A Fun Tuesday

So I found out, via some blog, about these "Free Family Film Festivals" held at Regal Theaters across America. I found a theater somewhat close to us - in Grand Junction. So I decided to take the kids up on Tuesday morning to see Wallace and Gromit. We left a little bit after breakfast and stayed for the whole day - well, we got back around 3:30. That's a whole day to me. :) It was fun and here are some pics of some of what we did yesterday:

Here the kiddos are in front of the theater. The movie was super fun and super cute. The kids got only slightly scared - not bad for my kids. Emmy lost interest the last 20 minutes, but had fun on the stairs. It was Miles' 3rd time, Jonas' 2nd time, and Emmy's 1st time at a theater.

After the movie we went to check out the new Cabela's that has opened up there. While not quite as grand as the one in Utah, it's a neat store and we enjoyed it.

Miles, of course, wanted this fish pillow. The kid wants everything. And believe me, I do not exaggerate when I say everything.

We stopped at this park, ate our lunch, then played some. This slide was a "pipe" I think.

They all loved it!

She's just too cute - even in my over-sized-for-her hat.

It was hot, though - like close to 100? So the kids had to break often in the shade and enjoy some juicy apples.

Crunchy yum.

Here they are playing "train." I do love my kids (even though I am hot, tired, and oh-so-grouchy at them today).

Summer shade is oh-so-welcomed.

After the park we went to Wendy's for some free junior frostys - I had some coupons, how nice. Then we headed back home. Emmy was asleep in less than 5 minutes. Miles 20 minutes. Jonas 40 minutes.

It was a fun day. I'm such a homebody and most of our days are spent in our backyard, or biking to the library or park or the new Great Harvest that opened a few blocks from our home (for free slices of course!). I do love being home, but it was good for all of us to go out and enjoy something and somewhere else.

Random

So these are not the greatest of pictures or anything. Just miscellaneous stuff. Kind of boring probably. Whatever.

So here is a headband I made. It's totally up my alley since it is super, super easy. I got the idea here.

And here is our showcase of some crafts done in June. I think that reflection picture was there in May, but oh well. The fishbowls were from the library's story-time craft. The black pictures were kind of fun - we colored a white piece of paper all over with lots of crayons, did 2 coats of black paint, let it dry, then scrapped off the paint with a wooden stick. Cool fun.

During bread-making time Miles begged Ben to eat some flour. To which Ben said, "sure." Awesome.

Our festive porch. I bought those paper lanterns after the holiday last year. Super cheap. Not a great picture, but I like our porch.

Tada.

Troll Hands

Apparently troll hands are VERY SCARY. Scary enough to awaken a soundly-sleeping child and cause that same child to SCREAM and SHRILL and JUMP OUT OF BED!!!! And freak out older brother in his bed 2 feet away and cause the said older brother to SCREAM and SHRILL and JUMP OUT OF BED, too.

Yes, this is what happened last nite.

No, this is not the first time Jonas has been awakened by dreams of "troll hands." He thinks they are grabbing at him.

Yes, Jonas played "troll hands" this morning after breakfast and apparently had a grand old time. (Don't ask how the game is played. I do not know.)

No, I do not understand children.

Camp Dumpling

We christened the campsite Camp Dumpling because. . . lo and behold. . . we had chicken and dumplings for dinner. What a great name, eh? The camping area is close to where the boys went on their priesthood camp-out. Here are a bunch of pictures kind of in random order:

Going on a hike and crossing the cattle guards. It was tricky business.

Emmy "hiking" with Dad. What a nice ride she had.

The kids are so cute in the morning. They are just happy and playful. It's a good way to start the day.

Our campsite was really great. A great location with shade and sun and trees and open area, too. We love Camp Dumpling!

Another shot of Camp Dumpling.

The boys had come across this skeleton when they went on the priesthood camp-out. They were pretty excited to show me it. Interesting.

Cute girl enjoying a delicious s'more.

The boys' newest favorite thing to do while camping: play with "fire sticks." They put a stick in the fire and get it smoking. Kind of like sparklers.

A bloodied-nose monster on our hike. Grrrr.

I love Emmy's face in this picture.

Miles climbing up a tree limb. He was pretty nervous about going any further; my boys are none too brave.

This is as far as Jonas got. But it's still fun.

This was our little scavenger hunt we did. We paint these egg cartons at home and then go looking for nature things that match our colors. How pretty, huh?

Our first family camping trip of 2010 was a success.

Happy Fathers' Day

And a Happy Fathers' Day to our very own dads:

Me and my dad - I'm guessing I'm about a couple of days old.

And I just had to show this one even though my dad's head is missing. But it's classic my dad: he in his bath-robe.

Ben, age 12ish, at the Klondike Derby with his Dad. Ben now owns that very same sweater. But not the great hat.

Ben, his big brother Joe, and their father. Circa 1978 or '79. And frankly Jim pretty much looks the same today.

We love our fathers and father-in-laws. Have a great day!

Fathers' Day

Your children love you and adore you. They want to be with you a lot. They are estatic when you come home from work. They think you can do everything.

And you just about can.

I love you and think you are a wonderful, wonderful father to our children. The fact that they truly love and adore you is enough for me.

More Quotes

We went camping this past Friday nite and I'm sure I'll post a ton of pictures of that soon. But I wanted to write down some more great quotes (at least in my mind) from my children.

JONAS

We were hanging out around the campfire and Ben was saying something to me about being smart. I said oh yeah right, you're every bit as smart as I am, etc. Then Ben said (he said, she said) something like, "Well you can do math in your head." Miles was quite flabbergasted as I think he took this literally and who knows what he was imagining. Then I kind of explained what that meant. Then Jonas said,

"I can do art in my head."

AWESOME, I would love to see it.

Where we camp there are cattle that graze in the area. So lots of big, dried up cow poop. Only Jonas started calling them,

"Cow Hoorays."

I think somebody taught his that at the priesthood camp-out last weekend. When asked why he calls him that he said, "Well poop is not a nice word." Yep, I definitely think someone taught him that one.

MILES

Ben was reading a little of the scriptures - the last chapter of the Book of Mormon. So Ben was talking about Moroni and who he was. I asked the kids, "What's on top of the temples?" Miles replied,

"Ramoni."

He's a BIG Ramona fan.

During the same conversation as the "smarts" one, Ben made mentioned how he ate a cereal called "S'mores" (we were eating real s'mores at the time) when he was a kid. I joked around that that was the reason he was unable to do math in his head. The next morning Ben did something that he reasoned was "because I'm smart," and to this Miles replied,

"You must have not eaten S'mores for breakfast."

You got that right kiddo. Good ol' oatmeal.

Week Who-Knows?

Well obviously this is my fourth pregnancy as I do not know what week I am at, exactly. I know I am somewhere between 28-31. If I really thought about it I could figure it out because I know I did my glucose testing at 28 weeks - but I can't really remember if that was one or two weeks ago. Probably just 1 week?

But I do know that I didn't really even want to post these pictures, but I had committed myself to documenting my pregnancy with pictures a little more. But I am totally more self-conscious than I have ever been about the size of my belly. Not because I'm any bigger than any other pregnancy - cuz I don't really think I am. But I think it all relates to looking at past pictures and seeing me at just about 9 months pregnant with Emmy. I get HUGE. GINORMOUS. Not all of me, luckily. But my belly, whoa. My face gets softer and rounder, too, but that doesn't bother me so much. I just wish I had a few more inches for my babes to stretch up and down, not out and out. I'm so self-conscious about it that I only tell people that I am due in August or "in 2 months" (which I've been saying for about a week or 2). It's not totally true seeing as I am officially due on August 23rd. But all my other babes have come 7-10 days early, so it might be somewhat closer to the truth.

Anyways, I guess I was just hoping for some kind of miracle with this pregnancy - as in I wouldn't poke out so much.

But when you are 4 feet and 10 inches tall (I used to say 4'11, but my true measurement is thus that I must round down), perhaps that is too great of a miracle to ask for?

(At least that's my excuse. I won't even dare blame this belly on all those delicious chocolate chips I've had. . .)

Jonasisms

Jonas just has the greatest sayings in the world. Too bad I don't always keep a pen and paper on me because I forget too fast what he says. But here are some of his latest:

Background:

The kids were being watched by Grandma Dixie and Grandpa G. My parents had taken them out to ride some bikes and scooters.

Jonas then says,
"Miles can go first. I am always the nice one."

He's right, too. :)

Background:

At the recent father-sons camp-out Jonas comes up carry a huge clod of cow poop in his hands.

"This would be great for the garden!"

He's right, too. :)

Background:

Miles got quite a little but prominent black eye (he ran into someone while playing at the ward dinner the other nite). Ben told the boys he had a picture of himself as a kid with a black eye. We had gathered on the couch to check out Ben's photo album and Jonas comes running,
"I want to see your black ear Dad!"

Classic Jonas.

Background:

We were sitting at the table eating dinner and I was reviewing what the kids had talked about in sharing time at Primary: the Holy Ghost. We talked about it for a while and the importance of listening to the Holy Ghost. Ben shared a couple of personal stories he has had.

Then Jonas says,
"I heard the Holy Ghost once say, 'Tickle my toes.' "

What?

Father-Sons Camp-out

The stake's annual Father-Sons camp-out was last night. Too bad there was a literal drop of 40 degrees in the temperature from today than 2 days ago. (It's 50 degrees right now.) It rained on them and even lightly snowed today. The boys still had a great time, though. It was just cut short today because of the weather. But they did sleep in the tent, ate camp food, explored trees, played with fire - so it was a success. Ben got a few photos: