Maura makes me laugh so hard!

This morning as we were eating breakfast I was reading an article from the New Era to the kids.  The article was about remembering Christ daily and how we could do that.  One part of the article talked about things we put in our homes that help us remember Christ.  I paused and asked the kids to find those kinds of things in our home.   They pointed out several pictures, figurines, and books.  I pointed out the huge picture of the Salt Lake Temple over our piano and asked  "What is this a picture of?"



 Maura responded "The temple of the beast!"  "What?" I said  "What do you mean by that?" (In my head I'm shocked! What kind of temple is she talking about? Where has she seen something like this? I'm imagining all kinds of gruesome and horrible things.) "You know, mom, in Beauty and the Beast, this is the temple that the mean beast lives in!"

We had a good laugh and I showed her other pictures of the Salt Lake temple and how it does look like a CASTLE, but it's really a temple and that maybe it's the clouds that make it seem a little scary...

This whole time she thought it was a picture of the Beast's castle hanging over our piano! This girl is a riot!

Love this picture of the AZ temple.  I'm having a hard time finding one that I really want to frame.  This may be it!  Any other suggestions?

Football Season!

We have begun our first ever season of tackle football and Dallin is really loving it!  He's got a great team and he is enjoying hitting people!  Also, needed to get contacts to help him out and they are terrific as well!  This handsome kid is sure growing up!

He is #9! 13 years old (almost 14) and only 104 lbs.   Working really hard on beefing up this kid!

He has practice 5 days a week for 2 hours...most of the time we go and watch...and play the Ipad.

 Or nap.

 Love the time I get to spend with this cutie!  How lucky am I!

 We've had some rain lately which makes for really great practices!  Cool evenings (80 degrees!) and a refreshing breeze!  It makes practice so much nicer for everyone!

We've had a lot of things happening lately...

Dallin had an eye appointment to get contacts!  He thinks that playing football will be easier if he doesn't have to mess with glasses.  For the first few practices he went without glasses and had a really hard time and wasn't very confident. We decided that contacts would help a lot AND we figured out a way to squish his glasses in his helmet, so now he can actually see the quarter back!  He's loving football (so far they have him as safety) and gaining more and more confidence.  He really just likes to hit people...I guess this is a good way to channel that energy!  It's been so fun to have Dale coach him and cheer for him!  It's hard for Dale to sit and watch and not suit up and join them! :-)

 This little one started First Grade!!  She sure does love school.  Her biggest complaint has been that they are just sitting a lot and the teachers are just talk, talk, talk to them...she would rather do work! :-)  I told her it's just the first week and after everyone knows the routine she will be able to do her work.
She has quite the fashion sense...and her own style (as illustrated below).  It's impossible for me to help her get dressed.
Maura-isms:
While at the football practice Maura came running up and said "MOM! Can I have some money for the concussion stand?"
I packed her clothes for our trip to the cabin last week and as we were getting in the car she was questioning what I had packed for her; "Did you bring my sweater? and my white shirt?" When I replied negatively and that she didn't need those things because we were just going to the cabin, she said; "Mom, I must have my fashion! It's all about fashion!!"

 Love this little munchkin.  

 Rain!! Oh how we love the rain in the desert! It was a serious rain too!  Of course the neighborhood kids all came out to play in the street.

 These kids are all so much fun! We sure do love them!

We also caught a bug...not sure what to name it (her) yet.

Weekend at the ranch!

I'm torn...I sure do love looking at pictures of the adventures we have, but I hate interrupting the adventure to take pictures! *sigh*  I didn't take nearly enough pictures of the really fun weekend we spent at the ranch.  It was such a great get away, and we needed it!  We've been working really hard lately and haven't had much time to just spend together. This was exactly what we needed!  We played and played and relaxed and enjoyed our time together.  What a blessing it is to have such a terrific place to go!  

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Mullenaux for letting us stay!

We sure do love the pines!

and the local wildlife,

 and our toys!

There were plenty of toys for everyone (thanks to Shelley and Grandpa for letting us borrow theirs!)

Dallin really loved the 250

My brother Trenton and his son Jeffrey were with us and they all took turns trying out Dale and Jeffrey's the dirt bikes.

 DIRT being the key word here...

The amount of fun is always in direct proportion to the amount of dirt you get on your face. 

 Dallin had a TON of fun!

 Maura had a great time learning too! She did such a great job riding all by herself.  

We are going to have to get some quads of our own.

These two guys sure had a great time together! Love my handsome men!

Things we were enjoying too much for me to get a picture of:  The trampoline, the zip line, the horses wandering in the field, visiting Anne and Robert, many delicious treats, rain, elk, Mr. Potato Head, card games...

It was a weekend to remember!