No Tricks for Dad

It seems to be a tradition in our family, that when the kids learn a good "trick" when Brad's not around, they conveniently forget the "trick" when he is around. They look at me like they don't know what I'm talking about and Brad probably thinks I'm a desperate housewife trying to make her life interesting by inventing tricks her kids can do. London started a new tradition to add to this. Not only will she not show her tricks to Dad, but she likes to learn the big milestones while he's out of town. On Easter Sunday she decided to start crawling while Brad was still in Utah. Now, with Brad out of town again, she's decided she wants to start walking. It's not an easy thing to film with one person because I had to help her up, then get far enough away to film her, without her trying to follow me and walk before I could get the camera ready. So this isn't the best filming (besides the fact that she's only half dressed, but I didn't want to break her streak by putting pants on her) but you'll get the idea.






She was getting ready for her nap right now, so maybe we'll get some better footage later. Looks just like her brothers with a bow...

Drake Goes To School

For years Drake has been watching his brothers leave for school and asking if he could go too. It always broke his heart when he was told no. Well, it's finally his turn and he is soooo excited! Of course we had to give him the no biting, hitting, scratching, pushing, or toy stealing talk, but he acted like that wouldn't be a problem... He was, however, quite insistant that he purchase and wear Spongebob underwear on his first day of school. So I found the smallest pair I could and sent him and his lucky underwear on their way. Appearently they were lucky because he was the only boy there on the first day with 3 little girls so he got all the boy toys to himself and didn't have to worry about any of them wanting to use them. Hopefully when the other boys show up next week, his citizenship remarks will remain Outstanding. Maybe I just need to put him in his Spongebob underwear every week! How long can one pair of underwear last? Okay, I might have to go buy more.

He was so cute when he got home. He's used to watching the other boys show me their paperwork after school and telling me what they did at school that day that he didn't even wait for me to ask. He just went through the routine. He was so proud of his drawings and artwork and tried to explain to me the songs he could sing. And did I mention how good he's been this week? He's been like a different child. Maybe turning three was the key!

I'm not sure why, but he insisted on pretending he was on the phone for this picture.

First Day of School

Rock is in the middle of the street with Rhett right behind him, enthusiastically getting off the bus and wearing his gingerbread man hat with great pride. (This street that the busstop is on is a 55 mph street. But that's a rant for another day!)

Rockwell is now a 1st Grader and Rhett is in Kindergarten. Rock was so calm and composed the first day of school and was already acting like he knew everything about his bus number and lunch money so there was no need to go over all that again! Rhett could only focus on the bus ride home. That's all he wanted because that's what kindergarten is: a chance to ride a bus. I was a little concerned with him riding the bus home on the first day of school but Rockwell assured me that he would make sure Rhett got on the bus and off the bus at the right stop. I couldn't resist their pleas so I gave in. And off they went to school.

Rock picked out this shirt in the store and insisted that he wear it on the first day of school. I generally dislike screen-printed cartoon shirts but he loved it so much! Plus it gave him a starting off point at talking to other boys who are also addicted to Mario video games. It helped him make new friends. But that is one of Rockwells greatest talents, making friends.

Rhett picked out this "guitar hero" shirt. I'm pretty sure he thinks the word for guitar is actually "Guitarhero", because he never separates the two words and really has no idea what the game Guitar Hero is. He's just heard it so much that he uses it when he sees a guitar. He loves guitars on things and pirates, still. Should I be nervous? No, he's too cute!

10 Years Later

Yesterday was our 10th anniversary. Brad said he has to admit he never stopped to think about what 10 years in the future would look like on our wedding day. (Focused on other things...) But I'll tell you now, it's fantastic! We live in Florida with our 4 wonderful children who are happy and healthy and love it! We enjoy our callings, career choices and friendships here. I love Brad more than I could have even imagined and I know he loves me. I have an amazing family that has been a decade in the making, starting on a perfect wedding day... But there has been one issue Brad has brought up many times in the last 10 years that I decided to finally resolve on this 10th anniversary. You could say it's been "eating" at him...

This is a quick picture we took on our wedding day before the reception started, and we never saw this cake again. Our reception was outside and there was a short 10 minutes of rain drizzle that threatened to ruin the cake so it was quickly cut and distributed. (An act that later resulted in the marriage of my Maid of Honor and brother so it's all good...) Anytime Brad sees a wedding cake he says, "I never got to taste my wedding cake." So I decided it was time to finally taste our wedding cake after 10 years. So I had the top of a cake made that was nowhere near as beautiful as our actual cake but the idea was there, and then gave it to him on our anniversary.

We set up the camera and had Drake be our photographer. (He was so excited to do this! He would have so much enthusiasm to take the picture that he would shake the camera. So we had to take many pictures so that Brad's head would actually be in the frame.) So here is the moment, and picture, Brad has been waiting 10 years to have:

It may not have been as pretty, but this was the BEST cake I have ever tasted! We laughed at ourselves at how funny we thought we were, kissed Drake for his help and sent him to bed and ate more cake because it was so good! I smiled to myself and said, "I have the best husband and the best life!"

The .Com Generation

Yesterday Rhett asked me which fish Jesus made first. I told him I wasn't sure which fish was created first because the bible just said they were created at the same time. No specific order is given. He asked if we could go to a .Com to find the answer. More rhetorically than anything I said, "I have no idea what .com could tell us that!" He paused for minute and said, "Let's try Fish.com" They are of a generation that thinks all answers are found on the internet!

Color Safe Bleach

I always thought the idea of "Color Safe Bleach" was an oxymoron. It really didn't make much sense to me, but honestly I didn't care. Then I moved to Florida... The first couple of months here all our clothes and towels stunk! I would wash them and dry them but they would just have this wet, pre-mildew smell that was horrible. Even if they came out of the dryer smelling normal, after sitting in the closet or drawers for a couple days, they would start smelling again. We were probably leaving a great first impression on every one we met! Then one day, when I was telling a friend that I couldn't get our towels to smell clean (and I'd even gone out and bought new ones) she said she always puts a little bleach in her washer to get rid of that smell. I asked her if all her towels were white and she said no, she just let the bleach sit for a minute in the water before she put her towels in. Knowing I was probably going to end up with a bunch of white and muted colored towels, I put a little bleach in my wash. The outcome was amazing! The towels smelled clean! They smelled clean days later when I pulled them out of the closet! I could use my bath towel, set it out to dry, and use it again the next day without it smelling gross! I decided to test the concept on the boys clothes now. I made sure I didn't put in anything nice or their new clothes just in case, and added bleach to the water... Guess what? The boys didn't stink anymore! (At least not due to bad laundering...) Then suddenly a product of the past came to my mind, "Use color safe bleach... use color safe bleach..." So maybe the product I had made fun of so many years before actually made sense! I went and bought it and have put it in every load (with soap of course) since then. We are no longer a stinky family!

Happy Birthday Drake!

You know there are those kids who are just fun to give presents to because they get so excited no matter what the present is? Drake is definitely one of those kids. He's hysterical. He doesn't stop talking the entire time and and is constantly saying "whoa!" the whole time. (Really, the whole time. Sometimes just his mouth makes the shape and the sound doesn't actually come out, but the concept is there.) Opening presents is one of his most loveable moments. Maybe we just need to have his birthday everyday with an occasional Christmas...

I love this child!

He's having a birthday party with his friends on Saturday so I'll post actual pictures later.

I guess what they say is true!

Green Jell-o must be fancy. It doesn't count if it's just out of the box.

I'll never forget the time we were in California at a Mexican restaurant and one of my Utah friends asked for fry sauce. "You mean ketchup?" they asked. Either way, it was wrong on so many levels.

Funeral potatoes are usually in a throw away pan since they are generally made for transport.

Green Jell-o, fry sauce, and funeral potatoes, just to name a few, seem to have Mormon cuisine written all over them. I'm not really sure why but I don't argue with the statistics. There's another dish I'd like to mention that I was sure wasn't just a Mormon thing, but I was proved wrong this last week. We were having dinner with a friend and her teenage son a couple of days ago (who aren't Mormon) when the topic of new recipes came up. Someone (maybe me, maybe one of the missionaries, I can't remember) mentioned a favorite casserole. The teenage son turned to his mom and asked, "What's a casserole?" She oddly explained that it was a mixture of ingredients in a pan usually topped with cheese. (With that definition, funeral potatoes would really be a Mormon thing!) It made me laugh: What's a casserole? Doesn't everyone make casseroles? Don't they teach you about casseroles in school? Or at least feed them to you? I think its a Major at BYU! Isn't it normal to take any and all ingredients, often leftovers, and throw them in a pan, covered with cream of chicken soup, topped with cheese or crushed up crackers or cereal? What's a casserole!!!??? Uh-oh, I have to go, my tuna casserole is done...