Mosquitoes Suck (Literally)

Jacob & I are mosquito magnets for some reason.  They like what we got!  Trevor & Hunter can get away with only a few bites but we literally get attacked!  I can't even sit still if I know a mosquito is buzzing around me.

A few weeks ago, Jacob was playing at a friend's house after school for a few hours.  They ended up spending the entire time outside playing with the new baby chicks his friend had just gotten.  When I went to pick him up, I went out to collect him and held a chick for a few minutes.  Within 5 minutes of me being outside I was swatting them off my legs like crazy!  Jacob was out there for about 2 hours and those mosquitoes had a field day with him!  He had to suffer with these itchy bites for a few days.  We slathered them in Cortisone cream every day and night until they finally let up.  Even his bus driver asked me what happened to his legs.  He couldn't believe it was just mosquitoes!  I wondered if anyone at his school thought he had hives or something!  The picture above does not give it justice!  I seriously wonder what purpose mosquitoes actually serve?  NONE!  The person who finds a way to permanently kill off every last mosquito from this earth is going to be a trillionaire!!

Wicked Weather

The monsoon season was a BIG disappointment this year. Come to think of it, it seems like the past few years have been a disappointment. Mother Nature made up for it with the storm she sent our way on Tuesday! It was pretty amazing!  My mom and I were shopping at Kohl's when the storm rolled in.  I don't even think I realized it was going to rain!  All of a sudden we started hearing thunder claps and then this roar of rain falling on the roof.  Pretty soon, that rain turned into hail.  We went up to the front doors to see it in action.  There were so many people standing by the doors just watching the storm!  Obviously we weren't the only ones taken aback by this unusual weather! 

We were being held hostage inside the store so the only thing we could do was shop some more!  It was a nice excuse.  We really didn't want to venture out into that storm.  It was too intense!  You rarely need an umbrella here, except maybe to shield the sun with!  When we were finally released, we saw the remnants of that crazy storm right near our car.  Luckily I parked far away from this tree.  That would not have been a fun discovery!  Driving to pick up Hunter from preschool, we saw signs of the storm everywhere.  Trees had fallen down, tree debris was all over the road, garbage cans were on their sides in the middle of the street..it was so crazy!

 

 When Jacob's bus came, I had to wade through this stream to get across the street to collect him.  He didn't even make it to the sidewalk before he started splashing around in the water.  He asked if he could go get his swimsuit on and come back out.  Unfortunately, Hunter fell asleep on the way home from preschool and missed all the fun.

Jacob had a blast running up and down the stream while waving to every car that passed.  He was concerned that if it wasn't raining anymore then his puddle would disappear.  I told him it would dry up, unfortunately.  I finally dragged him inside because I was tired of standing out front watching him.  He settled on playing in the smaller puddles in the backyard.  Ah, to be as carefree as a kid again!

Our Monthly Pinetop Getaway

We enjoyed a great Conference weekend in the gorgeous Pinetop weather!  It was a nice escape from the heat (which is just starting to simmer down, thankfully)!  Our weekend went by quickly but was filled with many of the same things we enjoy every time we go up there:

Numerous lizards & creatures held hostage temporarily before safely returning to their woodsy home.

 Boys playing continuously throughout the day so much that they are tuckered out by 6 in the evening.

Lots of sugar and treats.

 Brothers who are best friends and are off playing all day together (especially when they are the only kids up there).

Reveling in the fact that we can sit around and do nothing all day!  Very relaxing!

We had every intention of bringing our trailer home this trip, but decided we could probably sneak away for one more weekend before winter weather hits!

Kitchen Assistant

A few Saturdays ago, I needed a way to distract Hunter.  Trevor was taking Jacob out to do yard work and he didn't want Hunter out there.  He felt Jacob would get distracted and wanted him to focus on working.  Hunter was devastated.  He only wanted to go outside and help Daddy.  I decided to have him "help" me make pancakes.

Notice how blurry my pictures are?  Apparently Hunter got a hold of my camera a few days earlier and licked the lens.  Seriously, he licked it and I have the video to prove it!  I'm still trying to get that uploaded here.  Anyhow, I didn't notice my dirty lens until just this week!  So all of my pictures between then and when I discovered it have this haze over them. 

 Hunter has decided he enjoys helping me in the kitchen.  He has moved onto making macaroni & cheese.  I think we have a budding chef on our hands!  I hope that he'll cook some delicious dishes for me in the future!  Food is usually better when someone else makes it for you!



Fall Has Fallen

Well, technically it is fall, although it's a little hard to know that around here.  The heat has been unbearable lately.  Hopefully these last few days of storms propel us away from summer temperatures so we can FINALLY enjoy this season!  I began feeling restless with the weather about the middle of September.  I thought if I got my Halloween decorations out early, it would help speed the season along.  It didn't really help, but at least we get to enjoy our decorations for a reasonable amount of time.  It looks and smells (Pumpkin Spice Wallflowers) like fall in here!  Even if it doesn't feel like it!

I had a creative urge when I saw this craft in a magazine.  I force myself to follow through with it.  I'm not typically a glue and paint kind of girl, but this one looked easy enough and it was cute.  So VOILA!  I'm glad I made myself do it!  Here are some of our other decorations.  Every year I think, "where did this go last year?"  So I am trying to document it and I think it will be fun in 10 or 20 years to see how things change around here concerning our annual holiday decorating & traditions!

These baskets normally occupy potatoes and onions (not very pretty) or they are empty.  I've been meaning to find something cute to put in them.  Fall has inspired me to follow through!  I just need to find something to replace that ugly bag of potatoes in the bottom basket.

I have had this guy for years, even before kids.  His basket is usually empty.  I finally went to Michael's and found some fall foilage to dress it up with.  All this craftiness happened during the same week.  I'm pretty much over it now!  That's why when I have the urge, I need to take it and run with it before it's gone! 

The boys had a blast "helping" me decorate.  They got to put Halloween lamps in their rooms to have on while they are sleeping. 

Jacob is really excited for Halloween.  It is one of his favorite holidays and he knows once Halloween is over, his birthday is just around the corner.  Sabrina gave us some of her costumes she wanted to get rid of.  The boys spent the whole day playing with them.  On my way to bed that night, I went in to check on Jacob and this is how I found him.  Apparently he likes the new costumes!

Best Friends..Mostly

Today Hunter had a play date scheduled with his friend from the ward.  His mom called me this morning to see if Hunter was still coming over.  Jacob and Hunter were playing so well together that I hated to interrupt, but Hunter hardly ever gets the opportunity to go play at a friend's house while Jacob is always playing at a friend's and leaving Hunter behind.  I asked Hunter if he wanted to go play with his friend or stay and play with Jacob.  He immediately answered, "Stay and play with Jacob."  I thought that was so sweet.  I thought to myself that if Jacob had the same choice, he would always choose the friend over Hunter.  He even informed me during this converstaion that he would like to go over there to Hunter's friend's house and play too.  I told him Hunter was the only one invited.  I asked Hunter again and he was sure he would rather stay home and play with his brother.  It was such a sweet moment, even though they were fighting with each other within the hour, of course!

Labor Day Weekend

We went to our favorite nearby vacation spot for the weekend, our trailer in Pinetop.  The weather was great and when it wasn't, we just cranked up the air conditioning! 

We left on Friday after school.  Trevor and I were trying to enjoy this beautiful scenery..

But it was pretty difficult with this guy pouting in our back seat.

He was very tired and did pretty good for the first hour or so.  Then he didn't like the movie they were watching and kept crying about EVERYTHING from his tummy hurting, to him "wanting" me.  Usually he passes out within minutes, which is a good and bad thing.  The good part is a nice, relaxing drive.  The bad part is a restless kid when bed time comes around.  We got the "kid going to bed easily" option and suffered throughout our 3 hour drive.

Once we were there, the kids were SO happy to get out of the car.  Trevor's parents were already there.  It was nice to get them to ourselves for the night and part of the next day before the rest of the gang showed up.

I asked Trevor to add a step for me.  It didn't used to be a challenge to step up on our porch board, but my belly is getting pretty big these days.  The extra step doubled as storage for Hunter's cars.

Hunter was busy all weekend bringing me "a surprise" (flowers that he picked). 

We had the joy of experiencing morning and nightly meltdowns from Hunter.  It was usually about food, ironically. It's not usually a struggle to get this kid to eat.  In the morning, he had to eat breakfast before he could go outside to play.  Once they were gone, it was usually for the day and I would have to track them down and force feed them.  The meltdowns at night would be that he needed to eat his dinner before he got dessert.  I really just think he likes to test his limits and see how far he can manipulate situations.  Here, he finally agreed to eat his hot dog, minus the bun.  He fell asleep like this with only 3 bites to go.  I happily put him to bed, even though he was filthy!  He was up early the next morning of course!  The first thing he said to me was, "You didn't give me my dessert last night!!"  I allowed him the one time courtesy of having a Zinger for breakfast.  Anything to keep him quiet!!

The weekend was filled with creature finds, mostly lizards.  This horny toad was a fortunate find.  Luckily, it was safely returned to his forest home after the kids had their fill of it.

Jacob's cousin Gavin is the best free babysitter we've ever had!  Jacob followed him around all weekend and I barely saw him.

Hunter enjoyed staying near the adults for the most part.  He would go off with the other kids, but didn't like to be far from the campsite.

The boys looked forward to their daily can of soda.

Jacob & some of his cousins decided to open a "Rock Shop."  They offered walking sticks, big rocks and other forest paraphernalia.  I was invited by Jacob to visit.  I was told to bring gravel from the campsite to use for money.  I purchased 2 rather nice walking sticks and gave one to Jacob.

As fun as we had, it was nice to head home when the weekend was over.  I didn't sleep very well there. Our bed is not as soft as I like and my hips were sore all weekend.  Plus the kids were up bright & early every morning!  It was nice to return to our regular amenities and schedules. 

On the way home, we happened upon this truck.  I don't think anyone was hurt and we felt fortunate to pass by just after it happened and before any part of the road was blocked off.  I'm sure there are some people who had to sit there for some time while they cleaned up all the spilled fuel & got the truck upright again.  We passed by a number of emergency vehicles...police cars, a fire truck & an ambulance making their way toward the accident while we were driving away. 

It was a nice & cool weekend!  We were sad to come home to the heat again.  Hopefully the worst part of it is over now and we can enjoy the nice, cool fall right here at home!