Memorial Day

Our Memorial Day weekend started on Saturday afternoon as we headed up to Pinetop. We stopped in Payson on the way, when we saw this crazy-looking bird that was making this crazy sound. I was surprised and pointed it out to everyone. I asked Trevor if it was a turkey. Jacob surprised us all by informing us that it was a Guinea fowl. Sure enough, he was right.

We are baffled as to how he knew this.

 

We went on a few hikes together. Ashlyn enjoyed her place in the baby carrier on Daddy's chest. She took in the sights and didn't make a peep.

I was able to coerce the boys to pose for a family picture. After a few that didn't turn out, I begged them to try for one more. Thanks for adding some character to it, Hunter.

Ashlyn was as content as could be with her Daddy wrapped around her little  fingers.

 

Ashlyn's thumb sucking made a more prominent debut and has since been a constant soother when her binky isn't available. I was a thumb-sucker for a good part of my childhood so I finally got one of my kids to follow suit. She was AMAZING the whole weekend! She slept so great and was just happy and content for the most part. We are so lucky to have such an angel!

Mother's Day

My mom doesn't like how she looks in this picture, but I LOVE it! I will treasure this picture forever.

 

 

I had a wonderful Mother's Day! Trevor was able to skip his morning church meetings and sleep in. He offered to make me breakfast, but with church at 8:30 a.m., I was worried I wouldn't make it on time. So he was relieved of duty. The kids sang to the mothers during sacrament and Trevor got to come down from the stands and sit by me for the entire 4 minutes of song. It was heavenly! During primary, I was asked to participate in a game they were playing. About 6 moms were asked to stand behind a curtain and sing a primary song and the kids were to stand up and go behind the curtain if they thought it was their mom. I had asked Hunter and Adam (I only did it for Jr. primary) earlier in the week what their favorite primary song was. Adam said a Batman song. Hunter told me "The Priesthood is Restored." I was hoping he would choose one that was easier to sing. The Priesthood is Restored is a really low key song and it did not sound good when I tried practicing at home to myself. I went to church planning on singing "I Love to See The Temple." But while the moms were standing out in the hall talking about it, I decided I would just sing The Priesthood song, even if I sounded terrible, because I wanted Hunter to feel special that I chose his favorite song. Then I found out one of the other moms planned to sing "I Love to See The Temple" so it worked out that I changed my mind. When I sang, it sounded terrible, but luckily Hunter came right back so I didn't have to torture any one's ears for too long. Then me, Hunter & Adam stood at the front of the Primary while the whole group sang the song. There was a vase of flowers on the table at the front of the room. The kids were allowed to give their mom a flower from it. Hunter gave me this flower:

It's a blurry picture but it's actually a big cabbage on this thick stem. It was beautiful, but also edible! Very resourceful. Everyone laughed when he chose that "flower". I don't think he thought anything about it. It was just the biggest, most beautiful "flower" he saw in that bouquet!

After primary, Ashlyn & I went to the car so I could nurse her. I was wearing a dress and didn't feel like lifting it all the way up and exposing myself in the mother's lounge. Church was almost over, so we stayed in the car while I enjoyed a refreshment. These chocolate bars were handed out after sacrament meeting to all the mothers. I enjoyed it very much. I may or may not have had to clean up tiny melted chocolate pieces off of Ashlyn's head and dress.

 

After a Mother's Day nap, we got up and went to my parent's house for dinner. Family dinner is not Trevor's favorite place to go, but he was so accommodating and barely complained! Haha

I am so grateful for the mothers in our lives. My mom and Trevor's mom are such blessings to us. We are SO lucky to have these amazing women as mothers and examples!! I pray that I can be half as good a mom to my kids as these women have been to us!

 

Bank Mishap

Adam had a little mishap at the bank today. He was playing in the line area since and since no one else was behind us, I didn't pay much attention to him. The line wasn't the black stretchy line we normally see at banks. It was this fixed line with these metal like ropes to keep the line contained. When I got called up to the window, Adam immediately ran over to me crying and holding his mouth. I picked him up and inspected his mouth and found blood seeping down his chin. I asked the teller for a Kleenex and waited there while he went to get one. I found out that Adam ran into one of those ropes and he had about 4 different cuts on his mouth from the rope pushing his lip into his teeth. This picture was taken after I had wiped him clean and after we left the bank and were loading back up in the car. So obviously it was still bleeding about 10 minutes later. I came home to a phone call from the bank manager who needed some information from me for their incident report. Just another normal bank trip. Haha

Sleepy Super Hero

This superhero must've had a hard day saving the world. I found him like this at about 5 p.m, passed out in front of his Batman movie.  He was just catching up on his rest to prepare him for another action packed night of fighting the bad guys. After I put him to bed later that night, within minutes, he came in to tell me he had a nightmare. Just one of the perks of those late day naps. A superhero who won't go to sleep at night and will use any excuse to get out of his bed. 

Chunk-a-licious

Check out these gorgeous thighs! If only such thighs were considered acceptable on a grown woman! I love them!

Sweetest Brother

Adam is the sweetest big brother to Ashlyn. There has been no jealously or resentment where his baby sister is concerned. He just loves her and is always talking to her and loving on her. Yesterday I was getting ready to go on a walk with my mom so I put her in her crib by my bed. When I came back to get her, I found she had been covered by her blanket, her binky was securely in her mouth and her little doll was right next to her. Adam did a great job tucking his sister in "for a nap". He is so cute to her!!! 

After I snapped a picture of Ashlyn, Adam insisted I take one with him in it. 

Acceptance

When we found out the baby was a girl, everyone was excited except Jacob. He was really upset and told us he wouldn't have anything to do with her. We have seen this little girl melt her big brother's heart. He has been really sweet to her. I had her laying on the floor of the hallway while I moved some laundry around. He walked up to her and said, "I think she wants to be held" and proceeded to pick her up off the floor. I was shocked that he would take the initiative to hold his baby sister. It made me so happy to see. Sometimes (most of the time) Jacob is pretty self-centered. I love seeing his sweet side come out, as rare as it may be!