Meet The Mormons!

Friday night is the best night of he week!! Sometimes mom and dad go out on a date, sometimes mom or dad takes one of the kids out on a date, and sometimes we do something fun as a family! No matter what we do we try to boost relationships and enjoy being together! We also try to do something out of the 'norm' and make it a fun night!

This Friday was no exception!! We all went to Legacy Theater Downtown and watched Meet the Mormons! Awesome show! We all loved it! Nate and I saw it when it first came out, but we wanted the kids to see it and thought it would be a fun experience in the theater.

I wasn't sure how these cute boys would do...especially the little guy! But he actually did really well! Close to the end I had to take him out to go potty and he said "I love that movie!" Funny kid!

(Nate just rolls his eyes when I whip out my camera to take a picture! He'll thank me later...years down the road when we have something to look back on of our fun family times!)

Caleb kind of liked the movie! Part way through he said, "When is the real movie going to start?" I said, "This is the real movie!" Caleb: "Oh." Then he said, "When are they going to stop talking?" I replied "It's like this the entire time!" Next thing I know....

 Caleb is fast asleep! He slept until it was over and we had to wake him up when it was time to go! I guess he'll never know how it ends!!

After the movie we headed to City Creek for a tasty treat! We had yummy smoothies!

Then we climbed and played on all the dinosaurs until it was time to go!

It was fun walking through City Creek and seeing the sights of Downtown, but most of all it was fun being together as a family.

I really enjoyed seeing Meet the Mormons again, it's a great show. I am grateful to be a "Mormon"!! I am grateful for the membership in the church and for the opportunity I have to raise my family in the gospel. This movie inspired me to be a better person. I feel like an ordinary "Joe-Shmoe-Mormon" unlike the unique individuals mentioned in the movie but maybe someday I can do something note-worthy and make a difference somewhere!!

What a messy face!

If there is one food Carder loves it's noodles!! His favorite is noodles with creamy sauce, and he doesn't especially love red sauce however....I guess when it's this good he'll eat it! The other night we had a request of spaghetti and meatballs for dinner! Carder slicked up his plate and asked for more!!

I believe messy eaters = great eaters! I was happy he ate all his noodles! It was sure funny watching him try to eat his slippery noodles. He managed to eat them all even if he did make a mess! 

That is a happy and full little boy! Check out those hands! What a messy but adorable face! I love good eaters! It makes me happy when my kids eat my good food!!

The Baby Grace Doll!

Introducing Carder's new obsession: Baby Grace! He found one of Mara's dolls and has adopted it as his very own! He named her Baby Grace after his cousin who he just loves from the last visit! Carder carries Baby Grace every where he goes! Baby Grace goes to the store with us, on walks, and takes naps with Carder! Carder likes to feed baby Grace and put her down for a naps! He gives her lots of loves and pushes her around the house in her stroller!

Carder LOVES baby Grace! And Mara loves the idea of her little brother playing with dolls! She encourages the behavior! I'm fine with it! It's a cute phase and it's really fun to see such love and devotion! We all miss the real baby Grace so it's fun to have a doll to remind us of her!

Best Buddies!!

The other day Caleb asked me why I wanted him in afternoon kindergarten and not morning. I didn't really get a choice, it was determined by the school according to neighborhoods! But I will say if I had a choice I would still choose it this way! I love it! It's perfect! Caleb and Carder are the best of friends! They have all morning together. Sometimes we play, run errands, go for walks, read books, then we have lunch and Caleb goes to school and Carder takes his nap! It works out great!

Caleb and Carder love riding together in the cart at the store! They sure are cute brothers!

 

They love running around and chasing each other. They barely hold still to get a picture taken! They love tickling each other and giving hugs and loves! 

They even love taking baths together! They could swim all day and laugh and splash! It's fun to have brothers that are buddies!

Happy Birthday Caleb!!

Happy 6th birthday to our birthday buddy!!! WoW! How can he already be six!?! He had anything but a despicable day!! Our birthday party theme this time was Despicable Me and we had a Minion Party! We invited seven little friends and took them a Minion Twinkie and an invitation to his party! It was great! The boys were thrilled and they all came!

Caleb woke up to find his Minion Poster that Mara helped me make! Caleb is one in a million! What a great kid! 

Caleb's birthday breakfast request was blueberry pancakes! Everyone had already gone to school/work so he had a special breakfast with just his buddy! 

We even had birthday candles and sang to him! 

 If you can't tell...Caleb got haircut for his birthday! What a handsome big boy!

This is the Minion Birthday Cake! Turned out great! And was tasty besides! 

Caleb's birthday party was awesome! We played lots of fun Minion games, including pin the pocket on the Minion!

We made these cute Minion bags and filled them with Despicable Me favors!

A bunch of cute boys having a pizza party!

 Caleb was pretty excited about his cake...although his face doesn't show it!

 Love this cute birthday boy! I'm so grateful Caleb is in our family! He is a delight! He is happy and cheerful, funny and helpful! Glad we could celebrate this happy day for Caleb!

Homemade Doughnuts!

Good idea: Buy doughnuts from the store! Bad idea: trying to make homemade doughnuts!! I really had good intentions and thought it was a great activity for the family to make homemade doughnuts! Well...it didn't quite go as planned! First of all it took way longer than I thought! And it was way more work than I wanted! They tasted ok, but nothing like Krispy Kreme!! I get a point for trying!

Caleb wearing doughnut goggles! Funny kid! 

 Here are our doughnuts rising and ready to fry! It took so long the kids were ready for bed before the doughnuts were ready! :(

The finished product were okay but nothing special or super delicious! We had lots of assortment: chocolate frosted, white frosting with sprinkles, and lemon frosting,  powdered sugar, but the best were cinnamon sugared! Next time I'm in the mood for a doughnut I think I'll drive to the bakery and buy a dozen delicious doughnuts instead of trying to make them!!!

Potty Time!!

At the beginning of the year we set goals as a family as well as personal goals. My goal for Carder was that he would be potty-trained this year! I can't believe my baby is growing up so quickly! We started the potty-training process when the kids went back to school after Christmas break. We were grounded for a week at home! It was a verrrrryyy loooonnnngggg week!! But it worked! I can officially say Carder is potty trained! I can't believe it! After changing diapers for almost 10 straight years I am permanently out of the diaper stage (for good!) Wow!

 This is what it looked like at our house for about a week! Carder and his little potty chair!

He felt pretty big and proud of himself! He constantly requested his picture to be taken on the throne! 

Pretty cute and big boy! It's a good feeling to never have to potty train another kid!! Yay!

The first couple days of potty training were rough! I was ready to quit and start again later but my determination won! Victory! Carder is also determined which made it kind of tricky but we did it! So proud of our not so little buddy! Way to go Carder!!

It's the New Year!

It's a Happy New Year! I don't know if happy can describe our new year...yet! I'm sure we will have happy times this year but so far it's been a little rough! It's only been two days and we've had croup, stomach flu, and strep throat! 2014 ended with a boom--literately! Caleb was headed downstairs to go to sleep when all of a sudden we heard Crash! Bang! Boom! He had fallen down the stairs from top to bottom. I don't know how many somersaults and flips he did, but it was the worst sound I've heard! He came up cried for a minute and said he was fine but soon after he started to throw up and we were worried about a concussion. 

By morning he had a smile on his face and several rug burns all over his face. He is one tough kid! It was a sheer miracle! No broken fingers, toes, feet, head, nothing! I am so grateful he was ok!

 

We've been taking it easy so far this new year! Taking naps, drinking fluids. Caleb came down with the stomach flu and I have a bad case of Strep Throat! It was not easy to find a doctor the day after New Year's on a Friday! I did finally find an urgent care and I sure hope those pills start doing some magic! 

I just hate when my kids are hurt and sick! This is what Caleb's face looks like without the band-aids! Poor kid! I hope they don't leave scars and he heals quickly!

 

On a positive note: Ty has been working non-stop on his new model airplane! He got this for Christmas and is loving putting it together! He is really good a this kind of thing!

Also, I am ever grateful that Nate could take a few days off to help take care of the sick! He did the meals, did the laundry, took care of the kids! Moms really shouldn't be allowed to get sick but thank goodness Nate would step up to the plate and help out!
The cutest was Mara helping Nate made dinner! Both had on their aprons and served a nice 'breakfast' for dinner! Grateful for the extra loves and acts of kindness by my kids to help me get feeling better!!

Here's to a new year! I'm sure it is going to get better!!