So happy it is fall & we can enjoy the outdoors

Please don't disturb Marlee, she is trying to study.

This little girl always wants to hang out with her daddy, even if it means doing homework on her laptop.

Marlee makes some cute faces:

The boys like to play frisbee,or anything that involves throwing.

Here is Clayton showing Porter how to throw a frisbee (I am having a hard time telling from Porter's face if he is interested in this lesson or not)-

We are loving this cooler weather.

Cook out in our backyard....

Laun cooked us dinner outside tonight over the fire. We had hot dogs & smores.


I just don't think that Porter has enough ketchup on his hot dog.


Marlee was shortly after sent to bed since she was worrying me half to death around the fire.
It was nice to spend time with our older ones.


These boys love fire & roasting marshmallows.


I think Sage likes it when we are all outside because she gets lots of attention.

Our boys perfect day looks like:

Today I took the boys to the store for some Halloween decor: a pumpkin, a web, and a bag of spiders, bats, and skeletons. Decorating for Halloween = heaven to these two boys. I put Marlee down for a nap and we all went to town. Just try not to be scared because the boys said that our house looks so creepy now, too funny.


Clayton made this sweet sign:

Marlee was pretty impressed with our work too.

Now if only we could get this little girl and our cat to leave the web alone...

The boys ended the night watching a movie in their room on their mini dvd player. Friday is movie night at our house so, the boys felt like this was the perfect day-decorating and a movie.

lima bean plant

This was just planted on tuesday & it has already grown so much, maybe it's from all the rain we got. I think it is so amazing how fast plants grow. I don't even think my boys like lima beans, but they are always more likely to try food that came from our garden so, we shall see.

BLAH

I'm kind of having a blah day but, I don't know why. The weather is great & the windows are actually open in my house today. But I have so many things to do that I just don't want to do. There are baby toys all over, home work to get to, floors to be mopped, laundry to be folded, pilates calling my name, doctor appointments to make, primary/calling stuff that needs to be done, etc. I should just be happy that I have an able body that will allow me to get done all of these things-maybe not all during the babies nap time but, at least some of those things. Homework really takes a big chunk of my time while the babies are asleep. Maybe I should wake up earlier & start doing hw in the morning so that I still have time for pilates, mopping, scripture reading, etc. during nap time. Maybe I should just turn on some music, get motivated, stop complaining for dumb reasons, & quit blogging so I can get some stuff done.

Porter brought home this lima bean from school & it has been growing in a bag on the kitchen windowsill. Laun & I noticed that it needed to be planted pronto, so it went in the planter box with the strawberries.

Marlee has been melting me with her girlyness. She sat down today with her doll & was reading to it. It is so sweet to see her being "motherly". She follows my example so much more then I realize-hmmmm...maybe that is why she yells so much:)

For fhe last night we bought the food for our 72 hr. kits. Every 6 months we switch out any food that is expired & replace it-we can remember easily because we do it around General Conference weekend. It just makes me feel more at ease if an emergency were to happen. Plus the kids love it because twice a year they get to enjoy all the food, like candy bars, poptarts, & other snacks that we don't normally buy.

There are only 4 backpacks because I have not boughten one for Marlee yet. Everyones backpack has clothes, matches, water, and food. Laun is the lucky one that gets to carry the extras like toilet paper & Marlee's stuff for now. A friend gave me the idea to store your 72 hr. kits in backpacks & to add stuff besides just food & water.

Porter had an endrocrinologist dr appt this afternoon & lets just say that Marlee does not have good dr office behavior. The dr appt took way longer then I thought so, we just got pizza for dinner on the way home. As we went to the car with our dinner we got rained on. The kids were so happy & ran outside to play in the rain once we got home. Although we didn't have as exciting weather as Phoenix, they got a crazy hail storm.

The boys were playing some sort of tag game & if it wasn't for scouts tonight, I'm not sure Clayton would have ever come inside.

Laun went outside to move the car & this is how wet he got:

Clayton is loving scouts & only wishes it was every night instead of just once a week.

I like scout nights too because I put Marlee straight to bed, watch biggest loser with Porter, & work on home work.

Sunday, Sunday

I love watching General Conference. Jonathan's girlfriend Darlene came over (although she probably could have heard more of conf if she wasn't around our noisy kiddos) & watched it with us. We enjoyed carmel popcorn & the kids had theater seating-thanks to Laun. Laun has been selling auto parts on the side and so he has plenty of these seats around, perfect for the kids. We've got to get some use out of them before they all sell :)

Laun gave Marlee a bath in the sink & she thought that was fun.

On saturday we picked some pine nuts, they are a lot of work to shell, I now understand why they cost so much! After you take them out of the pine cone you still have to take off the brown shell they are in. Lots of work but, they sure taste good. Laun & the boys put them in this really yummy soup they made us for dinner.

Jonathan & Darlene made us yummy Hello Dolly bars for dessert, not sure why they are called that?

Pine Nut Pickin'

This morning we picked pine cones so we could get some pine nuts.

Not sure what Porter's pouty face is for but, it sure is cute.

While driving we kept ourselves entertained with this:

and this:

That night Laun went to Priesthood Session.

Here is Marlee getting in some cuddles before he left:

And Laun always blows her a kiss when he leaves:

When Laun got back we enjoyed dinner at OPA-a greek restraunt. It was really good & I think our favorite was the pita bread & hummus.

Marlee & her baby

Laun tucked Marlee & her baby in & took this cute photo:

I heart My job chart

{My hard workers relaxing- No, Laun is not on the chore chart, just our boys}


I am a huge fan of http://www.myjobchart.com/ . It is a free online job chart. My kids actually do their chores now and sometimes I don't even have to remind them, amazing. I think I have taken out the trash twice myself since we have started this chore chart back in June. It is just nice to have more help without nagging to get it done. I also like that it is online which eliminates extra papers around the house, having to make a chart myself, buying stickers, or losing the chore chart altogether. I also like that my kids are learning computer skills, since we live in a world of technology. They know how to get to the website, how to log in with their password, mark in the chores they have completed, and then cash in their points for rewards that I have set up. It has really helped to motivate my children to do chores so they can earn more points. Yesterday they cashed in their points for a smoothie & last week was money. Plus you personalize the chart for each child & you can change it whenever you like. I include things like prayers & scripture reading too. Before I started using this website I had very little success with my children doing chores. So if any of you have struggled with this problem too, I would suggest you try this out. It is awesome & my children have learned how to work & enjoy getting rewarded & recognized for their accomplishments.

reading glasses

Porter was complaining that when he was reading the words got smaller & blurry so, the result was reading glasses. I didn't think it was possible for this kid to get any cuter but, I guess I was wrong.


The hard part was getting a decent picture-He is such a nut & makes the funniest facial expressions.

Clayton thinks Porter is lucky because he looks like a scientist now. Although he really doesn't have to wear them often since they are just for reading.

Nurturing

"I never fail to be struck by the way that women, young women, and even little girls seem to have an instinctive interest and ability in nurturing. It is not only a mother’s primary responsibility but also part of our “individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose” Susan W. Tanner

Marlee was so sweet with her baby doll today. She would lay a wipe over her doll like it was a blanket. And everytime the wipe folded or didn't lay perfectly flat she would staighten it out & lay it flat again & "tuck" her baby in. So I got out a diaper & put it on her baby & she laughed. She was so happy & she "changed" her baby doll's diaper & patted her doll. She was acting just like a little mommy & it made me realize that even at a young age, women know how to nurture. It also made me realize that she is already following my example, so I better do my best. My boys never did things like this, it is funny how different a little girl is.