The Necklace

I have a necklace that my parents gave to me last year. It is a silver circle and on the outer edge in very small writing are the letters "CTR" (Choose The Right.) Tate was asking me about it the other day and I told him about the letters CTR and that it helped me remember to be nice. Last night and today he has kept asking me why I'm not wearing my necklace, and very matter of factly telling me I am "so mean" (when I am in fact being extra nice!) Well it finally clicked in my somewhat slow brain--he thinks that I can only be nice if I have my necklace on--like it holds all of my "nice" superpowers! So next time you see me, I'm sure I'll have on my "nice" necklace!

If You Go Down In The Woods Today...

Today was absolutely beautiful outside! After church, we decided to head up the mountain to see all of the fall colors. It was so worth it. The boys had a wonderful time running around and climbing on all of the boulders. Max doesn't miss a beat. Where Tate goes, he goes-and Tate was everywhere!

Oh quick side note: Tate was throwing a fit the other day and I had put him in his room for a timeout. This is what I overheard "My mommy is so mean. She is just so so mean. This makes me sad. My mommy is so mean, I just want a new one." This probably should have made me feel bad, but I just thought it was so hilarious!

Chad and Tate at the top of the "ginormous" rock

Chad and Max jumping from boulder to boulder

My little guys

The whole crew!

Our two little mountain climbers

Well life just keeps plugging on around our house. We are still working on moving in, but have things pretty much tamed at this point. The boys are doing great. They both slept through the night last night--hurray! In the 15 months since we had our cute Max, this is a first!! We debated about putting them together or in separate bedrooms. We finally decided to try separate bedrooms and see how they did without the other one. The first few nights were hard (Tate would tell us he wanted his "Moosie") but things have ended up working out great. The best part is that Tate can have all of his special toys in his room, and can shut the door so Max can't get into them.

Chad and I are doing good. Chad loves the work that he does and is thrilled that he has a garage to go out and tinker in. I'm still up to the usual. My little photography studio is doing well, and I've recently started a creative writing class. That's it from us!


Life is complete when there is a cement truck next to your house!


What's up mom?
Puddin' Head Max

House!

Chad and I bought our first house and moved in last Saturday. We are loving having a wonderful yard that the boys can run around in! I think it might take us a few years to get all of the boxes unpacked, but oh well! Here are a few pictures--

Plums and other updates from our house...

9-16-08
The cute house we are renting has several fruit trees and a grape vine. I got adventurous and decided to try making my own grape juice, and some plum jam. It turned out really yummy! Tate had a great time helping me pick the plums. He kept going one step higher on the ladder, then he would tell me "it's okay Mommy, I'm a really brave guy." It was cute!


Max has learned a whole bunch of new tricks now that he is mobile. His favorite is to climb! He was pretty proud of himself when he made this drawer a stair!
Oh my, bet you can't tell we're ever silly at our house!Tate has decided that his "most favoritest" thing is to play this little guitar we bought for him in Puerto Vallarta. He loves to rock out in his bedroom while jumping on his bed!

The library by our house had a pajama story party last night. All of the kids came in their PJ's for songs and stories. It was really fun!

Labor Day Weekend

9/1/08

We had a great holiday weekend. We went up to Chad's parents cabin with Chad's sister Tanja, her husband Ryan, and their two kids Jaxon and Lindsey and Jaxon's friend Collin. We had a great time! The kids had a blast running around and acting crazy. I even got up early on Saturday to run in a 10k race in Heber. It was a beautiful run through the valley and up into the mountains (although I quickly learned that mountains have hills--go figure!)

On Saturday afternoon we spent the day at a Sheepdog Competition at Soldier Hollow. Our favorite part was watching the "Splash Dogs" competition. The dogs would run off a ramp and see how far they could get. It was such a hoot to watch each dog-some ran right off and others would run to the very edge and then stop and look at their owner like "you've gotta be kidding me!" The boys had fun watching all of the dogs and even petting a few. Oh, and we also saw a duck herding competition. We could hardly believe that these dogs could actually herd the ducks, but they did!

Tate is loving playing the piano

Duck herding!

Max at the dog show

Flying doggies!

...and some not flying doggies!

1st Day of Preschool!

Today was Tate's first official day of preschool. I have to admit that I am a total sap. I got teary eyed this morning as I watched my "baby" hop out of the van with his book bag and blow me a kiss goodbye. I love watching my little guy grow up, but sometimes I think it is just too fast!



Max wasn't quite sure what was going on when Tate left. He kept pointing to Tate's carseat and saying "Tuh, Tuh" (his word for Tate.) He kept looking at us like "uh guys, I think we're missing something here." I think he enjoyed his Mommy and Max time when we got home. He loves to gather several books, pile them on a chair, and climb up and read. Then when he is done reading, we have a grand game of throw-the-book-and-watch-Mommy-pick-it-up!