A Dozen Cousins

Last night we took all twelve cousins to the ampitheater in A.F. for pictures---the one at grandma's was missing the last two babies. All we wanted was one good picture. We knew it would be impossible to get smiles from everyone simultaneously, so our hope was to get one shot with everyone looking forward and not crying. As you can tell, our expectations were way too high!

This is the very first picture. . . .things seem to be breaking down quickly. . . .
C'mon Morgan. . . . just relax and be natural. . . .pretend there is not a flailing child in your arms!

Brit doing his best to calm his cousin. . . . unfortunately that didn't work either.

The photographer took over 300 pictures---in only 30 minutes---her plan is to photoshop everyone's best face into one picture. I wish her luck!

Picaso

Laityn just recently discovered her love of drawing. She taped this picture of a kitty, along with about a dozen others on her door (it was all very surprising since she was supposed to be asleep in bed!)

Where's the Snow?

Jace woke up this morning absolutely sure that there was going to be snow outside. He had heard me telling the kids we needed to get out their coats because it might possibly snow on Saturday. Anyway . . . he decided he should also get ready for the frigid temperatures. First, he brought me his hat and gloves. After FINALLY getting all four fingers and the thumb into the correct holes, I figured he was good to go. Nope! A few minutes later he came back with his coat. He needed it zipped "all way to the top!" and snapped. Now, surely, he was done. Wrong again! He came back to my room and told me he needed his pants and boots. I explained that his boots were still muddy from last winter and I wasn't about to go digging out the snow pants in October. He thought for a few moments and then very sweetly informed me that "Heavenly Father and Jesus says when you have your snow coat and snow hat you need your snow pants and snow boots." I told him I was pretty sure they hadn't said that and he finally settled on getting his picture taken. And if you were wondering, in less than an hour, Jace was dying of heat and had to take all his snow gear off because "I is too hot mom!"

Homeless No More!

Jace has recently discovered his new mission in life---building houses for the army ants (not really sure why they're army ants, but that's what they are). He goes to the empty lot next door where someone kindly dumped a load of extra sand. He carries it in buckets to the parkway strip, and gets to work. This house was pretty much sand, but he has also been stacking rocks, sticks, dead weeds---all the stuff that you would find in an empty lot. He checks his houses whenever he is outside to see if the ants have moved in----pretty darn cute!

Time to Laugh

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If you don't know who Brian Regan is, or if you think he's the funniest man alive, click play and enjoy!

Who might you marry?

The other day I left Lady and Jace in the kitchen to eat lunch while I put away some laundry. After a few minutes, I could hear the conversation getting less than friendly. The scene I came upon went something like this. . . .

Lady: I'm going to marry Samuel. Wait, no, actually I'm going to marry. . . (thinking). . . Richard. Opal says she's marrying the Egypt Prince. I think I might like him too.

Jace: I'm marrying someone I don't know!

Lady: Uh-uh. You're gonna marry. . . (thinking again). . .Kate Evans (next door neighbor).

Jace: No! I not marry Kate! I'm to marry someone I don't know!!

Lady: Nope. Kate.

Jace: NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Mom says I can marry someone and I don't know her!!!

At this point, I stepped in and tried to end the marriage issue. Never, ever thought I'd be stopping a 3 and 5 year old from screaming their lungs out about their marriage prospects!

The Amazing Race

Last night was our mother/daughter activity. We met at the church where we were divided into teams and colors. We were each given our first clue. . .the race began. There was a challenge that we had to complete at each location before we were given the next clue. Some of the challenges were rock climbing, helping customers at Walmart take their groceries to their car, singing Primary songs to people in a nursing home (one group was asked to sing all 9 verses of "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief"--they were the last ones back to the church)....there were seven challenges total. One of the tasks was to take pictures of each mom and daughter on the steps of the tabernacle (pictured above). The activity was awesome! The girls loved it and some of those moms were pretty serious about winning the race. We finished the night with donuts and hot chocolate.

If any of you want copies of the clues for ym/yw or primary activities, let me know and I can email you a copy. You could totally do this activity with any group over eight. And if you're wondering, we came in 4th---We knew we had lost time when we approached a woman at Walmart and wanted to carry her groceries. She couldn't speak English, so the checker offered to translate---pretty sure that slowed us down. Not to mention, we did have a very pregnant mom trying to keep up with those girls running full speed. I know. . . excuses, excuses.