Pumpkin Patch and other Not-As-Exciting Events

I know it's been a while since I posted and I wish I had a good excuse but I don't. I am a lazy procrastinator.

I haven't written since before Conference so let me just say- wasn't it great? I got to see all 4 sessions because we have DVR and could watch it after the kids went to bed. One of my favorite talks was by the new RS General President Julie Beck. Her talk was about "Mothers Who Know". She said that women have the most power and influence in the home. They plan, organize, work and teach because those are the MOST important activities of life. Maybe I loved it so much because sometimes I just feel so small in the world- like I stay in my house so much and am so busy with my kids that I don't have that great of an influence on the world, but if I teach my kids to make good choices and to recognize the Spirit and to serve others, that will do so much for the world. Then they can teach their children and so on. I just like to think that what I am doing will have some positive effect on something- anything.

Wednesday for our play group we went to the Pumpkin Patch. There was a lady there who did story time at the beginning and was really impressed that all of the kids (about 15 of them) sat still and listened to the story. I was pretty impressed, too, but by about the fourth book the kids started getting restless and so story time was cut a little short. Thank goodness. Then they all got a coloring page and crayons and their very own little pumpkin. For the next 30 minutes all the moms just chased their crazy kids around trying to prevent injury to their children and to the pumpkins. I was not successful. Brody stomped on a pumpkin and squashed it. It was pretty gross. I went to go pay for it and the man said, "Oh, it was probably rotten anyway- don't worry about it." I was pretty relieved. Who wants to spend money on a gross squashed pumpkin?

Adam started his classes this last week. He is taking three classes and they are 8 week classes. After he's done with these he will need 45 credits to graduate, which he can get done in less than 18 months. Then he will have his GI Bill money to apply to his Masters. His degree is in Religion and he is thinking about adding a minor in Middle Eastern Studies.

Bridger had his 9 month check up this week and is doing great. He is over 22 pounds and is about 28 inches long.

Today Adam came up with some really cool tactile/hearing games for Brody. He blindfolded him and handed him different objects (an apple, a yogurt cup, a remote control, some toys, etc.) and had Brody guess what they were. He did way better than we thought he would. He guess them all right except he thought a pretzel fish was a rock (until he ate it). Then Adam went and hid and called out Brody's name and Brody had to find him by listening to Adam's voice. Brody LOVED the games. He kept saying, "More game?".

I keep forgetting to write something that Brody does that is really funny. Whenever he thinks Adam or I are being silly, he says, "Oh, Mom!" or "Oh Dad!" and uses the right voice inflections to make it sound like he thinks we are being ridiculous. I wish I could describe it in words...it is really cute.

Sa-yite Poopoo!

This week has been less than ideal but today has been so nice that it almost makes up for the rest. Bridger has been cutting teeth for the last few weeks...one will just cut through and another one will begin. He has also been really stuffy and he feel the other night and gave himself a fat lip. I didn't get to go to my gym class on Thursday because that's the day I usually take the boys to the daycare there and last week they told me not to bring Bridger back because he "wasn't adjusting well" which meant they didn't want to hear him cry. He was fussy that day because he was teething and is starting his separation anxiety phase. My view is that it's good for him to be in other environments and to get used to being away from me. Plus, it's REALLY good for me to be away from them for a while. Anyway, once he is back to his happy self I will start taking them again. I really missed it. It is one of the only things I look forward to every week. It is going to be brutal to go back after not working out for a week!

Brody has been doing a lot better as far as his health is concerned. We went to a pediatric hematologist yesterday and they drew more blood (he had 4 vials drawn on Tuesday). She took a quick look and said he is not iron deficient, which is weird because he has been since he was 6 months old. They are going to do an iron study and make sure everything is okay. Then this next Tuesday he has a barium swallow test where he fasts for the morning (torture) and then drinks a nasty drink (more torture) and then they x-ray him swallowing to see what's going on with him. Then after they get those results back we might have to have a sleep study done because of his sleeping anxiety issues. Hopefully by the end of the year we will have answers to all of our questions and we will be able to help him. It is frustrating to not know what is going on.

Brody is learning more and more words and sentences everyday. He cracks me up. We are slowly potty training him. When he wants to go #2 in the potty he does and if not he doesn't. He doesn't really like getting his diaper changed and so when we ask him if he went he blames it on someone (or something else). Usually it is Bridger that gets blamed but today we went on base and I could smell something in the car. As we were passing a bunch of huge satellites I said, "Brody did you go poopoo?" and he said, "Nooooo, sa-yite poopoo!" I said, "The satellite went poopoo?" and he said, "YES! SA-YITE POOPOO!" I couldn't hold in my laughter even though it's probably not good to laugh about him lying. Where does he come up with this stuff?

Last Saturday night I went to the General Relief Society Broadcast dinner that the stake RS put together. It was soup and bread and desserts. I know am a picky eater, but I figured they would have at least one kind of soup I would like. Out of the 14 or so soups that they had, none of them appealed to me. I took a little of two kinds to try them but when I got to the table, just the sight of them made me nauseous, not to mention the smell. Putrid. So I had about 6 rolls, some cornbread and some homemade wheat bread. I'm pretty sure my stomach expanded more than is healthy that night but at least I didn't go hungry. The desserts were sick too. They had one good thing but by the time I went to get it it was gone. Dinner aside, the night was great. I loved President Monson's talk and it made me want to be a better visiting teacher. I need to do more than visit my sisters. I need to pray for them and make sure their needs are taken care of.

So last night Hannah came over (she's been in Utah for 6

weeks and is finally home- YAY!) and we made a Halloween craft together. It was fun and I really like the way they turned out. Here is a picture of it. We decided that Frankenstein's jacket looks like a grandma cardigan but we made it from a square of felt okay?

How much would you all pay for this set of blocks at a craft store if you were into that kind of thing? Be honest, okay? I want to know if I got my money's worth by making these and I want to know how much I could sell them for if I decided to do so. Plus, I just like participation in the form of comments on my blog.

For those of you who know my best friend Kendra, she had her baby on Monday night. His name is Casen Marc Cox and he is CUTE.

Zach and Jacob, I hope you had great birthdays. Before the time passes by, I want to say Happy Birthday to Royah, James, Hannah, and Mom. Also, it's Adam's birthday on the 17th so don't forget to wish him a happy birthday (you know who you are, forgetful people).

Birdhouses, Firetrucks and LOTS of Pictures!

It has been a while since I have posted anything on here. It's been a busy week! Brody has gotten to do a lot of fun things and we have loads of pictures from this week.

For Family Home Evening last week we painted a birdfeeder and put seeds in it in hopes that it would bring birds to our backyard for Brody to watch, which as of yet hasn't happened. He loved helping us paint it and I thought it would be fun to paint each other but he didn't agree. He doesn't like to KNOW that he is messy. He can go out and play in the mud and be fine but once someone points out to him that he is dirty or messy, he wants to be clean.

We have been trying to figure out what everyone is going to be for Halloween. Bridger's was easy since we have a costume from Brody 2 years ago that he can wear. I found a firefighter costume at Old Navy (thanks, Anita!) for Brody and it came in the mail yesterday. Brody wanted to try it on and he loves it. It was Adam's day off so we decided it would be fun for Brody to go see a real fireman. Adam took him to the local fire department and Brody met the firemen and even got to sit in the big firetruck. He came home and told me all about it ("Mom, Wireguck, Wireman. Big Wireguck!"). Adam said the firemen were so nice and said Brody could come back anytime. This morning Brody woke up and wanted his fireman hat so I am pretty sure it is going to be a permanent accessory for a while.

I have been busy with my calling. We have our visiting teaching conference coming up as well as our humanitarian aid project that we have been working on. We are sewing school bags and filling them with school supplies to send to Salt Lake, which will then be sent to different places around the world. We also have our Stake Relief Society Dinner/General Broadcast this Saturday, which I am pretty excited about. There is something powerful about being with a room full of women listening to the prophet together.

I am going to try to figure out how to put a link on here so you can see more than just a few pictures every week. We have been taking so many great pictures and we are going to be getting our family pictures done next week by a wonderful couple in our ward. They are soooo talented and we are really excited.

I love you all. Keep in touch, okay?

Service Change

I gave a talk in the service member's group today where I teach the Gospel Doctrine Class. Boy did they all get an ear-full of my voice today! The first speaker left me almost 30 min to fill, but as it turned out that was just about what I needed for the talk I had prepared. I know what you’re thinking, but it wasn't boring, and only one person was asleep that I could see. My topic was service to God, self and others. Prior to this talk I’d never coupled service and change as principles working together, but the idea came from wikipedia strangely enough. When I searched for service on wiki the first page that came up was for service in terms of economics. This is an excerpt from it:

In economics and marketing, a service is the non-material equivalent of a good.. It is claimed to be a process that creates benefits by facilitating either a change in customers, a change in their physical possessions, or a change in their intangible assets.

By supplying some level of skill, ingenuity, and experience, providers of a service participate in an economy

Services can be described in terms of their main attributes.

• Lack of homogeneity - Services are typically modified for each client or each new situation (customized).
• Labor intensity - Services usually involve considerable human activity, rather than a precisely determined process. The human factor is often the key success factor in service industries.
• Buyer involvement - Most service provision requires a high degree of interaction between client and service provider.
• Client-Based Relationships - Is based on creating long-term business relationships.

The part that caught my eye (and my spirit) the most was this: It is claimed to be a process that creates benefits by facilitating change. I realized how true that is; that as we serve others we facilitate a change in them and in ourselves for the better. In studying for the talk I also thought of the war in Heaven in a different light. I realized that one of the fundamental differences between the plans of Heavenly Father and Lucifer was that Christ volunteered to SERVE in a capacity so far reaching that it would facilitate the change of ALL children of God, while Lucifer did not want to serve, but to enslave. I'm so grateful for the Service rendered by our Savior that facilitates our change.

This is one of the stories I shared. Its from a talk by President Faust.

Some years ago a priests quorum decided to gather food for the needy as a service project. Jim, one of the priests, was excited to participate and was determined to collect more food than anyone else. The time arrived when the priests met at the chapel. They all went out at the same time and returned at a specified time later in the evening. To everyone’s surprise, Jim’s cart was empty. He seemed rather sober, and some of the boys made fun of him. Seeing this and knowing that Jim had an interest in cars, the adviser said, “Come outside, Jim. I want you to look at my car. It’s giving me some trouble.”

When they got outside, the adviser asked Jim if he was upset. Jim said, “No, not really. But when I went out to collect the food, I really got a lot. My cart was full. As I was returning to the chapel, I stopped at the home of a nonmember woman who is divorced and lives within our ward boundaries. I knocked on the door and explained what we were doing, and she invited me in. She began to look for something to give me. She opened the refrigerator, and I could see there was hardly anything in it. The cupboards were bare. Finally, she found a small can of peaches.

“I could hardly believe it. There were all these little kids running around that needed to be fed, and she handed me this can of peaches. I took it and put it in my cart and went on up the street. I got about halfway up the block when I just felt warm all over and knew I needed to go back to that house. I gave her all the food.”

The adviser said, “Jim, don’t you ever forget the way you feel tonight, because that’s what it is all about.”

Whoa! Nice toothbrush!

I wanted to add a little to the drama of the ward campout. This weekend demonstrated once again why buying toys for Brody is dumb. He ran around the whole night and day exclaiming “big stick” and picking up that big stick to “hit twee.” That was his entertainment. Well, that and playing swords with Brad and I. For some reason he would pick the biggest stick he could find for Brad to use and then pick a small one for himself, so of course all of the onlookers would see a large man picking on a little boy and root for Brody. I think it was all part of his master psychological warfare plan – and it worked. Before long he had Brad pinned and crying like a…, well, like a toddler.

Brody also enjoyed making smores. In fact he liked making them so much he didn’t bother eating them. Brody has a bit of an eating quirk; if there is anything hanging off the spoon/fork, or over the sides of a sandwich (like gooey marshmallow) that will spill over onto his cheeks, he wont eat it. He gets mad and frustrated. That’s why we have to cut his spaghetti into itti-bitti pieces, and that’s why after trying to take a bite out of a delicious smore he said “Dad eat?” and then he retreating back to the comfort of dousing “moshtees” in fire.

Let me tell you, there is nothing so comfortable as a cool autumn night under the stars, camping with your boy and enjoying nature. Let me also tell you that that is not at all what happened. It poured rain all night. And when the rain wasn’t drumming on the roof of our tent there were some strange animals making strange noises and when that wasn’t happening Brody was tenderly stroking my face with his fist or gently nudging my body with relentless kicking. It was wonderful. I got so much sleep. The other joy of the night was hearing Erica move on her plastic water-floatation-device-made-into-a-bed. Ah yes, the sweet sound of sweaty skin skidding over plastic. Music to my ears. Thanks Erica!

Speaking of Erica, when we all woke in the morning she decided to show off by pulling out her bag of wonderful toys. She reached her hand into the magic bag as we all watched in suspense and pulled out….stay tuned for next weeks edition!

“Whoa! Nice Toothbrush!”

That is what Brody said when she pulled out that very normal looking toothbrush. It was quite funny. He acted like it was the coolest thing since “big sticks.” Kids say the darndest things!

After a breakfast of pancakes and meat cooked on rusted grills by Chefs Erica and Brad, we all decided to take Brody swimming in the superbly clean waters of the lake. Superbly clean is a bit of an exaggeration, I guess. In truth I was afraid to open my eyes or mouth and felt like I was swimming in fish excrement; and I probably was. It was fun though, and Brody enjoyed looking for the fish and watching the ducks and flying through the air at and break-neck speeds.

It was a good weekend and I’m glad we were able to go – even more glad that we had good friends there to hang out with and make good memories with.

As a side note, some of the occupants of the campgrounds found me too irresistibly handsome and couldn’t keep their paws off me. They also couldn’t keep their mouths off me, and I have the itchy red bumps all over to prove it. Sometimes it’s difficult being so attractive. (Perhaps you know what I mean. Perhaps you have no idea.) ;-)

Jess and I began working on some family History projects for the church. It is really easy and quite cool, so if you haven’t already started on your own you should go to www.familysearchindexing.org and start as well. You’ll like it.

Ward Campout

Friday night was our ward campout and Adam, who usually works on Saturdays, was able to get the day off to take Brody camping. When Adam got home from work on Friday it looked like a storm was coming so I went to weather.com and saw that it was supposed to rain until about 10pm at Mistletoe State Park, where they were supposed to camp. He decided to go anyway because he is on the activities committee and felt like he needed to help. I thought he was crazy...and not just because it was going to be raining the whole time. Brody isn't the greatest sleeper and I just imagined Brody awake all night in a tent that he had to stay in because it was wet and soggy outside. On the other hand, I was thrilled that I would be able to sleep in with Bridger! So they went and it rained but they had fun. We have a 2-room tent and so Adam and Brody shared it with our friends Brad and Erica. Side note: Brody is in love with Brad and Erica. He calls them Ba and Etty. We are devastated that they are moving to Germany this month. Anyway, back to the campout...Erica woke up in the middle of the night frustrated with Brad telling him to stop kicking her. Brad woke up confused saying he wasn't kicking her. So they turned their flashlight on and saw Brody crawling across Erica's legs. I guess he looked really confused or scared and then said, "Daddy?" He was looking for Adam and it was so dark he couldn't find him. It cracked me up when Adam told me.

I took full advantage of only having one child again. They didn't get home from the campout until about noon (they went swimming at the lake) so Bridger and I played together in the morning and then after his morning nap I took him to the gym and dropped him off at the daycare there and I went to a Zumba class. I only went to it because it was the class that was going on at the most convenient time for me- I didn't even really know what it was. It is a latin dance exercise class. Let me tell you- I am not coordinated in any way to dance, let alone dance fast and exercise at the same time. Watching me try to do what the instructor was doing was probably like watching a train wreck. By the way, the instructor was WACKED. What a strange person. She is a little mousy lady with way too much energy. She reminded me of "The Crazy Prescription Lady" on SNL, played by Cheri Oteri. She even looked like her. It was an okay workout but I won't be going to it again.

Today was Stake Conference. Last night I got to go to the adult session while Adam stayed with the kids. It was soooo good! The talks were all about the The Proclamation to the World: The Family and a guy in our ward gave an excellent talk comparing families to the structure of a home. The foundation should be built on the "Rock" or Jesus Christ, the walls are made up of the relationship between the husband and wife (each 2x4 of the framing is something- love, compassion, repentence, forgiveness, etc.- things that make a marriage strong). The roof is the father that protects and watches over his family. The warmth and comfort of the home is the mother. Then he said that all homes need to be maintained. When things go wrong within the relationship, like an argument, we should fix it up or clean it up and take it to the curb to be picked up with the garbage and never remember it. The whole talk tied in so well with the Proclamation and I just loved it.

So I'm not really going in order but I thought of a couple of cute things from this week. When Brody wakes up he always asks where Dad is. I tell him he is at work and since he has discovered money (when he finds coins he gets excited and says "My mun!") I told him that Dad goes to work so he can get more money. Now whenever I tell him that Dad is at work, he says, "Dad more mun?" and will even run to Adam when he walks in and ask for some money. So the other day Brody and I rounded up all the coins from our drawers and pockets and purse and wherever we keep money and we made a little piggy bank from a mason jar and he got to put all his money in his "mission jar". He put the coins in one at a time and loved it. Now when Adam comes home and Brody asks him for money, he gives him whatever change he has and Brody gets to put it with his other money in his mission jar. He loves it and now we will be able to start a mission fund for Brody!

I went to Michael's on Thursday and got a bunch of stuff to make Halloween crafts. I am pretty excited about it. If they turn out cute I'll post them on here. I don't have very many Halloween decorations for the house so I hope they turn out.

Tonight Brad and Erica came over and made us pizza. It was yummy. After the kids went to bed we played Canasta Caliente and Erica and I actually won. Now I finally know what it feels like! It's not that much better than losing really.

Oops! okay?

I, Adam, regret to inform all avid readers that I did it again. I won. I just can't help myself. I totally wiped the floor with Jess, Brad and Erica. Thank you for playing.

In truth, I'm not here to brag. I guess that my humor doesn't come through the blog as much as I hoped it would because obviously my previous post was just a big joke and some folks didn't get that. The real event was quite simple; Jess and I went out on a date and laughed more together than we have in a long time. It was so much fun, and I'm so glad I have her to be my best friend and eternal companion. I loved it. I loved (and love) being with Jess. She is awesome (and hot). I am so glad that we have been married for 5 years and I can hardly believe how much we have grown together and learned together.

The blog is not a contest to see who can get more comments, and I am not a big fat jerk.