Naptime Today

I just wanted to make a quick note before I forget about nap time today.

I took a few moments to snuggle by Ben before his nap and he just kept giving me those slobbery kisses that only a two year old can give. He kept telling me that he loved me and kept smooching. He was so excited that I was laying by him. It was too cute.

I gave Hyrum some snuggles before his nap too. You could tell he was in heaven because he got some one on one mommy time. He told me to remember to "bless him" in my prayers so his eye can get better (he has a little bit of an eye infection). It was too cute. I have loved listening to the prayers he says. He is so thoughtful in his word choice and remembering those who might need some extra blessings.

I would have gone in and snuggled Emmy, but she was already asleep. She had a rough night last night. I will just have to give her some hugs and kisses when she wakes up.

I love getting and giving my children hugs and kisses. There is nothing quite like the love of a child.

Croquet in the Garden

A favorite past time of mine from growing up was playing croquet with my family. Both my immediate and extended family played many croquet games through the years.

When I was home back in June I told my family that one of the things I wanted to do (I think Millie wanted to do this too) was to play a game of croquet. As a result, one night for Family Home Evening we played croquet and had a great time. Before we could play, the lawn needed to be mowed first. The kids loved watching papa mow the lawn. They would each run as close as they could to him and then run back to me pretending to be scared. It was pretty funny. Hyrum loved helping Papa mow the lawn for the last little bit. Each of the kids had to be in on the action and had their Papa help them figure out their swing. For the rest of the game the object was to avoid the kids, their mallets, their croquet balls while still trying to get your own croquet ball where you want it to go. My dad and Millie dominated the games we played. I had a lot of fun playing myself and spent most of the time laughing at how awful I was doing and the silly comments Millie would make. Hyrum also had a great time playing and took his game very seriously. He definitely left his mark on my parents lawn after playing.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

On August 1st we went to a Redbirds baseball game. While I was in Utah, Brandon went to the Scout fundraiser for our ward and won some baseball tickets. The seats were great! We were about five rows up from the visiting teams dugout and between home plate and the dugout.
The kids were so excited to go to the game and had been looking forward to going for days. Hyrum would yell "Go Redbirds" and still does. Of course, since Ben has to do everything Hyrum does, Ben repeats the cheer anytime Hyrum cheers for the Redbirds. Ben was excited about eating a hot dog. He walked around the house on the day of the game and the whole time we drove to the game talking about the hot dog he would have.

The kids loved watching baseball in Utah and in Tennessee there was no difference. It was a great close game, with the Redbirds winning at the end. The kids did a good job for the first hour and a half of the game. Towards the end of the game they struggled. Emmy spent a lot of time watching from a distance the mascot. I think she liked watching the mascot be silly, but didn't want it to come too close. The boys loved all the noise, sights and sounds and couldn't get enough and sat there for a long time watching the game. I think Ben has found his true love in life. Plus, I am told that it isn't bad to be a lefty when playing baseball.

The kids loved the "ball park" food. The package of tickets came with some coupons for food at the ball park. Ben got his hot dog and was in heaven. The kids also enjoyed the nachos and cotton candy.
It was such a fun night. I love it when we get to do things like that as a family!

Parades

While we were in Utah, we attended a couple of local parades. The first parade we attend was Orem City's. This was the first true parade that the kids had been to in a long time. They loved it! They were fascinated by the many different floats, the wonderful goodies and treats that were thrown to them, the fun marching bands, fire engines, dancers and other miscellaneous people in the parade. They hardly moved during the parade except to get the candy and other items thrown to them. Can you tell the fire engines and police cars were going by?Emmy loved seeing all the "princesses" she would do a timid wave to every single one of them.
The next weekend we went to the Strawberry Days parade. Before the parade, my sister, my dad, my brother and I did the 5K. It was so much fun to be able to do the race with them. I improved my time from my last 5K and came in with a time of 31:24. My dad and brother both ran the race really well and my sister kicked our trash. She did the race in the time of 22:48 and got 2nd place in her age group.

After the 5K, we took the kids to the parade. Once again they had a great time and were fascinated by the many different sights and sounds. The only down side of the parade was that it rained a little. The kids loved the candy and there were even otter pops passed out. The picture below is of Ben waving to the very cool race car that was in the parade. Both of the boys thought that the race car was AWESOME! Emmy once again was standing to wave to all the princesses.

I was happy that we were able to go to a couple parades because those are some of my fun memories that I remember from growing up. Plus, what is there not to like about free candy?

I'm So Glad...

These are videos I filmed in Utah of the kids singing the song I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home. I was going to try and post them on the blog why we were in Utah for Father's Day, but I left the cord for the camera at home. Oh well, better late then never right? At least Brandon will know that he is loved. We missed him a lot while we were in Utah. He is such a great daddy!

Family Home Evening

While it Utah, we were able to have Family Home Evening with my family. Of course, we had to sing Book of Mormon Stories. It was the only song we sang for Family Home Evening growing up. The kids got really into the actions during the song and it was really cute. Here is Emmy doing the part "far across the sea." The lesson that was done was the famous garbage can lesson we had growing-up. You have a whole bunch of words, some nice and some mean. The words that you want to have in your house that are nice, you push them through the slot on the house. The words that are mean, you put them through the slot on the garbage can because you wouldn't want them in your home. My siblings and I had that lesson many times.

After the lessons we went and saw the horses that are close to my parents house and took them carrots. The kids love to go and see the horses. If you notice in the pictures, Emmy is only in a couple of them. Once the horses were really close, she did not want to be close. The boys enjoyed feeding the horses. We didn't stay too long because it started to rain. We finished off the night with yummy ice cream.

I am grateful for the time my parents took while I was growing up to make sure we had family home evening and scripture study. I am so grateful for their testimonies and for the influence they have had in my life.