I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July, we had a lot of fun. My (little =) used to be little) brother and his family came here on the 2nd and spent the night with us. He has three girls and a boy, and Felicity was lovin' have some girls around. His little boy, Michael, just turned two a couple months ago, but him and Joseph are little pals. By the time the weekend was done, Michael was doing Joseph's evil cackle, too. Sorry, Rob and Tasha. On the 3rd we met up with the rest of our family in Huntsville, which is a little town in the Ogden canyon, right next to Pineview Reservoir. Huntsville always does the best hometown celebration, starting with the local sheriff driving around town with his siren on at 6:00 in the morning to wake everyone up for the pancake breakfast at the city park. There's a fun run, 1 mile, 5K and 10K, and then the parade at 10:00 and activities in the park all day long, a town melodrama, and then the fireworks. This year Farris did the 10K and did a great job, especially considering he had bronchitis a couple weeks ago, and eye problems two days before, and slept on the hard ground the night before. I did the 5K, and as nervous as I was about it, it was so much fun. I decided to just have fun with it, so I didn't push myself, just enjoyed the scenery and even stopped to chat with my aunt for a minute when I went by her house. It is gorgeous up in The Valley and this year everything is very green and the reservoir is full and a very, very blue. I definitely recommend this 5K to anyone, anybody want to join me next year? the parade is always fun, the town owns an old civil war canon and several soldier costumes, so they usually start off the parade and present the colors with some of the veterans from the area. I love how they always make sure everyone is standing with their hand over their hearts. Although, I really think we shouldn't have to be reminded! We were also able to spend time with some extended family, Aunt Ellen and Uncle Daryll camped with us in their camper, Sally Forth (Tee-hee, Aunt Ellen!). We also got to meet my cousins new foster kids, a cute set of 8 month old twins and their older 3 year old brother. They were so adorable and fit right in with the family. I hope all goes well and they are able to adopt them soon. All together we had five little babies being passed around, let's see how camping goes next year when they're all a little older. We drove home before the fireworks, or really it was during, we could see several celebrations going on all the way home. Felicity stayed behind with Grandma. Mom and Aunt Ellen decided to have a Granddaughter trip and they are taking the girls to Lava Hot Springs with no parents allowed. They called today and are having a blast.
I have to add two stories. Yesterday, we were taking care of the garden for our FHE activity (yippee says all the kids out there). Joseph went inside to go to the bathroom, and I helped him get partly dressed again and left him with the instructions to put his pants on. So, twenty minutes later we're wondering where he is...in my search I could smell a something strong coming from the bathroom, like soap. But no, it was half a bottle of lotion that he dosed himself with. Hair, legs, arms and a big dab on his nose. I took a picture (I couldn't resist), and then while I was cleaning him up, he says with a sigh "Mommy, it's been a long week."
Today Caleb wrote a song called "Doin' the Looga" and him and Joseph performed it for me. The lyrics are basically "Doin' the Looga, Doin' the looga, go around in circles, doin' the looga, doing the looga, going to the looga, going to the looga, Doin' the looooooogaaaaaa!" and they even have hand movements for it. I love my crazy, talented little boy!

I never thought I'd say...and more Joseph

This morning I was working in the front yard with all the kids behind me. I could hear them discussing their Super Powers. I heard a clang and turned around to see Caleb brandishing a garden hoe and I found myself saying "Caleb! Hoes are not super powers! Put it away!" And then I thought, that's something I never thought I'd say.

We're pretty conservative when it comes to make-up for Felicity, but other people have given her nail polish and glittery lip gloss that she loves, so we let her wear it. But Joseph has just changed our ideas on when Felicity will be able to wear real make-up. It won't matter how old or how mature she is, it will all depend on how old or mature he is. Yesterday I found him spotted with nail polish. Then, of course, I found several toys and walls that had been painted. Felicity's nail polish wasn't under lock and key, so he decided to have fun. Then, just a few minutes ago, I hung up the phone (I was only on it for about ten minutes and he was supposed to be in bed!) and Joseph appeared around the corner with his "I just did something bad, and I know it" little devilish look (he does that a lot). On closer inspection, I realized that he was shiny. And goopey. And glittery. This time he got into three of Felicity's lip glosses, blue, pink, and orange tinted. His whole face, his hands and some of his shirt, he even got the tip of one ear, were covered. I got the goopey off, but the glittery will probably stay for a couple days. Luckily the nail polish is almost off his cheek, maybe by the Forth of July he'll be un-glitterified. That boy.

Happy Birthday, Joseph!

Well, someone who has been a two year old for at least five years is finally turning three! We'll see if it works. Oh, Joseph, it's been an (insert here: crazy, laugh riot, happy, snuggly, all around good) adventure having you in our family and we know it wouldn't be complete without you. You make me laugh every day and I love the hugs and kisses you give out. I never know when I'm going to find you asleep next to Seth, or streakin' around where ever, or teasing Caleb or Felicity, or sneaking a snack. You keep me on my toes, that's for sure. I love how you can sing "Once I was a baby" or "If You Could Hie to Kolob" or "Bob the Builder." We love you so much and can't wait for the next part of the adventure.

Do you ever...

Do you ever feel less like making dinner than when you tell your son you're making yummy dinner, he gets all excited and says "Oh! Are you making Top Ramen?"

Little snippets

Wow, all the sudden it's been about two weeks since I wrote last...who said that summer days were lazy? Maybe hazy (it hasn't stopped raining for awhile, hurrah!) and definately crazy. Here's some snippets of what's going on:

Caleb has had two family birthday parties, he thinks five is GREAT! The first one my mom and sister Nicki were here and he came away with tractors, remote control car (his first, he was amazed), some other stuff and his favorite thing: a flashlight. I think Nicki has it right, with little boys you can't go wrong with a flashlight. Then we got together with Farris' family and had a combo party with Tennessee, his cousin that was born eight days after Caleb. Lucky boy got a tractor (can he have too many tractors? No way!), glow in the dark stars and a combo batman/superman cape. He now bounces off of everything so he can fly. OK, he has always bounced, but now he knows why he does it.

Memorial day weekend we went to a little amusment park not far away. They have a small roller coaster, Joseph and Felicity loved it. Sheesh, they did not get their daredevil-ness from me. The white roller coaster at Lagoon used to scare me to death, I can't imagine going on it when I was only two. He would kind of gasp and grab hold of me when we went around the curves fast, but he didn't cry and then he wanted to do it again with Farris. Anyway, they had a blast.

Yum, we're starting to get strawberries off the plants we got from Judy last year. Or maybe I should say the kids are getting berries. They love digging around for them, and not many make it to the house. We're still trying to convince Joseph not to eat the white ones. At least he's not eating dirt like last summer. I guess white strawberries taste better.

The rest of our garden is growing, loving the rain and cooler weather. But it wil be nice when the hot weather hits so the tomatoes decide to grow. Yum, fresh tomatoes right off the vine! We're still lawn-less (?) in the back, some day my kids will have grass stains on their knees instead of clouds of dirt following them. I hope.

Seth is eight months now, and he likes to scoot around backwards. He's ended up in strange places: caught in doorways, in the bathroom, under the piano bench. Right now, he was heading for the coat closet, made a hair-pin turn and is now on his way to the kitchen. It helps that we don't have carpet in here. But I don't know what I'm going to do when he starts crawling forward.

Felicity is enjoying her time off from school, but she's loving the summer reading program at the library. hee best friend moved into town, but she still is our social butterfly and is always playing with friends. She's started using the word "Ginormous." I don't even know if I'm spelling it right.

Yesterday was the Child Family reunion. We went to the Splash Pad in Ogden. Once you find it, it's rather fun. The rain held off for just enough time for the kids to run around in the spray. They loved running around with their cousins. Then we went to Cindi and Scott's to play Pictionary. If you think Pictionary is boring, try it with this family.

Our family is getting ready for our David and Colleen Newey Family reunion, we've started going to Huntsville, where my dad grew up, for the 4th of July. This year, we are going to do the fun run, Farris the 10k and me the 5k. I can do it, right? I figure I can always walk it if I have to. Farris is training great, he's been doing 6-8 miles a day, two or three times a week. Good job, hon! He just might finish the 10k before I finish the 5k.

And last of all, a Joseph story. This morning we were doing the Sunday Morning Run-Around, and I couldn't find Joseph any where. I even looked outside, but it was pouring (which actually, he loves). We looked and looked for about ten minutes. Finally, I looked under his bed. He was fast asleep right up against the wall. We didn't have a Great Shoe Hunt (you all know what I'm talking about) this morning, miracuously, so it was like we had to hunt for something, and Joseph volunteered himself.

The Mormon Channel

Maybe I'm behind and everybody already knows about this, but I found it tonight and I thought it was perfect! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has an official radio station. You can listen on HD radios, on-line, or on pod-casts. You can even put it on your facebook page. I took the link from lds.org or here's the address: http://radio.lds.org/eng/
From what I saw it's mostly talk radio, with even a series for scripture stories for kids that goes along with the scripture readers. There's even a series on creativity, from that great talk by Pres. Uchtdorf. And it's hosted by one of my favorite LDS musicians, Nancy Hansen. I've been looking for a radio station that I can be comfortable with, (no screaming or rude people, no swear words, no 'N sync or other boy bands...I know some of you guys like them, but they are a thorn in my side) so I'm very excited about this.

In unrelated news, Caleb and Joseph decided that our rhubarb needed to be harvested (Caleb's words when I told him NO MORE "But Mom, we need to harvest it for the winter!"). So the kids filled my counter with rhubarb while I was cleaning the bathroom today, then told me they had a suprise. Yup, Suprise, Mom! You can't see your counter anymore! So at this moment Farris and Caleb are cleaning the rhubarb and if anyone around here wants some, come get it. I only use it for pies, and I dont want to make a pie right now. And we've already got a lot in the freezer. So if any one wants some, please come take it off my hands. Think "Strawberry Rhuarb Pie, yum..."

And funny Caleb story, then I'll go help unload rhubarb, the other day Caleb and Joseph were playing with blocks and as Caleb made some amazing stack he turned to Joseph and me, very seriously, "Now this is hard, so don't try it at home, ok?"

Happy Birthday Caleb!

I can't believe it was five years ago that we dropped Felicity off with some friends in the middle of the night and hot footed it to the nearest hospital...even though it wasn't the one we were supposed to go to! The staff at the Chinle Hospital on the Navajo Reservation was wonderful at welcoming our suprise rez baby. Now Caleb is such a goofy, smiley, giggly, happy, determined, smart kiddo. We love him so much!