Odds & Ends

Earlier this year I told Vaughn that I wanted a TON of tomatoes. He honored my request and planted EIGHT tomato plants! I've watched them grow all summer at the same time watching my ever growing stomach and started to get worried. When I made my request I wasn't thinking that I'd be having a baby around the same time that the tomatoes were ready. So I became bound and determined that I would do something useful with them so they didn't go to waste. 

 Mason has been my big helper. He helped me wash the tomatoes and then take the skins off. For my first project we made salsa! I had almost everything I needed out in my garden. I love being able to just go out and pick out some onions, peppers and tomatoes!! Thank you Vaughn for all your hard work to grow what I ask you too!!!  

This was my second picking of tomatoes!! This time Mason and I made spaghetti sauce! It made the house smell so yummy, but it also made me so very tired! I don't know why I could paint bathrooms and our laundry room when I was 9 months pregnant with Sam, but with this baby I can't can a few cans of salsa and spaghetti sauce without feeling like I had done way too much. Must be because I'm older now. Who knows?!

Later I went in to clean the boys bathroom and when I went to clean the toilet I found this note.

"Mason did it."

Still not sure what Mason did, but I just had to laugh at Drew! 

He seriously comes up with the craziest things! 

After scrubbing the bathroom floor I had to take a little break. So I stayed sitting on the floor. (I'm lame, I know) Anyway, Sam soon found me and started doing what she does best. Making a mess of something clean. 

And she was done. She climbed out and went to go find something or someone else to terrorize! 

On the 25th Sam had her first bloody nose.

I can't remember how she got it, but she looked like she'd been beat up pretty good!

These two are my two crazies. They are always either fighting and driving me crazy or they are getting along too well and playing too rough and driving me crazy. I think my life will be so much easier once school starts again!!

There are so many reasons I love this picture. For one thing they are all doing what we asked them too without fighting us. For another they all seem to be doing a really good job and another is that my boys are left handed!! I wish the gene would have carried on to Sam, but I guess you can't have everything you want! Ha, just kidding! 

Love this girl!

Enjoying some sweet cuddling time with my "baby". 

She has no idea what is about to happen to her and that her life will never be the same!!

Sammy D

Sometimes Vaughn and I are still amazed that we have a little girl.

She is so different from her brothers. 

It seems everything she does is so much more precious and adorable.

I think she's got us right where she wants us, around her little finger!

She is definitely a daddy's girl. 

She loves him so much and just lights up when he comes home for lunch and at the end of the day! 

She cracks us up when she gets frustrated with Vaughn and says, "Daaaaaaaaaaad."In a total no whining, but annoyed voice and while rolling her eyes! Where does she learn this stuff?!  

We've been trying to get ready for the baby to come and finally got the bassinet up. Sam was excited and wanted to put in her contribution, so she brought all of her stuffed animals for his bed. She is definitely going to be a "big" help when this baby comes. I'm a little nervous for it! 

Sam's new favorite place to hang out. I guess she feels like this keeps her the center of attention. 

She still isn't talking too much, but some words are starting to come out. You can sometimes vaguely recognize a word and figure out what she is wanting. I have been really trying to work with her and have her repeat me, but she gives up so fast. I think she knows she needs to talk, but then that would be giving up some of her attention, so she doesn't want to give that up. She is a smart little girl. She understands what we say and what it means, but she is just not willing to take the next step yet.

Most of our Summer. . .

Has been spent inside hiding from the heat and normal summer activities that kids love.

It is probably just me, but this summer has been brutally hot! So my kids had to improvise on entertainment! We had a lot of days when our house was a COMPLETE disaster, but the kids were happy. They did a lot of fort building and using their imaginations, so it couldn't have been that bad, right? And of course so that I am perfectly honest, there were a lot of days when they watched tv...all day. Not proud of that one, but some days when we made it to bed time, I counted that day as a success!! 

Afternoon Date with my Boys!

Today I dropped Sam off with Malita and took the boys to Twin to get their hair cut. We have a friend that works at JC Penney and they were offering free haircuts for the month, so I took advantage of it with the boys. They REALLY were in need of it! After the haircuts we had lunch at Taco Bell and then went to the movies! The boys were so excited and were so well behaved for me! They are growing up so much! 

Every time we come to this theatre the boys think they have to have their pictures taken. 

Maybe I make them take too many pictures..... 

They were so excited to be out in public with their mohawks! Poor Mason's was just an itty bitty one, but Drew's was pretty cool and he would not let me wash his hair for three days. That was some pretty amazing gel!

Jerome Parade and County Fair

This year I decided to take the kids to the parade so they could get me some candy! Ha, just kidding! It's been a few years since we've watched the parade, because we been in the parade with Vaughn's office, so I think the kids were excited.

Sam & Malita, Drew & Kyler

We sat with my cousins Malita and Heather and friend Missy and her kids.  

 Mason

He is wearing his pig wrestling shirt that says "Pig Bad Wolf". I was so excited to see him wrestle a little piggy!!

Soda and Vaughn

Drew really wanted to go with Vaughn, so he threw Drew on in between him and Soda. He had a blast riding with his dad!

After the parade and two huge bags of candy we jetted down to the fair. Both the boys were on teams to try and pull a ribbon off the tail of a fast little piggy!

I love this picture! They all have their game faces on and are receiving a serious pep talk from Missy!!

Mason, Abby, Avery and Hadley. Hadley really carried the team by going after the pig and she ended up taking off the ribbon! I thought Mason would be all over it, but no. He did not want to get dirty. For a few weeks before it started, when we would talk about catching the pig, he would say, "I'm going to shoot the pig, then I'm going to wrestle it." I think he thought that he really could shoot it first! 

Mason with his mud socks. 

Up next was Drew! 

Drew was more excited to get the ribbon. He tried so hard!

They were hilarious to watch! 

Kyler, Troy & Drew

Afterwards they were so excited about their accomplishment!!

During the next week we went over and had lunch with an old friend and checked out the animals. I was really nervous about taking all three kids by myself and Sam was not in a stroller, but they did really well. And it was during the day, so the crowd wasn't an issue.

 We were there for a couple of hours and they loved seeing all the different animals.

They really liked this all white cow, so I made them stand by it so I could take a picture!

Sunday Afternoons

Drew was so cute after church today. He came home, found his Book of Mormon and asked if he could read it. Vaughn told him that of course he could and so he sat down and started in Alma. He is such a smarty pants. I think the Book of Mormon would be a great way for him to work on his reading! He was sounding out some of the really big, hard words and doing a great job at it! He read about a page and then asked Vaughn if he could stop. Vaughn said yes and we realized that he thought he could read the whole thing in one day! He looked relieved when we told him it would take him a long time and he didn't need to do it in one day!

Such a good kid!

After naps we turned on the Olympics. The kids have enjoyed watching them with us and Drew has decided he wants to be in the winter olympics when he grows up!  

Our kids are definitely tech savy. Usually all three of them have some sort of ipod, iPhone or ipad in their hands. It usually comes in handy when I need some peace and quiet!!

Growing up

Yesterday we converted Sam's crib into a toddler bed. We have been wanting to get her transitioning into a twin size bed for the last little bit, but by giving up the crib, we realize that we are giving up some control with putting her down for naps and bedtime. We just haven't been really ready to do that, yet. So yesterday, we took the plunge!

She was so excited to see her crib without the front on it! 

She kept pretending to go to sleep. Complete with her fake snores!!

And with one shoe on and one shoe off! 

Her brothers were just as excited as she was! 

Now we just need to get her a mattress and I want to make her a bedspread like I did for the boys. Good thing we have 4 or 5 months before the baby will need the crib!

So as we were getting the kids ready for bed that night we did our usual routine of getting them dressed and having family prayers before tucking in the boys. When I left their room I could not find Sam. Usually, she runs back to our room or the family room to keep playing and she was no where to be seen. The last place I looked was in her room and there she was! She had put herself in bed. She was covered with her BYU blanket and she had her piggy next to her. When we walked in to give her hugs and kisses she jumped like we had honestly scared her! She thought she was in bed for good and was not expecting us! It was so precious!! 

So after kisses and hugs we shut the door. I did hear her a few times playing, but she never tried to come out of her room. A few hours I went in to check on her and she was out!! She looked so big in her modified bed!!! 

Now we just need to get her potty trained!!

Doughnuts!!!

 Saturday morning I woke up with a horrible craving for doughnuts. While talking to my mom she suggested that I just make some. What a great idea!!! Or so I thought! It really wasn't that bad, it just took me a long time to get out of bed and get my butt moving! Once I found a recipe that I wanted to try on Pinterest it took me a awhile to get everything all situated and organized. I thought it would help the process go much smoother. And I am sure it did, but with the boys asking literally every minute if they could help me, my patience started wearing thin!! 

Finally, we were ready. 

The dough was rising and I had cleaned up the mess we had made so far. 

I started wondering if I could get away with finishing the project by myself, but I had only rolled out a few doughnuts when the boys caught on and came running to help.

I'm sad this picture is blurry. He was a really good helper, I just was tired by this time. I need to have more patience with my kids. Sigh. 

These are not very good pictures, because like I said, my patience was pretty much gone and I had given up on caring about it all, especially pictures. I regret it now! 

Mason didn't quite grasp the concept of it, so he would cut out a doughnut and then roll it back up into a ball again. Oh well. He had fun and that is all that matters. 

Sam was in flour heaven! She thought it was the greatest thing ever! She was quite the mess when we got done!! 

The boys were really impatient with letting the doughnuts rise again, so they were sort of flat. It didn't effect the taste at all. They were still sooo yummy! They were supposed to taste like the Krispy Kreme doughnuts and I think they came really close to being like the real thing! Maybe if they had been allowed to rise a little more.... 

Some of the finished product! The boys loved them and Vaughn said they were super yummy! Maybe next time I'll just have to have Vaughn home to help me (he was at a funeral) or not try and do it while I am almost ready to have a baby and hungry and tired!! Not a good combo!!