was almost Ryan's age, so yesterday was really awesome for her too. It was so fun to take other people shooting with us and share in the joy of blowing things up. I'm thankful we were able to find a gun store close to our house that had tannerite in stock. Next time, I'm thinking huge watermelons would be fun to shred :)

Days of Gratitude

This is something Brady wrote today, and I'd like to share it to all who may read here. The context partly comes from our Bishopric getting changed today.

I am thankful for the awesome leadership examples and many great opportunities to serve and help one another in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am thankful for the living Prophet Thomas S. Monson, the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, and the general authorities who stand as witnesses of Christ for the whole world. I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to learn from great people like Neil and LuAnn Hahl, Greg Newman, Becca Riding, David W. Hansen, Stephen W. Smith, and so many others in various times of my life. I want to thank great Bishops who served faithfully like Thomas D. Rasch. I am especially thankful for a new bishop who will be the tool in the Lord's hand He needs in Jarad Van Wagoner. But those more visible examples do not negate the work of many other people and valiant servants whose service is less obvious. It is those people, faithfully carrying out their duties, the result of which are often unrecognized and often unknown who are the greatest examples of leadership, to me. We go to work, doing what is asked of us, seeking ways to magnify our callings and find ways to help others in the small and seemingly insignificant ways we can. It is a magnificent blessing to be able to live not for the recognition others give, but the quiet testimony that builds in the heart that the Lord accepts your service. I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to serve when and where I am able, however I am able, to do my small and simple part to bring forth the Kingdom of God on the earth. I am also VERY grateful to not be in Jarad's, Allen's, or Michael's shoes right now!

If you are not a member of our faith, please check out mormon.org for answers to questions you many have.

The toy store

We took the boys to Toys R Us to spend the remainder of their birthday money. Right away Ayla found stuffed animals everywhere. She was really excited the whole time, especially when I let her out of the cart to go pet some. Then she saw this zebra and grabbed it off the shelf and took off. It's bigger than she is!! I think this little girl would be happy for life in a house full of stuffed animals, the fuzzier, the better.

They picked out a beywheelz two-pack and a stunt stadium. They have a little left over to save for something else and tithing too! Thanks for the birthday money Beal family!!

More birthday and other random stuff

First up is a joint birthday surprise we got for the boys to share. It's a kid size compound bow with two packages of arrows. There's an archery range behind the rec center....and our kids seriously love bows (for over two years now....which may or may not have something to do with Grandpa Ron letting them shoot Brady's old bow out in the back yard every time we go visit Idaho). In any case, instead of soccer this year - since I didn't want to play solo soccer parent with two runaway toddlers - we decided they could take an archery class and shoot at the range a few times. Zenock isn't old enough for the class, so he gets to do a woodworking class on Saturdays, starting tomorrow.

The arrow box is WAY more fun than the actual arrows.

It's the perfect size to ship a kid off to Grandpa's house. I texted him this picture and he offered to pay the shipping cost :)

Wednesday night I finally stopped debating with myself and gave Ayla some bangs. I'm sick of her hair always in her eyes when I don't put it up....and there's just a lot of days I don't really want to wrangle her to make her look cute. So I just did it. They are shorter than intended, but that just means more time in between trims.

He decided between his legs is a great place to put treats in the car. Usually it's the cereal from the treat bowl...yesterday it was a bag of skittles.

This is my sweet, nerdy husband's idol.....someone from Walking Dead.

These two love to play the pushing game. They both giggle when doing this.all.the.time!!! They were playing like this while I was taking down the outside Halloween stuff today.