Parent Teacher Conference

Gabbi had her Parent Teachers Conference at the end of January. I was excited to hear how well she has advanced since last time. All of her marks have improved except for her staying on task. Which didn't surprise me. They still remained the same.

While at the meeting her teacher showed me how well she is doing. She even showed me what areas that she is advanced in. 

We were both very proud of her and her improvements.

FHE Game Night

Our kids have a hard time following the rules. So during Family Home Evening we decided to emphasize how important it was to keep and follow the rules. 

It was game night and Gabbi had been bugging us to play the game she got for Christmas. So we pulled the game out and both of the kids were really excited. First Ben shared his lessons about following the rules. When he was done we set up the game and he told each of us to pick our piece. When we all had place our character piece on the starting line he then blurted out that somebody had won. Then he said who won and gave them a treat as the prize for winning. 

He then asked if we wanted to play again and the kids both said yes and again he repeated the same thing. The kids were getting very angry they wanted to play and they both told Ben that he wasn't playing right. He then with a smile on his face said that he was to make up the rules for the game and play his way. Something we hear often from Gabbi. Both the kids were crying and so upset. 

He then finished his lesson by explaining why it was important to follow the rules in games and in the home. When he was all done we played the game for real and had a blast the rest of the night. 

The game was Princess Candy Land and to be funny he decided to get a few of Owen's army guys for him and Owen to use instead of having to use the Princess pieces.

Eye again

Our kids our wonders when it comes to their face. Some days I wonder if I can let them play on their own or if they are in need of a constant babysitter. 

The other night the kids were watching a movie. They were supposed to be settling down because it was almost time for bed. Settling down...I don't think so. 

The next thing we know Owen comes up stairs crying. They were running around again and he again hit his face. When I told my mom, she told me that we should get a handle on that, for fear he will eventually mess up his eye sight if he damages it enough. Crazy kid.

At least it wasn't as bad as last time.

Game watcher

When we went to see the movie with the kids, the manager had charged us to much because of their Thursday special. Thursday's are their Military appreciation day. Since he charged us to much he gave us two free tickets for our next visit. We decided to go on a date to see Last Vegas.

Hilarious show, just love it.

While we were gone, Jenny and Brian watched the kids for us. On groupme she sent out a picture of how the kids were doing, well William. Here caption said "Watching Brian kill the bad guys!"

When we picked them up she said that he sat there for the longest time with Brian just watching him play his game.

He's really getting into the visual. He stares at everything, very bright eyed.

Chasing the Light

Oh my gosh, I'm going crazy. I'm trying to upload this really funny video but it's not letting me. This is the 2nd video I've tried to upload and it keeps saying that they is a problem with the system. Anyone who reads this, do you know what I may be doing wrong?

Well the whole purpose of this post is to tell a funny story about Owen. 

Ben and I were reading in the front room one afternoon and Owen came up to play. While he was playing a spotted a spot on the floor that was moving. It was the sun reflecting of the mirror on the birds swing. He was trying to catch it. It was the funniest thing. 

At one point the reflection was starting to slow down and he was so excited because he thought that he might be able to catch it. He finally did, or so he thought. He just couldn't see it anymore because the light was actually on his back. It reminded both of us of a cat chasing a laser.

I wish you could see the video, so funny. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Night with Nelson and Deann

When ever we have a free weekend we try to get up to see Nelson and Deann. Sadly our schedules don't a line as much as we'd like, but when they do, its a blast.

We went up there to have a relaxing night of dinner and just hanging out.

When Ben got off work he got cleaned up and then we headed out. We first stopped at Papa Murphy's to pick up some pizza and then we headed for Garland. When we got there we threw the pizzas in the oven and just visited while the kids ran off to play.

When the pizza was done we all sat down to eat. While we were eating, Deann's daughter, Joyce came over to visit for a little bit. We hadn't seen her in a while, it was good to chat with her. When we were all done eating we congregated in the front and just relaxed with watching a movie and visiting.

The kids were really good. They played nicely the entire time. Some times it's hard to get them to share toys because their toys that they don't have at home and they both want to play with the same one. This time they were pretty much perfect angles. That makes the visits even nicer. Sadly William wasn't that happy. He was fussy for a while and he had a hard time staying asleep. That ended up cutting our visit short. But we still had a good time while we were there.

Dinner and a show

For some family fun, we decided to take the kids to a movie. The cheap theater was playing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. The kids loved the first one, so we thought they would enjoy the second one.

After picking Gabbi up from school we headed to the theater and waited for Ben to get off work. When he got there, we got settled in our seats for the show. Both of the older kids were pretty good. Owen had his moments, but over all he did pretty good. William on the other hand had to be taken out. I walked with him in the hallway until he fell asleep. Which luckily was pretty quick. Then I went back in and sat with family again.

The movie was really cute. The kids talked about for days. Once the movie was over we decided to go to dinner and the Pizza Pie Cafe. We love that place. All you can eat pasta, salad, and pizza. It's the best and the kids will actually eat everything we give them.

As a fun surprise, we saw Kayden there with his friends. He was so nice and let Owen hang with him and his friends until they left. He loved hanging out with the boys.

FHE with Jeff and Tiffany

With Kamree staying the night we thought it would be fun to get together for FHE on Monday.

Tiffany and I through text messages planned on doing dinner and FHE at their place. We did the dinner, they did the FHE lesson and entertainment. It worked out great.

Ben had gone and done something that morning. I don't remember what, but when he got home, we got the kids ready and we went to run some errands before heading for Jeff and Tiffany's place.

When we got there, all the kids played while we put dinner together and when it was time for dinner, they all chowed down. I was surprised that they all ate it all. We had BBQ sandwiches with tater tots. Very yummy.

When we were all done with dinner we went downstairs for FHE. Tiffany had planned the lesson. She gave a great lesson on being kind to one another. She shared the story of the Good Samaritan, one of my favorites. The she gave each of us a heart and gave us scenarios. If it was a nice thing to do, we held up the heart, if not we put the heart down. All the kids seemed to listen very well, except for Owen of course.

Owen decided that he didn't want to be a part of FHE, he wanted to do his own thing. He found a Lighting McQueen book and sat on the big bean bag. At least he was quiet.

After the lesson, the kids each took a turn doing Simon Says. When their game was over, they all went to play and us adults watch a few episodes of Mythbusters til it was time to head home.

Cousin Sleep Over

Whenever there is a holiday on a Monday following family dinner, all the cousins beg for sleepovers. Ironically enough the younger kids don't get to take advantage of this because by the time things are sorted out, there isn't room in vehicles for them to have a sleep over to at either place without one set of parents going out of their way to drop the child off.

The funny part about the whole thing is there reaction. They have learned from the older kids to plot out how they are going to ask. You can watch them trying to keep it a secret. They aren't very quiet, so we can tell every time. When either side's parents waver on the indecisive with a look, they will both instantaneously burst into tears. It finally got to us and we broke down and agreed to let Kamree stay the night.

Once we had left Jenny and Brian's and got home, we got Owen ready and in bed while Gabbi waited impatiently for Jeff and Tiffany to drop Kamree off. She was like a puppy waiting for their master to get home.

When they dropped her off, they were both so excited. She went and got a pair of pajamas's for Kamree and then we started a movie for them. We told them that they could stay up and watch a movie quietly or they could go to bed. They of course chose the movie. When the movie was over, they actually came in and told us that it was over. That surprised the most and since the movie was over, it was time for bed. They both went to bed without a fuss and was fast asleep. The entire night I didn't hear a sound.

In the morning, they had breakfast and played very nicely with each other. No arguments, no fighting, etc. They were pretty dang close to perfect angles. I was so surprised. Normally when those two play, chaos generally ensues and toys are everywhere. I didn't have a single problem with either of them. A pleasant sleep over. If they were always like that, I would let her have one more often.

Sandwich

After Church, we got the kids ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Our kids have a tendency to take apart their sandwiches and eat each little thing separately. This drives me crazy because they make such a mess, especially with Pb & j sandwiches.

Well, Gabbi decided to do something a little different with here. She took out the insides of her sandwich, like she always does and then put her crackers there in its place. We told her that it probably wouldn't taste very good. She said she didn't care and wanted to eat it that way. She ate one half like that, probably to prove a point and then took the cracker out of the other half and just ate the bread.

Kids are funny

Primary Assignment

Owen had his very first Primary Assignment for opening exercises. He was given the assignment of saying the prayer and the scripture.

Ben sat up at the front with him so he could help him when it was his turn. He did such a great job and hearing him put smiles on all of the leaders faces.

While Ben was helping him do the prayer, he would add a few things on his own, it was the cutest thing ever. Then when it was time to say the scripture, Ben whispered it to him and he did a pretty good job. Again all the adults had big smiles on their faces for how cute he was. If you've ever heard Owen speak, you would know what I'm talking about. He talks with such seriousness to his face, but it just comes out cute.

Way to go buddy.

Buggies

After their baths the other night, we caught the kids starring into the bath tub. I asked them what they were doing and they both happily replied that they were watching the "buggies" going down the drain." I just laughed. The simplicity of children.  : )

Young Women's Winter Camp

Being the camp director, I am in charge of putting together two camp. One during the Summer and the other during the Winter. The Summer one is definitely more time consuming, but the Winter one presents its fare share of challenges. Thank Heavens I have a great Camp Assistant and great Youth Leaders.

At last years Winter camp they talked about all of the things they wanted to accomplish in the upcoming year, sadly they didn't get to do a lot of the activities that they talked about. So we decided to incorporate some of those things in our Super Saturday Winter Activity.

We decided to have the theme of preparing for your future. The girls wanted to learn about real life and the skills that they would need once they were no longer in Young Women's. We decided to have a few guests speakers come and talk to the girls. They talked on different topics such as, College apps, Resumes, Interviewing skills, and Finances. Along with our guest speakers we planned two crafts and hoped that everything would go off without a hitch.

When the day arrived everyone was great. Everyone who signed up to help did a wonderful job and I think the whole day went perfect. I wish more girls would have come, but those that did had a blast. At least I hope so.

The morning started off with breakfast and then for a sit down to discuss the events of the day. The Camp Assistant then shared the importance of the Young Women's Personal Progress Program. She brought a lot of different items that she herself had done while in Young Women's as a girl. All the girls loved her presentation, especially the pictures that were in a book that she had made.

Afterwards we had two of our quest speakers: Finances and College Apps. The Older girls really got into it. They were asking all sorts of really good questions. I hope they got as much out of it as I did. I even learned a few tricks that I didn't know.

Afterwards we had a small break and then headed into the gym for our first craft. We made picture frame mats. Each girls received a picture frame and a mat. Then they had to find different pictures of Christ to paste around the mat. Once they were done, they put in the document The Living Christ. All the girls had a different view and idea for their frame. They all turned out great, at least for those who actually wanted to finish their's.

After out craft we had lunch and they had the remainder two guest speakers: Resumes and Interviewing skills. Again, the older girls got into it, while the younger ones had a hard time staying focused. But I guess that was to be expected. Once we were done we went back into the gym for our last craft, scripture bags.

That was a funny experience. Out of the 6 or so leaders that were there, only 2 were avid sewers. With as many girls as we had, it was a little difficult to help each one. First of all we had to change the size of the pattern to better fit the smaller scriptures. The was an adventure, we ended up changing the measurements twice more to get the exact size. Some girls got really frustrated with this. Plus we didn't get as much cutting boards and roller cutters that we were hoping so it took a while to get all the girls material cut out. But once we got all of that down, they sewing began and the girls actually did a pretty good job. They each sewed their own with a little help from a leader. They turned out really cute, so cute that I made one for both Owen and Gabbi for their scriptures.

After the girls were done with their scripture cases, we had our dessert, brownie sundaes and then it was time to clean up and head home. 

I think the day went great. All of the leaders told us so, I just hope the girls felt the same way.

William's sign

I have made a sign for each of the kids and I finally got William's vinyl for his sign. I was so excited to put it together. His room is officially done.

Gabbi's Field trip

Today felt very long. I think it was because Gabbi was gone longer then normal. She has been at school all day. That is going to be weird next year when she starts the 1st grade.

Time had finally passed to go pick Gabbi up from school. Owen wasn't to happy to be pulled away from his movie, but when I told him we were picking up Gabbi, he ran upstairs.

When we got to the school, they hadn't come back yet. I made sure I was a little early because I wanted to get a picture of her coming off the bus. I know, I'm weird like that. I would have loved to go with her, but I completely spaced when they had the sign up sheets for the year.

When the bus finally got there and it was her turn to come off the bus she came running over to me. She instantly started talking about her field trip. Of course the first thing she said was that she had so much fun. In the car on the way home, I asked her all sorts of questions to see how the day went.

She said that they went hunting for animal tracks and that she had found some fox tracks. She also said that once the tracks had ended she had seen a real fox. I'm not sure I fully believe that, but her face lit up when she told me about it.

She also said that they got to build a snowman and that someone had destroyed her's, twice. I laughed at that one. She was very unset by it though. She also said they got to go snow showing. She described the show as tennis rackets and walking on top of the snow. She said it was a little hard at first, but once she got the hang of it, it was pretty fun. She also said the walk from the bus to the top of the "mountain" was really long and that she got very tired.

She also talked about her lunch. She had school lunch that day and she was so excited about that. She told me that they had spaghetti which she didn't eat. I was surprised by that one as well because the take home note said they would be having chicken nuggets. Oh well though, she said she ate some of the extra's although she didn't tell me what they were.

And last but not least she raved about the bus. Every day I pick her up from school she asks if she can ride the bus. She probably thought that was the best part of the field trip. She did say it was a long ride on the bus. If she thought that was bad or good, she did not specify.

Overall from the sound of it, she had a great time. I really wish I would have gone with her.

Bath time

The kids love to take baths, especially when they get to play in the bath. This morning after dropping Gabbi off at school, I gave the boys a bath. This was the first time for William to be in the bath with someone other then himself. He had a big smile on his face while Owen helped me give him a bath.

Field trip

Gabbi had a field trip this morning. She was extremely excited to go. They have talked about it all week.

I woke her unusually early in order to get her ready and to school to catch the bus for her field trip. Gabbi is not a morning person, so this was going to be interesting. Since it's something she really wants to do, I hope her orneriness of getting up early is nonexistent.

After waking her, I made her a bowl of oatmeal and a muffin. The breakfast of champions. Well, just one that will give her plenty of energy for her field trip.

When she was done eating she was very eager to get dressed in her snow gear. We had to buy her a new pair of snow pants because her old pair were to small. We were lucky we found her one. It's actually a boys pair and a few sizes to big. At least its a neutral color and both she and the boys will be able to wear it for many years.

And of course because Gabbi got her picture taken Owen had to have one taken too.

I was surprised that he wasn't upset by not getting to go with Gabbi. Go to love those morning cartoons to distract a child.

Show and Tell

Gabbi had show and tell at school this last week. It was pretty funny. When I went down in her room and asked her what she wanted to take, she pulled out her Belle Polly pocket dress up doll. I told her she couldn't take it because have of the clothes were ripped or missing. I then grabbed her new Cabbage patch doll and she started to freak out. I asked her why she was crying and she told me that she didn't want me to give it away. For some reason she thought that she was giving it to the school. I just laughed and laughed. I have no idea what put that idea in her head, but once I explained what was actually going to happen, she calmed down and put the doll in her back pack.

Before I dropped her off, I made sure that she understood that she couldn't take the doll out of her back pack until the teacher asked for it. She asked me multiple times why, if she was asked to take it to school, why she couldn't play with it at school. That conversation took a lot longer then it should have, but she finally agreed not to take it out until asked.

When I picked her up from school, the first thing she said was that she didn't take it out of her back pack until her teacher asked her too. I laughed and gave her a high 5. Told her good job for listening. She then began to tell me some of the other toys that were shared and that was about it. I asked her about her turn and she didn't say anything, just that it went "good". She just loves to expound on details...when its something that excites her. I was surprised that this didn't.

The boys

The boys! I like saying my boys. It's fun to watch how the kids interact with each other. Owen loves his baby brother and makes sure that Gabbi know that William is his brother and not hers. One day he will fully understand, but until then, its a blast to watch the two of them together.

Owen loves to kiss William on the head, he loves to try and tickle him; although he's a little rough with that one. We're working on it. He also loves to pet his head and even loves to hold him. I got a cute picture of the two of them today. They are just so cute.

I guess I shouldn't say cute when their boys, their handsome. ; )

Hibernation Day

Gabbi's Kindergarten class is learning all about hibernation this week. As a fun activity for the kids, they were told that they could come to school in their pajama's and could bring a pillow to school.

Gabbi thought it was pretty weird to wear her pajama's to school and almost didn't until I told her that all the kids in her class would be wearing their pajama's as well. She finally agreed, took her clothes back off and put her pajama's back on. She was really excited to be able to take her pillow to school.

When I picked her up she showed me the book they had made about the different places where animals and bugs sleep during the winter. She never did however tell me what they did with their pillow. I assumed they used it during circle time. When I asked her about it, she just smiled. Silly girl.

She did tell us all about the different animals they talked about and how they stored up food for the winter and how they slept for a long long time. Nana asked her if she wanted to hibernate like the bear and sleep for a long time. She told Nana that she didn't want to because it would be boring. I laughed with her response. That girl can be funny when she wants to, not that she realizes it though.

Underwear's

We are trying to get Owen interested in going potty on the toilet. We went and bought him some underwear, which he calls underwear's and we pulled out the potty seat. We ask him every time we change his diaper if he wants to sit on the potty. He will generally say yes, which is a good thing, but he doesn't sit on it long. He'll count to 7 and then says he's done. At least it's something, right?

He loves wearing his underwear's as you can see from the picture. He gets excited every time we put on a new pair. For the first three days or so, he would go around the house showing everyone his underwear. When ever we went somewhere new, he again would proudly show them his underwear.

Our biggest struggle right now is him telling us when he needs to go. He'll tell us that he went potty in his diaper or that he's stinky and wants to be changed, but he hasn't told us before hand.

Funny story: The other day I asked him to sit on the potty, and he did happily. I went in my room to get him some clothes for the day. When I came back into the bathroom, he proudly said that he had gone potty. Sadly it wasn't in the toilet. He was either trying to get down or trying to get back on the toilet, but whatever he was doing, it was on the floor, toilet, and himself. He was proud of himself though, which was the best part. He had such a happy look on his face for going potty in the "toilet" or close to it.

FHE

For Family Home Evening this week it was Monday night movie night.

Both of the kids have had a really hard time lately listening to anyone. They refuse to listen unless it is in their best interest.

When I went to pick up Gabbi from school she looked really upset. I asked her why and she wouldn't tell me. I stopped and wouldn't move until she told me. She wouldn't tell me. Her teacher eventually came over and said that she had found Gabbi and another student still in the classroom and she had gone in there to tell them that they should have followed the class. Gabbi must have told her teacher that the other student told her to stay in the classroom with her instead of listening to the teacher to line up and head outside because her teacher told me that that wasn't like Gabbi. But that surprised me slightly because she does have a hard time listening and following directions.

We took this as a teaching opportunity for family home evening. We decided to have a quick lesson on listening and following the rules. Along with that lesson we watch Finding Nemo. We choose that movie because of the way Nemo refused to listen to his Dad and ended up getting caught and taken away from his Dad.

The kids had a hard time sitting and listening to the lesson, but they both enjoyed the movie. No surprise there.

I don't think the lesson stuck because even today they are having a hard time listening and obey the rules.

William's Blessing

The time had finally come to bless William. He's 2 1/2 months old. The time seems to be going by very fast. He has changed quite a bit since he was born as well. My baby.

 And because William got his picture taken, the other two insisted as well.

 Friday and Saturday brought stressful times trying to get the house ready and getting items of food for the small get together afterwards. I wanted to do cinnamon rolls, muffins, fruit, and drinks. I figured that would be best because it wasn't lunch time, but still early enough that if those attending didn't eat breakfast had a yummy array of breakfast items to eat.

As you know from a previous post, my cinnamon rolls didn't turn out so we decided to buy them from the store. We were lucky enough to find a bag of 30 from Costco for pretty cheap. So we got those, Costco's muffins, and some fruit. We also grabbed some milk and chocolate milk to serve for the drinks. My Mom and dad also gave us some hot chocolate mix to serve as well. We had what we thought would be plenty for the get together. Of course we grabbed more then what we probably needed, but its always better to have too much then not enough. Many others also asked if they could help. I didn't want others to have to worry about having to bring anything, but they insisted, so I told them they could do either muffins or cinnamon rolls. By then Ben had assured me that we would have plenty.

Then came cleaning the house. The kids hate it when we majorly clean the house. We cleaned from top to bottom and even rearranged some furniture so we could bring in extra folding chairs. We had enough room for 50 plus people. We doubted that that many people would come, but we invited that many, so we made sure we had enough room. Come Saturday night, we were ready.

I woke early Sunday morning to get things started. The cinnamon rolls needed to be cooked, the muffins and fruit needed to be cut and the food table needed to be set up. I was worried I wouldn't have time to get it all done plus get myself and the kids ready. Ben had a talk to finish and wouldn't be able to help much. He did help when he could, but I told him no, his talk was more important.

I was surprised that I actually woke up. I was assuming that William would wake around 4:30 for his bottle like he normally does, but he didn't. I woke at 5 on my own. I got up and got going anticipating that I would have to go feed him at any time. Luckily he didn't wake. He stayed asleep the whole time. The other kids woke around 7, we got them breakfast and then got them ready to go. William didn't wake until 8:15 when Owen ran into his room screaming to wake him up. Thank Heavens, we were all ready to go by then and it was his turn any way. I didn't have time to feed him, so I got him dressed and then the kids and I left to head to church. I wanted to make sure that I had some seats saved for the family and friends that would be coming.

We got there at 8:30. The kids walked around watching for family and friends while I fed William. He drank it fast, he must have been hungry, after all he had slept for 8 plus hours. Many family and friends came and I am grateful for all of their love and support. Some of them came great distances just to make it.

William was great for the blessing, he didn't make a peep. He was blessed to be an example for his older siblings, family, and friends. He was blessed to be obedient and to serve a mission. It was a beautiful blessing with a few funny parts, at least to me. When Ben first started and got to the part of his name, he paused. I was afraid he was going to change his name. After all that did happen to his Mom. Afterwards talking to him about it, he said that he almost said Owen's name. It was pretty funny. Another part I had to ask him about was when he said, that he was the youngest in the family thus far. I was set back by that because I am pretty sure that 3 is our number. Maybe we will be rethinking this later. I don't know though. I don't know if we could handle 4 kids. When I asked Ben about it, he said he was as surprised by it as I was.

After the blessing Ben had double duty and got to speak in Sacrament as well. He did a great job and many people agreed. He got many compliments on it.

After the meeting was over we headed to the house for the get together. All those that attended the meeting came up to the house. I had plenty of food, so much that I sent a lot of it home with those that came to visit. Eveeryone seemed like they were having a great time visiting. I was grateful for that. It's hard to sit and visit with everyone when your running around making sure that everything is going okay. Ben again had another obligation. He didn't get to stay long at all, he had to go back and teach young men's. He then had to go to a meeting for me. He was a busy guy that day.

When we got home, Jeff and his family had stayed so we could play some games. We played the Settlers of Catan and Ticket to ride. As you can tell, our new favorites. It was a great day and once everyone was gone, we had a very relaxing evening.

Play Mat

Friday night, we woke William to feed him around 10 ish. When he was done drinking his bottle, he was wide awake. Ben had fallen asleep, but I still needed to get ready for bed so I laid him on his play mat. I went back in about 30 to 40 minutes later and he was as happy as could be playing on his mat. 

I was so surprised that he had been there for so long without crying to be picked up and he was actively playing with the rattle ring. When he hit it and heard the sound, he would smile. He even made a few noises like he wanted to laugh. It was the first time that he actually played with the hanging toys while laying on his mat.

Well I had a video of it, but there's something up with blogger. It keeps telling me there is an error with blogger. So I will attempt to post the video another day.

Eye

Our kids have the best of luck with their faces. I can't believe some of the stuff they do. I'm surprised that we haven't been called on for some of the bruises and crap that they get. But kids will be kids. At least they had fun doing it...

Ben and I went on a date night to go see The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. My parents watched the kids for us. The movie was great and it was nice to finally get out. It seems like we have been crazy busy lately.

When we got back to my parents to pick of the kids, the first thing that Mom said was that it was Dad's fault. I was taken back by the comment and asked "what?" She then said, "didn't you see?" I asked her "saw what?" Her response was "Owen's face." I just shook my head. I couldn't only imagine what happened.

When we finally got into the kitchen where there was some light, we saw what she was talking about. Owen had a nice scrap on his nose and the start of a black eye. Dad then came in and relayed the story.

He said that the kids were playing in the toy room downstairs and then got board with that and went in to the spare room and started jumping on the bed. They must have been having fun for how much they were laughing, he said. Then after some time had past, he heard Owen crying and heading his way. When Owen got to Dad he noticed that he had a bump on his face and blood running down his nose. Gabbi came up following him telling Dad that Owen had fallen off the bed and hit his head on the corner of the other bed. The bed he hit has a base with drawers in it. Poor kid hit it hard enough. Dad said he cried for Nana, he gave him to Mom and she cleaned him up, gave him an ice pack to put on his eye, and then they snuggled while watching a movie.

Our dang kids. If they haven't hurt themselves in a while, they always seem to find something new to do to hurt themselves.

Day 2

 Day 3

 Day 4

 Day 5

The pictures don't do it justice. It looked a lot more bruised and purple in person.

Cinnamon Rolls

In preparation for William's blessing this Sunday, I tried a new recipe. I wanted to serve muffins, cinnamon rolls, and fruit. I found a one hour cinnamon roll recipe on Facebook that I wanted to try with the thought that making them would be cheaper then buying them. 

Well as you can tell from my picture, they didn't come out at all like the picture. They taste fine, but they look like crap. Some of them didn't even cook all the way through. So Ben, trying to make me feel better did some math and we decided that it would just be cheaper to buy frozen ones and cook them. Hopefully they will turn out much better then my homemade attempt.

FHE

During Swiss Days I bought a Family Home Evening kit. It has lessons with anything you could think of to go along with that lesson. There are hands on activities, quotes, stories, etc. I was so excited. It's a year program, but if you spread it out, you can make it last two years, so that's what we decided to do. We'll do a kit lesson every other Family Home Evening.

We had our first lesson on Monday. It was about the fundamentals/building blocks of belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

In the process of the lesson, the hands on activity was to build a church. Each of the kids got to build their own church with the block. In other words how they thought a church should look. They were both very proud of what they came up with.

When the kids were done, it was Daddy's turn. They were both surprised at how much it looked like a church. Then the best part. Taking away key fundamentals of the church and watching the blocks fall. They both loved that part.

Overall it went really well. Our kids are a little young for how in depth you can get with these lessons, but they still enjoyed themselves and could answer questions when we were all done. I'm looking forward to see what the rest of the lessons bring.