Gotta love Austin....

Grandpa Jed is in town working with Brett on our railings (pics soon to follow). Last night the guys took a break to go to dinner with us at our favorite Italian restaurant. Towards the end of dinner Austin got a little restless and bored and decided to entertain himself and everyone around us by running circles around the table. At one point he stopped and came up to Grandpa and said...

"Grandpa, does it to stink to not have kids?!" To which Grandpa replied (quite convincingly I might add) "Yes it does"

Daily battles

Brett made this video for me and it really sums up my daily battles with Autin. Austin and I watched it together and we were both laughing, then Austin said "that doesn't sound like us!"

Cameron's Baptism

I guess that I am just a little behind on blogging. Cameron turned 8 this year and was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on Oct. 9, 2010. Here are some pics of his special day.

Cameron and Brett.
I didn't get a picture of them in their whites, but this was taken just before the baptism. We are so grateful that Dad holds the priesthood and was able to baptize Cameron.

Our family and friends who came to share this special day with us.






It is a pretty wonderful experience for a mother to witness her child accept the invitation to be baptized. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and I am grateful that my children have the opportunity to take this important step in returning to our Heavenly Father and then to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a really special day. Cameron, Dad and I are very proud of you! We hope that you will always remember the special, warm feelings that you felt today and strive each day to keep the covenants that you made. We love you lots!

JOY!!!

We were truly blessed when a wonderful family in our ward gave us their piano that they no longer wanted. It has been such a joy having this instrument in our home. I have wanted a piano for years and years, and now that we have one, we are using it and enjoying it. I have started giving the boys piano lessons. Here is Austin practicing his first song.

JOY!!!

Mouse update....

So, remember fat fuzzy (as I have begun referring to my little mouse nemesis)? Well, he has yet to find himself in one of my traps. I have found some traps with missing peanut butter, and I just know that that is the work of fat fuzzy. You may think that this story starts and ends with him, but no, there is so much more to this story. Apparently Fat Fuzzy has invited all of his little rodent friends to come and squat with him. The other night I had just finished vacuuming my living room. It looked so nice and clean so I sat down on the couch to enjoy a quiet little moment of bliss in my clean room. As I was sitting there on the love seat, I look over at the couch and I see this little grey mouse run up from either behind the couch or (gasp) in the couch and he perches his little behind on the arm of the couch and we make eye contact. (I'm sure he was taunting me). Now seriously, you have never seen a 30 something woman jump up and run as fast as I did and the mouse takes off back into the couch! I yell for Brett (who is relaxing in front of the T.V.) to come and get this mouse out of my house. Cameron, his friend and Austin come running in to save me. They came armed with flashlights and bins to capture this little critter. I at this point am sitting on the stairs watching them try to scare the mouse out of the couch so they can take him prisoner. At that point, we see a little brown mouse run up from the loveseat (I was just sitting there, it gives me the creeps just thinking about it). So now we know there are 2 mice running around my living room. Brett hears all the commotion and decides that he'd better come and help get this mouse situation under control. So, after about an hour of trying to get the mice, the little friend goes home and Brett decides the boys need to go to bed. I remain on guard duty to make sure the mice do not leave the living room. I am afraid at this point that if they do, we will not be able to find them. While I am sitting there I see the little brown mouse run across the floor and up the steps and then he darts into my dining room. I yell for Brett to come quick and then like superman Brett shows up with a bin and runs into the dining room where the little mouse is hiding in a box, playing dead. Brett tells me to shake the box and when the mouse comes out he will trap it in the bin. And that's exactly how it went down. We caught that little mouse and then we looked at him and thought Awww, he's kind of cute (We used a clear bin, so we could see him in there). Cam came downstairs to check him out and he said "He's cute, can we keep him?" NO WAY!!! But we felt way too bad killing him, so Brett took him down the road and released him into the wild (I'm sure that as I type this, that little rascal is hitch hiking his way back to our place). Then we set out traps everywhere and that night we caught 2 more and since then our count is up to 5!!! Can I just say GROSS!!!! I need to deep clean my house! So tomorrow I am going to sing this little song.....



If all these animals insist on giving me grief, then they better earn their keep!

Seriously?!!!

Now a fat, furry little creature is squatting in our house. Last night I walked into the computer room and turned on the light and the little critter darted under the computer desk, and I ran straight to the car @ 9:30pm to buy mouse traps.... What was I thinking moving across the street from a nature preserve?!!! This morning I think that I heard him rustling around the laundry room, so I don't care if there are no clean clothes to wear, I am not doing laundry until the fuzzy one is gone! Oh, and I am writing this blog post with my legs and feet tucked up under me on the computer chair, because with my luck the fuzzy one would scramble across my feet and bite me or something....he's probably rabid! Just sayin'!

Scared...

the living daylights right out of me......

So, last night was the annual Trunk or Treat out in the church parking lot. We had a great time chatting with friends, eating too much candy, seeing all the kids in their awesome Halloween costumes and then it was time to go home. We got home just as it started sprinkling little rain drops (Thank you rain for holding off for the Trunk or Treat). We ushered the kids upstairs to get ready for bed, then we spent a few minutes playing with the boys until Mom (that's me) got a shiner, yep a little black eye thanks to my sweet little Ethan. My eye met his head while we were bouncing on my bed and then that pretty much ended playtime for me so off to bed they went. After I hugged and kissed and tucked them in, I retired to my room and flopped down on my bed to rest, but oh no, that was not to be, because my kitchen was a disaster and I just couldn't face waking up to that nightmare bright and early in the morning (that thought is scary in and of itself). So, while Brett is finishing up with the tucking kids in bed ritual, I drag myself up off my cozy bed and head down to tackle the mess. First things first, I bag up the over-flowing garbage and tie it up all nice and neat and then I head out into the dark, drizzly night to throw it into the garbage can. I take about 5 steps and out of the dark shadows of my back yard, I see some large animal walking towards me.....I think what is that a cat?! (Yeah, like a cat on all 4 legs comes up to my hips, a tiger maybe) Then it dawns on me that is a BIG, BLACK DOG and I don't own a BIG, BLACK DOG! At that point I screamed a loud, blood curdling scream (like in the movies) and then I turn around with garbage bag in hand and do exactly what you're not supposed to do when you encounter a large animal that can run way faster than you, I run like a crazy lunatic back to the house screaming Brett's name and carrying the garbage bag with me (You'd have thought that I could've dropped the bag, or even thrown it at the BIG, BLACK DOG to distract him), but you'll be happy to know that me and my garbage bag made it back into the house in just the nick of time (must be all my training for my upcoming 5k..but most likely it was pure adrenaline). I slammed that door in the dogs face and screamed for Brett to come and save me. At this point my heart is racing, my body is shaking and my mind is trying to process what the heck just happened and I slowly start to realize that the BIG, BLACK DOG belongs to my neighbors. This BIG, BLACK DOG is always escaping his yard by digging holes under the fence, then chewing his way out and that is how he must have gotten into MY yard. Now the crazy mutt is scratching at our new back door and trying to get into our house, so Brett goes out to return him to his home and I leave the garbage bag by the back door where it will remain until morning and head upstairs to calm down my crying child who is now too scared to go to sleep because he heard my crazy yelling fit from downstairs . (Yep, I scared him...AGAIN!) After all was said and done, I was too traumatized to clean the kitchen, so I plopped down on the couch and watched T.V. until bed time. And you know what, the kitchen waited for me! Just one more thing...what is it with me and animals?!!!