my theory

Noah's been having kind of a rough time for the last few weeks. I'm sure he's teething. But I also wanted to write down some of my feelings on this subject. I have always felt like the reason that babies and old people had such a hard time communicating is because they are getting closer to the veil. If they could talk, they would tell us too much about it all :). I am a firm believer that you don't go through the veil all at once. That it kind of happens slowly. I guess I feel that way with older people because I've seen how they get just before death, and with babies because I can't imagine Heavenly Father sending these babies to earth without anything familiar. Seems like they would have to have a little piece of "there" with them. I have always felt like my babies were aware of angels and could see things that I cannot. I think the angels would be here to help ease them into the things of earthlife. This is of course all my own thoughts. Not doctrine. I don't even know if ANY of it is true, but I really do feel like for me, and my kids, it is. So when my kids go through this stage where they are teething, and learning to communicate, and struggling (around 1 1/2, 2ish) that that is when they are finishing coming through the veil. And losing touch with the other side. I think that would be something that would make me sad, and I think it would be a little confusing. That is what I think is going on with Noah lately. Everytime I hear him whine, or get fussy, that's all I can think about. And it's been really good because it helps me to be more sensitive and loving rather than just getting frustrated with it. I feel more inclined to just wrap my arms around him and cuddle with him. I like that I feel like I know what is going on with him....whether it is true or not.... and I'm really glad to have something to help me with his hard time. He is such a sweet little guy. Just so mellow and so laid back. If I had a dollar for everytime I heard someone tell me how calm and quiet he is, I would have a LOT of dollars! He really is just content with life and with the things that he does. He doesn't have the short attention span of most 1 1/2 year olds I know do. It's just interesting to have such a sweet little boy in our house and to be able to feel the Spirit through him. I'm so grateful for the chance to be a mom, and be able to see these hard times that my kids go through and watch how our Heavenly Father comforts my children and so often through me. I need to be better at being in touch with the spirit and being in tune with what it is Heavenly Father needs me to do with these little sweethearts that I have been so blessed with. I hope that I can make the move from His presence, to earth, just a little more comfortable, and a little less strange for Noah and hopefully for this next one as well. I'm sure that with all of this, that they still have that gungho attitude that we are so used to hearing about that the Spirits who come to earth have, but I think that with that little human body comes all the human, natural, emotions, and I hope that with any frustration or discouragement that my kids feel, that they will be able to feel my love too.

Happy 30th Nate!!

Nate did it!! He hit the big 3-0 on Saturday!! We tried to spoil him really good, but as usual I feel like he deserves so much more than we could ever do. Hopefully he had a nice day though :) I spent most of the morning putting his present together. He got off work at 11:00 and I finished it just in time. We (meaning the kids and I) were SO excited to give him his grill. We've been wanting to get him a bbq grill FOREVER!!! I kept thinking we should wait till we have our own house, but NAH.... why wait. So far he's made very good use of it and for some reason I still don't have a picture of him grilling. I couldn't find my camera in the morning. It wasn't until about 5:00 that evening that I finally found it.... lame. But yeah, so after we gave him his present and the kids gave him the cards they had made, Nate and I went on a nice little lunch date to Bajio. It was good. We stopped at the store and got some meat for him to grill, and headed home. We spent a lot of the day just relaxing, which, can I just say, seemed REALLY nice for some reason. Nate played with some Queensryche CDs with Steve, and then they got out Steve's Nintendo 64, the kids and he all played for a while. That was fun and different. And then we had a little bbq with family and his party. We had a few people show up for cake and ice cream.... it was really nice. I hope he felt special as that is the most important thing to me on birthdays. I love Nate and just feel like he deserves so much! Happy Birthday Nate!! I love you!

Pioneer Day for the Maynes Family

We had a nice little 24th of July this year. Nate of course didn't have the day off, so he was at work until 3:00 :( and we missed him, but it was nice to at least have the rest of the day with him. It started out with a little breakfast with my family. It was nice. The night before we had received a bag of scone dough from one of the ladies cleaning up her booth at the Handcart Days. I was all happy to have scone dough, and thought that would be perfect for our breakfast. It would have been had it been better dough. I think it may have just been old, and risen in the fridge too much.... I don't know, but it was not cooking the way that I am used to cooking scones. It wouldn't turn brown!! Anyway. We had a good time playing in the sprinklers, and just hanging out in Grandpa Mottishaw's backyard with everyone. The kids had a blast with Brent and Sarah and Charlie and Heidi as usual.


Here's Brad sitting on his chair over the sprinkler..... it was more exciting than it looks :)

Kelly made good use of the grass making pretend soups and horse food and such.... she was a cutie. She, Charity, Sarah, my mom, and Heidi all played "Down By The Banks" for a good hour that morning. That was a lot of fun! I was holding a sleeping Noah so no pictures....

my brother and his son Charlie

I just put this on here because I have about a million like it :) He always wants my camera.... but he's still saying cheese too :)

I took this because Bradley was totally playing with Charlie. It was a cute little boy cousin moment. I liked it.

This is funny. This one and the one following are within the same minute..... in this one he's smiling..... and in this one......

he's not. This is his "MOOOOOM stop taking pictures and let me cuddle up and take a nap!!" look.

So after the breakfast we went and picked up Nate from work. We had planned on going to the carnival one more time to use up our last tickets and I wasn't in the mood to take everyone myself, so we waited until Nate got home.

The kids all went on a few more rides. And then we got some snowcones. It was SO HOT!!! It's been fun to actually do some of the things at the carnivals this year. We've never really spent money at these places. It's interesting to see how spoiled your kids can get after a little of it though :) We had to have a few talks about being grateful :) They learned and did such a good job of saying thankyou, and just being happy with what they got. They were really good to stay together too.

One thing I thought was interesting with our kids was that as we were walking over to the rides Kelly and Charity would say something they wanted to go on, and then the boys would automatically want to do that as well. And at one point they all wanted to go on the Shark Slide. So we started walking over there and on the way over they saw a little bounce house and with Charity's persuasion Kelly and Brad and she changed their minds and said they wanted to go in the bounce house. I assumed Luke would change his mind as well, but nope. He was set on the Shark Slide. And even after watching them for a few minutes in the bounce house, having fun and everything, he was not going to budge and change his mind. I love that he is himself. I walked him over to the Shark Slide and he had a blast going down it all by himself :) Which is funny because my other kids wouldn't enjoy it as much without each other :) Funny how different kids are.

After the carnival we drove on up to Nate's parents house for the Maynes family party. We were really excited about this because we were going to be at one of the lakes in Daybreak. When we got there the kids all played in the water for a few minutes. Noah was hilarious! He just loved it!! I'm still trying to figure out why it was so easy for him to run out into the lake when he's almost deathly afraid of our little wading pool now..... oh well. He had fun.

we had a nice relaxing time (well, I did :) Nate spent most of the time driving kids to the bathroom. The only downside to this spot was the lack of toilets.). But it was fun hanging out with everyone. The kids all went off and played a fun I Spy game that took them all over the area.... they were gone for a while! Noah got completely spoiled with attention from his cousins the entire time! Ashlyn was his little buddy, that was fun. The kids all ran around playing on the rocks and the stream. It was really nice. Such a beautiful spot to have a picnic. The clouds came too, so it was a really nice breezy time.

The 23rd of July

Thursday was a pretty big day for us! We went to lunch with Nana, picked up Nate from work, ran around and did some errands, and then headed down to the Bountiful Parade. My mom sacrificed her morning to set up chairs for us to have a spot. It was a pretty good spot too, ended up being in the shade most of the time even though we were on the "wrong side" of the road. Fun parade, the kids got lots of candy, we all had a good time watching and munching on all the junk food we had.

sorry, I know this looks like the other one. I love the pictures of them waving to everything before it even got to us.

I do have to say that if you are ever in a parade and you are asked to give out bottles of water (yes, that is plastic bottles FULL of water), do me a favor and don't THROW them. My face is still bruised from the water bottle that hit me as I was looking down, unscrewing the lid from the one I (luckily) caught (while holding a baby on my lap!!!!) .... not a good idea. Some people were rolling them... I would suggest doing that, it's not as dangerous!

After the parade we headed on over to the carnival. We were so excited to actually have cash with us that we could actually spoil the kids and let them do some of the things at the carnival. This is really the first year that we have done this. We usually just walk around looking for free stuff.... so it was fun. The kids all went on the Shark Slide, and then the girls were set on going on this "Bouncy Thing" where they strap you to a bungy cord and let you jump really high on these trampolines. The boys didn't want to, so Heidi and I stayed in line with the girls while Nate took the boys on a bunch of little boy rides. The girls had fun. They were both so nervous on the thing that they didn't do a whole lot and you could tell they were pretty freaked out :) But they had fun.

Here's Kelly. She really wasn't heavy enough to get herself back down to the trampoline.... the guy had to keep pulling her down and bouncing her.... she had fun though- they both looked so cute!

Charity braved the rock wall. Which surprised me since she can barely stand to go 6 feet up on the one at Discovery. But she sure surprised me. She got WAY up there. Probably 3/4 of the way before deciding she'd had enough. And she was wearing flip flops even. She did good.

As we were getting ready to leave Brent and Sarah showed up and had ice cream for everyone. So the kids played around on the playground while we all ate and talked. Then this lady from the scone booth came and gave us a bag of scone dough to use for breakfast the next morning.... I was so excited :) I love scones. It was a really fun night!! Fun day. It's nice that they totally drag out the fun here in Bountiful. Good excuse to play till you drop!

3 Things:

1. Luke grabbed a pancake, leftover from breakfast, off the table and brought it with us to the store. I totally didn't even notice him munching on it until halfway through the store. It was slightly embarrassing considering it was near 2:00 in the afternoon.

2. My children have discovered a gumball machine at Walmart that "gives out TWO gumballs!!" and now that is the only machine they use. Is it dishonest to let them use it everytime we're there?

3. It's really fun to squish Luke's cheeks when he has grapes in them :) We both laughed.

Monday Monday (some pictures finally :))

I feel like ever since I made that last post I've been reborn, had a change of heart, or something. I just feel much better. I did have a blessing last night too, so I should give Heavenly Father the credit :). But I feel much better. I feel like a dork for whining too. I apologize to all of you who have so much more to deal with right now..... I really had no room to complain.

Today was a nice day! I love Mondays and having Nate home all day. The girls made breakfast again and then spent the rest of the day cleaning their room (and really, it was at least 5 hours of "clean your room", "is your room clean?", "how's your room coming along?"..... not my favorite, but they finally got it to an acceptable state. (I'm totally decluttering it tomorrow... they have way too much crap in that room) They were able to play in the pool for a little while before the shade and cold water ruined their fun.
The boys learned how to fold clothes (Bradley did amazing, should have taught him a long time ago, he was very helpful and happy to help too!! Luke on the other hand.... I think I might have to wait before I consider what he does helpful) Then they played in the pool the rest of the afternoon. Nate and I got a lot done around the house, had a fun water fight with the boys outside and felt very productive. The huge stack of laundry that has been plaguing my mind is now gone! (I'm not crazy though, I know it will be back, I'm just pumped to do it right away, and not let it sit there forever!) I got a sunburn on my legs with a really unattractive tan line to go with it. Now I really have some lines to show off when we finally go swimming :) (as if wearing a swimsuit isn't embarrassing enough). Then for FHE we went to the park for pizza and sand castles. Nate and I had this plan to go to the float preview thing at the South Towne Expo Center tonight, and when we told the kids about it they said, "can't we just go to the park?" Well, duh. Of course we can!! You mean instead of driving all the way to Sandy and hauling all you kids around through aisles and aisles of parade floats, just go to the park? Yeah, Nate and I were happy that that was all they wanted :) We had a good time.

I know these pictures are somewhat redundant with how many I take and that I've already taken many at this park, making sandcastles, but that's what we do :) And we have fun doing it, so I document!



Nate's so fun to get in and get all muddy with the girls making their "special-est castle in the universe!!!"



Luke was so proud of his star :)

As soon as Brad saw me with the camera he was all over the showing me his "coolest tricks ever!" I think he was trying to show off to this kid that was there. He kept saying stuff like, "pretty cool huh mom!" and "does that look pretty scary?", "this one is REAWWY scary!"..... it was fun to humor him :) And he was very much looking forward to "putting them on the computer to look at them after" :) So there are lots :)

I have no idea where Lukey found this little green gem that is on his face, but I find it so humorous that he will put things on his face and leave them there! And I like this picture of him :)

making another star....

another "pretty cool trick"

okay, does this not gross you out? Pizza and sand.... ew

Noah is very big on going UP the slide.... till he wipes out that is.

"Look Mom! No hands!" HA!

This is Noah's impression of me watching Bradley.

And this one just makes me laugh!!! I seriously keep cracking up everytime one of these pics of Noah pops up :) He has the funniest little faces!! He just kept saying "eeeeese" for me when I would say his name- he knows the drill.... he makes me laugh.

WHOA.... COOOOOOOOL!!!!!! :)

LOL

awww..... that's my cutie!

and I really love this one of Kelly. She's so pretty!

what do you think? wedding video worthy? just teasing, charity!!

Now this one I love! .... so grown up!!! And beautiful!

I LOVE this one.... the straight back posture, cheesy grin, double chin.... LOL!!!

Here's the castle AFTER Luke so gracefully fell on it..... lol..... he was climbing up the bar next to it and totally just slipped and fell back, flat on the castle. He immediately jumped up saying, "sorry daddy, sorry daddy" like over and over. Didn't cry, didn't even answer us when we asked if he was okay. I think he just realized how devastated someone might be.... He was SO FUNNY. I laughed SO HARD!! Obviously I hadn't been very attached to the castle.......

here's Luke saying sorry to Kelly (on his own, I might add, he was very remorseful considering the fact that it was a total accident)..... Kelly was so sad. :(

again, I just love this kid..... and the cute Daddy he's sitting with :) I have the best husband.

so cute.

on the swings going "super duper high!" (according to Lukey) Noah laughed so hard :) And Luke was being a fun little kid too.... almost made it worth the scorching heat and blinding sun in my eyes :)

I KNOW I have a million pictures of my kids eating ice cream..... we do it a lot, but THIS one was funny because Noah had his own cone, he was eating it so fast, and kept moaning with pleasure, and pulling it away and doing the "AHHH" sound. He was really going at it with the ice cream cone. Then in the middle of all that, his cute little double chin was jiggling with each bump in the road..... I was laughing..... I laughed a lot tonight :)..... how this kid stays in the 5th percentile for his weight and manages to pull off a double chin as jiggly as his, is beyond me :) But it sure is funny :) Good times.....