Derby

Oh, the Pinewood Derby, striking dread into the hearts of mothers everywhere. The most anticipated event of a cub scout's year arrived in our neck of the woods. Matthew wanted his car in the shape of a dragon (thanks to Brisingr, of the Eragon trilogy). Oy, I thought. Honestly, guiltily, I did not have much hope for this poor block of wood. Happily, hubby did a fantastic job, all hand carved, most impressive. At least I was impressed, and so were all the other cub scouts, and so was the guy at the weigh in "you hand carved the whole thing?" he asked incredulously. Yes, with a pocket knife! Glader the dragon held his own in the races, alas he did not take home the top prize, he was somewhere in the middle of the pack (he did come in first on one of his runs and second on another one), but we were proud of him nonetheless! And I can take a deep sigh of relief that this event has come and gone for at least one more year and we made it through without any tears. It's like the Cub Master said (quoting Pres. Monson) "we are all in a race, the race of life and we can all be winners in this race!"

"Glader" the Dragon in all his golden glory.

zoom, zoom

The proud owner

dubbed Most Creative

and indeed it was!
(or dad was for creating it)

Looking forward to the 250 other pinewood

derbies I will be attending in my lifetime!

Colby

You are five months old today

and what can I say?

You fill our lives with more joy and love

each and every day.

You have discovered your toes

and love to play with toys.

We love to hear your laughs and coos,

you make beautiful noise.

Sweet baby boy

with your big brown eyes

don't grow up so fast

oh, how time flies.

Let me enjoy your sweet babyness,

let me cuddle and tickle and hug and caress.

Oh, please let me always remember

these precious moments so dear and tender.

We are so blessed to have you in our family,
you make our home a little more heavenly.

We LOVE you SO much little Colby!!!

Bathing Cuties!

Splish, splash we were takin' a bath!

Aren't these boys cute?

Colby's first time in the 'real' tub

(I was in a hurry and so I just tossed him in with Rex.

He LOVED it, kicking and splashing the whole time!)

Colby- tagged

Tag.One Word Answers.
Colby's been tagged by his dad, I bet he didn't think he'd do it. So here he goes:

1. Where is your phone? none
2. Where is your significant other? somewhere
3.Your hair color? brown
4. Your Mother? wonderful
5. Your Father? hardworking
6. Your favorite thing? milk
7. Your dream last night? heaven
8. Your dream/goal? sitting
9. The room you're in? mom's
10. Your hobby? rolling
11. Your fear? hunger
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? kindergarten
13. Where were you last night? crib
14. What you're not? fussy
15. One of your wish-list items? Disneyland
16. Where you grew up? TBD
17. The last thing you ate? milk
18. What are you wearing? diaper
19. Your TV? off
20. Your pet? kitty
21. Your computer? silver
22. Your mood? content
23. Missing someone? no
24. Your car? plastic
25. Something you're not wearing? underwear
26. Favorite store? babysrus
27. Your Summer? womb
28. Love someone? mommy
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? yesterday
31. Last time you cried? night
32. Something you crave? milk
33. Why you blog? document

Nice Day

I just thought everyone in Arizona should know that today the high was 36 (thirty-six) degrees and it was nice and sunny. We were running errands and didn't even wear our jackets most of the time. We were commenting on how nice it felt. And enjoying the sunshine. Owen was wearing short sleeves. Hmpf. What do you think about that?

Tag.One Word Answers.

1. Where is your phone? diaperbag
2. Where is your significant other? bed
3.Your hair color? brown
4. Your Mother? understanding
5. Your Father? spiritual
6. Your favorite thing? chocolate
7. Your dream last night? nonexistent
8. Your dream/goal? piano
9. The room you're in? office
10. Your hobby? cycling
11. Your fear? kidnapping
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? snowbird;)
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? crafty
15. One of your wish-list items? NYC
16. Where you grew up? Delta
17. The last thing you ate? pineapple
18. What are you wearing? slippers
19. Your TV? off
20. Your pet? curious
21. Your computer? adequate
22. Your mood? calm
23. Missing someone? many
24. Your car? huge
25. Something you're not wearing? socks
26. Favorite store? DI
27. Your Summer? short
28. Love someone? everyone
29. Your favorite color? scarlet
30. When was the last time you laughed? tonight
31. Last time you cried? yesterday?
32. Something you crave? Pete's
33. Why you blog? contact

I tag: Kris, Patti, Linz, Rachelle

Sunday Funnies

Boy, oh, boy! I won't go into major details but what a day we had at church, I was just glad to get home. The girl who said the closing prayer said something about this being "a day of rest" and I just kind of chuckled in my head. I thought "day of rest, yeah right." After getting five children (including the nursing baby) ready for church and then getting THROUGH the three hours I was exhausted by the time we got home. Throw in teaching in primary (it's a new calling) and I am thinking Monday is my new favorite day of the week. I'm just kidding (well, maybe not really) I actually do love Sundays but man today was just one of those days. I could go on and on about my stressful day, but I'll spare you "most" of the details. Here's a couple of highlights-

This morning as I was getting ready in the bathroom Owen came in to go potty. We happen to be in the middle of a bathroom remodel and Kris just painted the walls last night. Owen took in a deep breath and said, "mmmm, that paint smells good" he sniffs a few times more while I am standing at the mirror thinking "did he just say he likes the smell of fresh paint?" Then he goes on even more, "that smells really, really good." As I was just about to start getting worried I started laughing because I realized I had just put on some sweet pea lotion and I knew he had to be talking about my lotion. I put my arm under his nose and asked him if that was what he was talking about and he said "yeah, that smells good." Whew, I don't have to worry about my five year old hanging out in the bathroom getting high on paint fumes. My nine year old on the other hand...he did tell his father earlier this morning, before I sent my lotion wafting through the air, that he really liked the smell of the paint. Oh, great. But when Kris and I were telling each other about these stories this afternoon it brought back old memories of sniffing rubber cement in grade school, and permanent markers, oh, and I really liked the smell of gasoline when I was a kid. Sheesh, I was a little druggie. They probably ban rubber cement from school these days. I wonder what makes these smells so appealing to kids 'cuz I really don't like the smell of any of these things anymore.

Then I offered my hair brushing skills to Gracie who was struggling with a HUGE tangle (what's new?) to which she exclaimed, "No way, you are the meanest hair brusher ever!" Well, alrighty then. To her credit in the end she did let me brush it and all was right in the tangly world of Gracie's hair.

Later, at church during singing time in the primary room Owen was just really on one. I'm one of his new primary teachers and this was my first Sunday back in Primary. He kept pulling out his imaginary bazooka gun and making the perfect sound effects to go with it (I do believe boys are just automatically born with the ability to do this, I tried my entire childhood to be able to make cool gun noises but to no avail). I kept giving him dirty looks and saying "Owen, no gun noises in church" and "that's not very reverent, put your gun away" before I knew it there were five other little boys wielding their "imaginary" guns. Oh great, I would have been happier not knowing that my child does this during primary. Maybe that's why they called me to be his teacher... Then later I hear him say quite loudly to the boys in the row behind him "yes, you CAN buy stuff on Sunday!" I lean over to him and say "Owen, be quiet." Aye, aye, aye. I knew these days would be coming when I would be wanting to put a filter on my children's mouths! And for the record, it's not like we go shopping every Sunday but I'm not gonna lie and act like it's never happened. Also, he might be thinking about when we travel on Sundays and then it's inevitable.

So just another stress filled er, fun filled Sunday at the Grover's!

Mr. and Mrs. Snow

Say Hello to Mr. and Mrs. Snow,

They came to visit for awhile,

But now they are no mo :(

(FYI, these were done completely by the kiddos,

with no help from their frozen mother,

who watched out the window with beaming pride.

I didn't even take the pics.)

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary! Mom and Dad- 36 years, wow that's a long time! And what a wonderful 36 years it has been. With 7 children and 13 grandchildren (so far) just imagine the posterity you'll have! Well done! You have raised 7 beautiful, healthy, hard-working, talented, funny, loving... (uh, I'm getting a little carried away, aren't I?) children. Thank you for being the wonderful parents that you have been. You are there for me when I need you, but you are not overbearing. You are understanding without being judgmental. You blessed me with the gospel of Jesus Christ and have taught me to never be afraid to share my testimony. You teach me that even though life is full of bumps it's those bumps that make us who we are and don't they make the ride more fun in the end?

At the Happiest Place on Earth with the Happiest Couple on Earth

Beach Bums

I love this serious pose picture, and my kids love you!

Thanks for being the best parents and the best grandparents to my children.

We love you sooooo much! Here's to another wonderful 36 years!

A New Year, Old Memories

I have been thinking about this new year and all the exciting possibilities and also thinking about the past year and I realized that a lot happened this last year. Then I started going through our picture files and I realized that A LOT really happened last year so I thought I would share a bit of the past year that perhaps didn't make it on the blog (I did just start the blog in May).

Attended the open house and dedication of the Rexburg Temple

Flew out to AZ to see sister Tara's first baby, Scarlet.

I could not bear to not be there.

(Also gained three nephews this year, as well.)

Rex learned to read- oh whoops, just kidding!

Gracie donated to Locks of Love- has it only been 9 months!?!

Gained another brother-in-law (Michelle got married).

I got another trip to Arizona!

Got to enjoy these beauties in my backyard this spring. They just popped up!
A heaven sent gift I believe, for enduring the winter that we had.

Added a new family member.

Got another trip to Arizona and Colby got to meet

the aunt with whom he shares a birthday.

Ended the year on the perfect note- with some homemade tamale goodness.

May your 2009 be filled with many wonderful memories!