June-ish

We went on an adventurous bike ride up Provo Canyon to Bridal Veil Falls.  We stopped along the way for a potty break and to climb.

We arrived after arduously pulling the kids behind our bikes.

We enjoyed seeing the falls.

We hiked up the side of the water fall.  The kids were very brave and tough.

Since the bike ride and hiking waterfalls wasn't adventurous enough we went swimming at the Provo Rec Center afterwards.

Elizabeth didn't last very long in the water.  While waiting she wore Henry's glasses for fun.  It seemed as though she didn't understand why his glasses didn't work for her like her own glasses work.

Charlie (green swim trunks) was brave and began laying in the water on his back and pretended swimming.

After all of the excitement Elizabeth began fake sleeping on Daddy.

On Memorial Day we enjoyed seeing the graves of Daddy's grandparents and then played with Grandpa Tom at his home.

We went camping!

We had such good helpers to put up the tent.

We think it was a day camp site because there wasn't a real fire pit and there was a sign that said not to make ground fires.  But there was already a ring of rocks so we just went for it.

The kids aren't so great at doing s'mores the traditional way.  They pretty much ate everything separate and not cooked.  That's how Annette did it as a kid.

Our 5 gallon water thing tipped in the back of the truck and got some things wet.  Charles dried my pillow by the fire and toasted it nicely.  Good thing Annette wasn't doing it since her marshmallows end up on fire.

We walked down to the lake which was very fun.

This is my kind of comfy camping sleeping.

Annette took the kids to Idaho to see Austin cousins while Charles was in Wisconsin learning about pumps.  There are no photos because Annette's phone died right before the trip.

We went to my cousin's wedding.  At the luncheon we were very couth licking our knives and acting ridiculous.  We ended the lunch with extra couthness by putting the extra fried chicken off the kid plates directly in my purse so that they would have food to eat later in the day.

While we waited for them to come out of the temple we got to wait in the rain.

The kids found the trash cans amusing.

While waiting for the reception the kids slept in the car while at a park.

Lizzy led the way on running around outside in the light rain after naps and food.

Scottlyn wasn't so adventurous.  She just stayed in the car keeping her dress all clean and being cute with her mama.

Henry pretends to be a cat so often that he has taken to sitting in boxes.

Here is our little athletic Lizzy.

We had a picnic at the park with the Thomas family.  They had a lot of fun in the stream.

By the time we were going home we had three naked children.

We went to David and Laura's house after Scottlyn's baby blessing. 

Oh hey, the foundation for our home was poured!  Some day we will actually move!

Eye Patch for Henry

Henry needs to start wearing an eye patch for 2-3 hours every day for the next three months to help strengthen his eye with a higher prescription level.  As we came home from the ophthalmologist we bought a pirate eye patch so that he could begin that day.  It was good, but it didn't fit under his glasses, so it was too easy for him to lift it and it would also get knocked around.  

When we got home I looked at eye patch prices around and wasn't super happy.  I then looked at Pinterest tutorials that were good, but more complex than I wanted to do.  I found a much better way to make simple, utilitarian, non-cutie eye patch for Henry.

I looked through my pile of extra clothing that was available for sewing.  I found one of Charles' socks that he didn't wear.  It was super long!  I was actually able to make four eye patches out of the one sock.  I wanted a lot of eye patches for when they get lost.  I also put them in different areas, like in my purse if we are out all day and need to do the patch.

I traced his glasses, including a bit of the side of the glasses.

After cutting it out I made a slightly wider template and with more of a curve on the side of the glasses.

I put it along the edge of the sock and cut.

It wasn't exact which is totally okay since it is stretchy.

Sew along the bottom.  I had to remember not to sew it completely around, but to leave the side open for the glasses to get through it.

Here it is all finished!

I turned it right side out.

Here are the four eye patches that I made.  You can tell which ones I did first because they don't look so good, but they will all work in a pinch.

Henry was not interested in standing nicely for the photo with his new eye patch.

It was super simple and easy to make.

A Fun Filled Life with Love and Joy

The boys got "summer haircuts" or at least that's what I told them they were.  It was really because Henry was pulling so hard while playing with his own hair it looked like he was ripping it out of his scalp.

Now that he doesn't have his own hair to play with he has gone back to using my hair to have fun, but now he has to put it on his own head to fully enjoy the experience.

We rent out our car on Turo to make money when we don't need it.  It makes a fair amount of money and the kids love it when we take them on the train when going up to SLC to pick it up or when coming home after dropping it off.  They don't always get to go, but they sure love it when we make it a fun excursion.  We keep telling them that it is a privilege for obedient, responsible children to go on fun trips and so they act obedient and responsible so they don't get their privileges revoked.

One time when taking the train home it required all of the passengers to get off the train and take a bus to the last train stop because of some unknown-to-us problem.  It delayed us getting home by about 45 minutes, but it was worth it for the kids.  They thought that the bus was marvelous.  When we got off of the bus Elizabeth said, "Biff off buff," in a sorrowful tone.  The translated meaning would be, "Elizabeth is sad to go off of the bus."  The boys thought it was hilarious and would say her phrase, "Biff off buff," multiple times a day for a week or so.

One of the times when someone was going to return our car to us in Orem we got to hang out in our truck for a while.

The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Besides the extra income from renting out our car we are sure creating lots of fun memories with the family.

Charlie drew this picture.  He told me that it was a picture of him being baptized when he is 8 years old.  I really like how the water kind of looks like fire.

One of the neighbors lets their dog roam free and Lizzy loves to pet it and have it on her lap.  Henry is really good around dogs with not letting them touch him so he won't have an allergic reaction to them.

One day I hadn't seen Eliza for a while and wondered where she was since she was just barely potty trained and couldn't be trusted for too long still.  I found her on her bed just playing with all of the stuffed animals.  So cute!

Charlie is so strong and loves to pick up Elizabeth!

Lizzy helped me cook food one evening by smacking it with the spatula while it simmered.

 We enjoy being around all of Annette's cousins so that we can see them on a regular basis.  Eliza is fairly free with her hugs and will cuddle up to everyone.

With living in a large home I will sometimes loose the kids.  It is fun to find them upstairs pretending to sleep so that they can get out of doing whatever it is they are to be doing.

Charles has been playing some volleyball with church members.  Lizzy is always sure she is big enough to play with the adults and at times will try to to go out onto the court.  Charles asked his teammates who was setting and Lizzy responded from the sidelines, "Biff!  Biff!" She looked at me like, "Dad asked who was going to do it, can I go Mom?"  She was disappointed that she couldn't participate.  We did eventually snag some unused volleyballs to play with.

Before church one Sunday, when we were ready early, we got some cute photos. 

Elizabeth's carseat was out for some reason and Henry decided to sit in there.  When we were going inside the house Henry was making no motion that he was going to come in with us.  I asked him he wanted to come and he morosely told me that he could not.  I examined him and realized he had buckled himself in and was stuck.  No wonder he had been sitting there for so long without getting up.  He must not have minded it too much if he hadn't asked me sooner to help him. 

Charlie had his Kindergarten pediatrician check-up and afterwards we walked over to the hospital's helicopter that we often drive past.  The kids had a lot of fun just looking and talking about it.  Eliza loved that it was yellow.

We have had a bout of stormy weather lately which has included lots of thunder and lightning.  We went on a walk while a storm was blowing in.  It was fun to look north where it was sunny and only had a smattering of clouds and then to look south and see clouds so thick that the large mountains were obscured.  The wind whipped and the thunder cracked and we knew a storm would be upon us soon.

We love having our family gather every Monday night for Family Home Evening (FHE) where we have a little gospel lesson for the kids and where we also have a life lesson.  Charles gave a great gospel lesson about having unity in the family. Annette gave a non-graphic, but visually instructive lesson about how to stay safe in the car; always buckle up and never fight.  Charlie gave us a lesson about school.  He gives us a new school lesson every week.  He is VERY excited to say the least.  This week his lesson was on making friends at school.  Lizzy always loves to conduct the music to sing some church songs.  The kids are always thrilled when we say it is Monday night and we are having Family Home Evening!

Biff is TWO!

Elizabeth, or how she calls herself, "Biff" is now two years old!  She is such a fun and loving little girl.  And we love having her in our family.

She loves being with her brothers and playing with them.

She loves being with her grandparents and going on adventures with them.

Eliza likes to do things that everyone else loves to do.  She often says, "Me.  No, me!" or "Biff, no Biff!"

She loves to take care of her dog, Cookie.  He goes everywhere with her and often if we aren't careful she will sneak him out to the car and on errands or to church.

Speaking of her loving her dog, she likes being one herself.  She has holes in the knees of her pants from being a dog so often. 

Lizzy also loves it when she gets new, used clothes from her older female cousins, especially if it is yellow which is her favorite color.  The distinct and obvious order of her favorite colors are yellow, pink, yellow, purple, yellow, and blue.

Dressing up in grandma's dress up clothes is always a highlight of the day.  She will often insist on wearing the pretty things for most of the day.

We love our sweet Elizabeth and the wonderful smiles she brings to our home!