Pelican Fest

This weekend is Grove's Pelican Festival. It's the typical festival that brings a carnival, parade, craft booths, and kettle corn to a small town. For Brigham's date night on Friday I took him to the craft booths where he got a free lava rock. On the way home that night he was feeling his smoothed out rock and said, "I can't believe I got a rock from a volcano!" He later informed me, though, that he was glad that there were no volcanoes here. We picked up some kettle corn for Daddy before we left for dinner and then the carnival.

On Saturday was the parade that both Levi and Brigham were suppose to be in but Brigham informed me that he didn't want to be in the parade because he wanted to get candy! That boy is to smart for his own good!

Except for the Moore family and Chuck, everyone was able to come from our family plus the missionaries, Elders Rodriguez and Brookes. We have a good set of them. They work hard yet still come to things like the parade and the boy's soccer games to be with our family.

We are used to Logan crying at loud things but I still had to take a picture of him crying during the parade. It's cute! I know, though. It's only cute because it isn't my child crying.

Ok, so before the parade started, I went into Annie's Garden Gate (the flower shop I work at) to get the boys some balloons. Mom was helping me watch the kids while I started on the balloons but had to take Logan and Hyrum out at one point. I looked over at Brigham to make sure he wasn't touching anything and he said to me, "Mom, I don't feel very good." Oh, I could just kick myself now because right then I noticed how pale he looked. Do you think I did the right thing and brought him outside just in case he spewed? Nope, I was in a hurry to get those balloons done so I could be outside when the parade started! To make it worse, Hyrum has been puking the last few days so I should have known better! I kept telling myself that I would be fast and that Hyrum had only been puking up mucus anyways when he coughed too much and Brigham wasn't coughing.
Brigham puked, of course, all over my bosses floor! I am so grateful that she doesn't have carpet! Robin was so good about it though, feeling bad that I felt so bad. I really do work for a wonderful lady.

The hidden blessing in all of this? Can you imagine me making Brigham get on that float even though he wanted to watch the parade so he could get the candy that everyone was throwing out? I would have felt so badly for Brigham throwing up in front of all those boys and in someone else's boat. To make it worse, it happened just before the parade started so I couldn't even imagine what poor Marcy, the adult standing up in the boat, would have done to clean that all up just as they were heading out and then of course you always have the risk of everyone else puking. Can you imagine?!

Soccer

This year Levi and Brigham are on the same soccer team. I'm really excited about this because last year there were times that the boys, on different teams, played at the same time. It was hard going back and forth trying to watch both boys. As you can see from the background of this picture, though, the younger teams play just behind the older ones on this field so it's not like we had to go far last year.

Here the team is being taught a few rules by the referee, Mrs. Marcy. We were excited to see that Levi's cub scouts den leader was the ref! We were teasing her about being biased towards our team....though that didn't help much considering that our team never scored throughout the whole game!

Here are the boys getting some more tips from coach.

Then it was time to play! In both these pictures my boys are the ones in the very back! :)

I love the youth YMCA soccer teams because they play against other kids in Grove so we never have to travel, they don't keep score, and it is so laid back. It was so fun sitting in the stands with the other parents as we all laughed at our own and each others kids! My favorite was when the whole orange team went out on the field. There is only 3 kids from each team out on the field at one time and then the goalies. Well, there was some mix up because all of a sudden, during a play, the other 3 boys from our team ran out on the field with the other kids and just started playing! So we had 6 against 3! We were all just cracking up.

Here are some cute pictures from the sidelines. MeMaw was spoiling Hyrum, of course!

Shaylee was in ice fights with Dad and David.

And I had to save the cutest for last! Oh my are they cute!!! This is Shaylee and Hyrum under the bleachers. It was so cute to see Hyrum cuddle up to her because Hyrum is pretty much only attached to me, David, Me-Maw and Poppy. He doesn't really love up on people easily. In fact, earlier in the game Shaylee was trying to hug on Hyrum and he wouldn't have anything to do with it. But the turning point was when David started to get Shaylee back with the ice. Hyrum wasn't going to have it for some reason and he came right up to his beloved Daddy and pushed Daddy's hand off of Shaylee and started defending her. It was so cute! From then on he wanted to be near her.

Levi did surprisingly well tonight. It never ceases to amaze me how my kids prove me wrong. I was for sure that Levi would be sick of it within minutes. Levi is my, "I'd rather be playing PlayStation boy" whereas Brigham is my active one. But Levi was the goalie at one point of the game and was able to block incoming goals a few times. I was real proud of him. Brigham on the other hand had a hard time with it all and by the end of the night when I asked him if he was excited about next week he told me no and asked me if he could just watch next week. When I asked him why he said, "Because I get all sweaty." I couldn't believe that came out of his mouth. That is such a Levi thing to say, not Brigham!

Just enjoying my boy time!

I started school this week. It still feels weird to say. 11 years after getting my associates degree and I finally made it back! I am working towards my bachelors degree in sociology and am doing it online through Ashford University. My real desire is to do something with Anthropology but it really isn't realistic for family life and I've been kind of surprised at the number of universities that actually don't offer it as a major. Sociology is the closest thing I can get to my "culture" fix! I have 2 callings in church, I work, and most of my evenings are full of homework and/or soccer, FHE, meetings (school and church), boy scouts (now with 2 boys and both on different nights, of course!) and I'm sure there are a few things I've left out. One thing that we do, is on Friday nights David and I rotate on who gets a special date night with one of the boys. It works perfectly because every Friday night either Levi or Brigham spends the night with Nanny and Poppy while the other has the date night with one of us and then Hyrum gets alone time with the other parent. This Friday I had the day off so I was able to get my homework done while the kids were in school. I was suppose to go to a Relief Society meeting that night but Nanny and Poppy was in Branson for their anniversary (33 years!), I was caught up with school and I just kept thinking about my kids and how little time I seem to have with them anymore. So I decided it was time to have some family time. The family time that I wanted to have. So I picked up the boys from school (David always does that because I am usually at work at that time), got them a happy hour drink from Sonic (gotta love that place!) and then took them to Blockbusters so that they could pick out a movie to watch. We ate odd food (like wheat bagels with strawberry yogurt spread on top and banana slices to top that!) while we watched Bedtime Stories and just laughed. I think I really needed that cuddle time with them. And I think Daddy needed a little break from being Mr. Mom. It was nice to be able to let him get stuff done outside of the house for once.

As much as I loved that time with the boys today seemed to be a little harder for me to take in. When you are used to days that always have something sceduled, those days where not much is planned can be hard to get used to. I found myself getting real irritated with the boys. They just seemed to be real winey and I wasn't handling it very well. But I'm thinking back on some of todays activities and I guess it makes sense. I'm going to have to remind myself that this is just as much as an adjustment to them as it is to me.

Some of the positive parts of today was at the Civic Center. David and Hyrum drove by there this morning while running an errand and noticed lots of people. Thinking that maybe it would be something fun for the kids inside he had the rest of us meet him there. By the time we got there we realized we had crashed the REC day party. REC is the electric power company....just not the one we use! Funny, but hey, I got to see Brian White perform! Here the boys are learning about power line safety. It was kind of perfect timing. While I was driving them over to the Civic Center, Brigham asks me, "Where does electricity come from?" I told him that I didn't know and that I had always wondered that myself. So we go to the REC day and this wonderful man here explained to both Brigham and I all about Electricity we get from water, coal, and wind.
After we left, we went to the park to take out the motor bike. I am happy to report that Levi can now ride his bicycle without training wheels! We thought he would want to ride the mini motorcycle now that he is getting the hang of balancing his bicycle but he was really into his bicycle without the training wheels. So, I guess someone had to ride the motorcycle....what a hard life Daddy has!

Anyone got a motorcycle with training wheels....anyone?

David did some work on my boss' home last week and as payment they decided to do a little trade out. Hyrum got a bigger bed and the boys got this mini motor bike.....oh, how tough life is for them! Brigham was really excited about it and even helped Daddy get it up to par...until he heard the motor. It was too loud for him so we were wondering if any of the boys (other than Daddy ;0) would be using it. But I went and bought the helmet tonight (which David made fun of me about....apparently he thinks a normal bicycle helmet will do.....but he graciously let paranoid mommy get her way) and when I got home Levi was really excited about getting on that bike. I think it stressed David out a little bit, which I can't blame him. Levi had no control over it! He kept putting his feet in the wrong spot, he wouldn't let up on the gas and couldn't get down the brakes. I got to thinking about it and realized that Levi still uses his training wheels on his bicycle. I mentioned to David that maybe we should get him off of his training wheels on his bicycle first. Levi then replied, "Can we put training wheels on this bike?" It was so cute! Can you imagine?!

One of the many times David stopped to reteach Levi about using the brakes to stop.

The Cherokee Queen

It is Labor Day weekend and I wanted to do something fun with the boys. When holidays come up we really don't do anything. We stay home, get caught up on things, relax....the easy stuff. But with me having a job now, we actually have extra money to spend and I couldn't help but really want to do something the boys have never done before (on their 4 day weekend!). They have never been on a boat so off to the Cherokee Queen we went! It was expensive but to hear them get so excited about going on a boat....and then actually getting on one was so worth it as they tried to walk to each new place on the boat.

Levi found this new way of listening to the motor. Of course, brothers had to join in.
Me and the boys enjoying the wind.

There were so many beautiful homes along the lake. This home wasn't as elaborate as some of them but I loved the bluff it was on and the trees that were just beginning to change colors below it.

This island was probably the most interesting to me. As we were going past it (we were much closer) I didn't realize it was an island. I just saw all these people in little groups along the shore but no boat ramps, docks, houses, anything like that. Then I realized this was apparently the hang out island!

Here is Brigham "driving" the boat. It was funny when it was Hyrum's turn. The captain had to lift him up just for his picture. He just looked like a floating head!

Grand Lake isn't the nicest lake, in fact, I would never swim in it but people around here just love their lake. They love taking their boats and seadoos out or are avid fishermen. I think I'm more about the calmness it can bring. I took Levi and Brigham on their last 2 dates out to a dock with a meal from McDonald's and it was so peaceful just letting the water move you here and there as the boys told me all about whatever was on their minds. Yeah, I think I could live on the lake.

Dancing on the Cherokee Queen

Did the boys stick to the rails and watch the beautiful scenery of the boat ride? Of course not! Boys will be boys...and beg for food the whole time, look for flying insects on the boat as well as finding a dance floor!