Awe

Cole had been hugging Darryl's legs so sweetly but I didn't get a picture fast enough. :( This is still a cute picture though. The boys have all been born with a huge part of their hearts belonging to their dad. I should be jealous but instead I just think it's so sweet that they can just love someone so much even though they don't spend the majority of their time with them.

Toothless Kade

Kade had nothing better to do today than to wiggle his last loose tooth right out. Here is the note he wrote to the tooth fairy and her response--give her some slack I'm sure she wrote it in the middle of the night. ;)

And Another One

So Kade is becoming a tooth pulling pro. Clint watches him work on wiggling and pulling out these teeth and he has become emphatic that he just wants to keep his teeth. It's so funny how different he looks with these teeth gone. It has been 5 years since he knocked out the other top tooth so he finally looks age appropriate with his tooth loss. :) He wrote this cute letter to the tooth fairy asking her how she sees when people loose teeth. The tooth fair left a letter saying that she has a computer that has a little light that lights up and where there are teeth under pillows that night. Kade was more excited to see the letter than the money-- initially then it was "money, money, money"(to quote Pig from Toy Story).

Date Outing

The boys were so excited to told them we were going on an outing. I also called it a date night with my boys and so they called it a date outing. We had to go to Provo to do some shopping so afterwards we went to get something to eat and then went to the 400 E Orem park to play and have a picnic. It was a really nice laid back night. Darryl was out of town and I tend to get a little overtaken by all that has to be done while he's gone that I neglect the kids some so I wanted to make it their night. They loved the idea of the date night and I think they loved the date as much as the idea.

Garden

It was much later than I wanted but I didn't start planting the garden until today. I intended on just getting in the usual early things such as peas, chard, etc. While I was planting I figured there was no reason not to plant the rest because it is the time I'd usually plant them anyway. The reason behind the late start: It has rained and rained and rained. There was a really hot week and we tilled the garden that week but didn't get any seeds in--should have. :( Oh well, hopefully it is a great garden year! Clint was my little helper this year again. It was so cute when he'd cover up the seeds he'd bend over and he kept covering the hill between his legs until he'd almost fall over turning himself inside out. :) So cute.

One more Tooth

Kade has had a few loose teeth and today he was bored-- I think-- and so he pried and pried until he got one out. The funny thing is that his top middle tooth is super loose and this bottom tooth that he pulled was slightly loose but I figured it would be a long time before it was out. I was so shocked when he yelled, "I just pulled my tooth." I thought he was joking or just playing around but oh no. Tooth fairy you might as well move it cause he's got two more that will be coming soon. :)
I also had to include Kade's note he wrote to the tooth fairy.  I didn't get her response photographed but I'm sure it was a brilliant response. ;)

Volcanoes!

Kade has been studying volcanoes in school and so we made one today because he won't stop talking about them. So I googled making volcanoes and about 30 min. later we had flowing lava. Love the Internet-- you can find everything there. The boys loved this. Over the next couple days we erupted the volcano until we were out of supplies. They had a great time trying different colors of lava.

Serving

I had been wishing for an opportunity for my boys to do a service act that really could be something that they could learn from. Well the opportunity arose quickly tonight. We got a call that they would be filling sand bags at the city buildings in about 30 min. They said kids could help also so we loaded up to go. The boys were so excited, "We're going to do . . . some service." When we got there someone asked them what they were up to and they said, "We're going to service the community!" It was raining, chilly, and windy so Cole wasn't tickled to be out and strapped to my back up it was worth the 15-30 minutes we were there. Clint and Kade held bags but I think the biggest thing they took away was being able to see so many people from the community working together. The immense snow pack from this winter hasn't really melted much and we just keep getting more and more rain so the threat of flooding is pretty scary so there could be a great need for lots of sandbags so in order to be prepared they have started filling bags. Clint was cold and so he left with me but Darryl and Kade stayed and helped for another hour or so. Darryl treated him to a shake after their hard work. In the picture Darryl is in the middle holding the yellow shovel and Kade is the green hooded black garbage bag balloon. :D After he got home Kade said he felt really good inside. I love that!

Happy 100th Grandpa Brown

My Grandpa Brown would have been 100 years old this month so his oldest son, my Uncle Buzz, decided to put together a program and get-together so we could learn more about him. He died right after I was born so about 32 years ago. The last event he went to was my blessing. The get together was really neat. Darryl couldn't make it and I don't know if he would have loved it anyway because it was just a lot of trips down memory lane for my family, cousins, aunts, uncles, and I. It was so fun to learn about Grandpa too. I didn't know he was a really quiet man. He also stayed home every Sunday to take care of the little kids(they had 10 total). They said my Grandma really regretted having him do that because it took him years to come back to church. But when he did he was a very devout man. He said he didn't like to go to church because he didn't want to get called on to pray or something. My dad said he wished all those years that he spent with his dad working on the farm that he and his dad had talked more. He said they rarely spoke at all while they moved sprinklers or did any chores. My Grandpa was just a quiet man. It was kind of sad too that all his kids talked about the first time they knew he loved them and it wasn't until they were at least teens. They said he was just so quiet that they just didn't know for sure. Where were my kids during the whole day-- playing with all the little cousins. They were so great the whole time. They had a part of the cultural hall sectioned off for them to play in and the school yard is next door so they would go over and play there for a while too. I remember doing the same thing when I was little at the family get togethers. There were so beat that they fell asleep the second they got in the car-- Sweet boys. I was so happy to get a picture of all Dad's siblings with him and we also took one of just me and my siblings and parents. Such a great day. Oh and we started the day with Jaxon's baptism. They made arrangements to have Jaxon baptized right before the program so just our little family was there in the Koosharem church. Another neat thing was that Todd, our cousin, is in the bishopric so he conducted the baptism--pretty special day for Jaxon. I thought it was neat too that Austin and Tanner gave the talks and then all the Nance boys sang the special number; So neat to have them all apart of it.

Another Climber

This is the reason the door to Kade and Clint's room is shut a lot. Mr. Cole thinks he's a big boy and climbs the ladder like it's nothing. He can climb down too so why keep him shut out? He likes to do a little, "I climbed the ladder," dance on the top rung of the ladder. It looks about as safe as it sounds. He's such a cute stinker!

Way To Go Dad!!!

Darryl did it! He has been working on his MBA over the past year and a half and he finished it up! I had considered doing my Masters after he was done but it was so hard to watch him do it. He had a lot of fun with some of the courses but he would go hide in the spare room all day and work. I felt bad that he wasn't able to just come home and spend time with us or just do something relaxing. It was so hard to try to explain to the kids too that he needed to work and that we couldn't bother him even though he was home. What a tough thing for him but I think the harder part for Darryl was all those years he had left his MBA undone. He was working on it when he got a fabulous job offer in Price. After much debate he chose to finish his MBA another time and I think it has always been nagging him. Well no more! He has done it and we(the boys, Darryl and I) couldn't be more excited for him. The boys really are so proud of him. They think it's such a fun thing to talk about; Their Dad is, "going to "college" but he lives at our house." One thing that I was always impressed with was how he could write 6-20 pages over and over and over. All the information was different topics and such but that is even more impressive. Darryl just is a sponge full of knowledge-- it's amazing. The picture is the sign the boys made for Darryl and hung it in the garage so he'd see it when he got pulled in.

Safety Fair

Today was the County Safety Fair. About 2 weeks ago Clint started asking when we could go again to the "dog show with the big skater slides." After inquiring I discovered he was talking about the Safety Fair. He was referring to the K9 cop dogs and the big blowup slides that have skater guys on them. The next week Kade came home from school with a flier about this year's fair. The boys were thrilled! I couldn't miss this. It proved to be another great event. I love that we can go hang out all morning, not spend a dime, and I can just watch the boys be on cloud 9. They thought it was so cool they got to be a doctor and they got to remove skittles from a knee. Their really loved chasing Andy the little ambulance around and asking him to squirt them. The face painter did an incredible job and she was super quick. She painted the boys as dragons and they spent the rest of the day practicing their fire-breathing faces. Their favorite attraction was the slide. They went down about a dozen times and only stopped because we ran out of tickets--they managed to talk a few more booths out of a couple tickets and so they got one more trip on the slide before we left. They were so wore out by the end of the day.
Darryl spent the day doing his capstone project for his MBA. He's almost completed it and I couldn't be more proud and he couldn't be more happy.

A Great Day

We started the day like most; Kade went to school-- which entailed all of us loading up on bikes and in the bike trailer and riding to school, I exercised and straighted the house, Cole played and darted around, and Clint played the computer. Then we played outside all day. I put Cole down for a nap and then Clint and I started edging the lawn. Starting the edger took most of my time and so I didn't get finished before we needed to head to the school to pick up Kade. Then it was lunch and nap time for Kade and Clint. I promised them that I would wait to finish the lawns when they were awake so Cole and I played in the flowerbeds, weeding them and moving tulips around. Not the time of year to do that-- the tulips are all droopy and sad now but I've been meaning to do it for about 5 years now so I had to do it when I had the time. They were just coming up sporadically so they needed to be repositioned. We also had a bush that was always getting covered up by our beautiful bleeding heart so I moved the bush too and hopefully it survived the move. The boys woke up and came out and played out side. I finally stopped to feed Cole lunch and then put him down for his 3 o'clock nap. Then I finished edging the lawn. Darryl ended up getting home earlier than expected from Connecticut which was nice. We quickly loaded up the truck and ran up to Whisky Springs to roast a hot dog. It was so fabulous out there. We played a little baseball and hiked the trial. I was carrying Cole on the hike and he started wiggling to get down. I put him down and he marched right up the steep hill; His steps weren't straight but he managed. Darryl picked him up and put him on his shoulders and then he started bopping up and down like he was riding a horse. His smile is stretched from ear to ear most of the time but this time it was stretched a little longer. The boys(aka Kade and Clint) wanted to go on an adventure all by themselves. They promised to stay on the trail and Darryl gave them a quick review on what to do if they ever get lost in the mountains, then they were off. I was pretty nervous about it but they both ended up back with us. Then Kade asked if he could go all by himself. I wasn't about to agree to that; I knew he could do it but wow I'm just not ready for that. Darryl said okay and Kade was off. He was so proud of himself. Then Clint wanted a turn. He too was fine-- I can't believe how grown up my little boys are getting! Clint did fall and skin his knee right at the end but he didn't cry a bit!(he's usually pretty quick to cry so that was great!) After we ate and we made banana boats. When we started making them Darryl asked me if I wanted one or if I just wanted to finish the boys when they didn't. Well I wanted my own and it was a good thing I ordered one because they had 2 a piece! I could just sit back and watch my boys love life-- there's just nothing better. We packed up and headed back home. Then it was tub time for the boys. I bathed Cole quickly and put him to bed. While the older boys were showering I went and finished mowing the lawns. Wow what a full day! Darryl and I ended the day watching TV and then it was time for some shut eye! Life is fabulous!

It's a Beautiful Day

Just a beautiful day playing outside with Cole during Kade and Clint's nap. I was lying on my back looking at Cole with the great backdrop and had to take a picture-- too bad my phone didn't do the sight justice.

A Mother's Day Surprise

Happy Mother's Day!
I should not be surprised that Darryl surprised me again but he did it. I was completely not expecting my gift he got me this year. I'll give the history of how the gift came to be. Last week while on he was on the road Darryl e-mailed me and said he wanted to take the two older boys to lunch on Wednesday. I figured it was just to give the boys some daddy time-- which they were so excited about. They couldn't wait for their "date with dad." Well he had something up his sleeve. He did take the boys to lunch in Park City and they were going to go to a movie but there wasn't anything great playing. They also had another stop that remained a secret. The boys loved saying, "but I'm not going to tell you about that," or "I can't tell you Mom." On Saturday Darryl and Clint went to run a quick errand-- by quick I mean 1 hour. I guessed they went to Park City again but had no idea why. Well today the surprise was revealed. They had gone to Color Me Mine and made me ceramic plates. I love them and I'm so happy to have something that will remind me of my 6 and 4 year old boys.

As for the Mothers in my life-- they continue to amaze me and inspire me. I learn from them to accomplish all I can in a day and to always keep others happiness in mind. I also learn from them that the gospel is essential and something that you're never too old to quit studying. I love my mom(so glad she was mine), my grandmothers, and my mother-in-law. All of this seems so cliche but I know how lucky I am to have these women in my life. I really admire the mothers immediately around me to; Like all of my friends and neighbors. It is from them that I am often to reminded how to be a good mother to my children. I hope this day everyone is reminded how influential all women are for good.

Meet Can Robot

The boys have been talking about growing up and going to "robot making school." When Darryl returned from his trip last week he brought a couple can robot kits. The boys couldn't wait to get them put together. Tonight was the night (for the first robot anyway). They had so much fun watching him waddle all around the kitchen but I think they were a little disappointed it wasn't alive. Cole, however, loved it just the way it was. I love the picture where the robot "walked" over to Cole and "got" him; His face is priceless. Cole did his ape crawl and followed that robot all over. Kade and Clint have so much fun watching Cole be . . . a baby. They think he's "so cute." Now they refer to the robot and Cole's little buddy and they try to give it to him whenever he's sad. They're such great brothers to Cole and to each other. Oh I hope they always get along as well as they do now.

climbing genes

Kade definitely inherited the climbing gene from his parents. There really isn't much that he won't scale; I have the pictures to prove it. I believe Clint has the gene too but he needs to be a little older to be able to master the climbs like his brother-- he still attempts though.