Ben and Corinne (and boys)

Finally some snow!

2012-01-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

This is the framed nature scene Richard made at his first cub scout activity. I got his patches all sewed on his new shirt and he is really excited.

Rudolph Song

2012-01-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

Spencer has loved singing "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" this holiday season; and it hasn't stopped yet. Here he is pounding away on a tin of popcorn we got for Christmas, singing "Rudolph reindeer nose" over and over. Then he tells me he is singing the Rudolph song.

Spencer also turned three on Sunday, January 1st. We had family over who were still in town from Richard's baptism the day before. This is the cake. And that's the only picture I got...

Post-Christmas

2012-01-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

Here are all the boys playing with a new toy we got for Christmas-Hot Wheels track with potential to crash because you run several cars at once. :) It's cool. ;)

These two pictures are right after Richard's baptism of all the family that came. I was so excited to see everyone and thank you so much for your love and support!!!!

The boys stayed up really late on New Year's Eve. They are glued to a movie while eating all kinds of unhealthy foods. :)

Boys's Holiday Sing

2011-12-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

Richard's 8th birthday

2011-12-17T15:31:00.002-07:00

Ben 'wearing' the pinata Darth Vader

I made the cake and frosting from scratch, and then Ben designed the pictures.

Alyssa came to the party, a friend of Richard's from school.

He got a Lego batman Wii game from my parents, a Star Wars lego set from his brothers, and a Darth Maul watch from me and Ben. We played Dinosaur Monopoly, pin the light sabre on Darth Vader, and had the pinata outside-and it didn't snow!!!!

Waiting for the festivities to begin: I love catching them reading!

2011-12-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for a birthday party

2011-12-09T14:57:00.001-07:00

Richard really wanted to make the invitations for his party this year. So here is some of his artwork. Guess that theme. :)

And Spencer talking on the phone with "Bampa" Grandma Gayle. He really had a good conversation with her. She was surprised he could talk that much. He is a good talker when he wants to be and he is always talking about going to "Bampa"'s house.

More Christmas stuff

2011-12-09T14:51:00.001-07:00

I cross-stitched Richard and Garrett each a stocking when they were really young. Then I started one for Ben before Spencer was born. Uh, I just finished Ben's stocking last month. :) My friend Carole let me use her sewing machine to sew it completely together and then she made each of the boys a dinosaur stocking. (To show me up) :) Just kidding. They are so cute! Since I couldn't decide which ONE to hang for everyone, I hung them all up! Carole made me the snow lady one to match Ben's snowmen family stocking and my sister Shannon made me the kitchen theme one years ago, which is why I started making some for our family in the first place. Shannon always inspires me. :) I asked the boys which one they want Santa to fill and of course they said 'both'. Hmmm.

At the ward Christmas party last night all the boys loved seeing Santa. I am glad Spencer is over his fear of Santa. I mean, I know most little kids are nervous around Santa, all my kids went through their phase also. But I'm glad we've passed that mile stone. :) I tried uploading an adorable video of them here, but blogger didn't like it, so I put the video on my facebook page. Please go see it!!

But he was ok afterward. They didn't even begin to start the kids' games until after 8:30pm though and Ben and I wanted to leave, so then Richard got upset again. Poor guy. Never gets what he wants.

Christmas at our House

2011-11-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

This was Sunday morning breakfast. The boys LOVE sausage and bacon. And they are broadening their tastes by having strawberries and cream instead of syrup on waffles and such.

See the Christmas witch, Mom?

Mr. Goody is still around!

Garrett's Santa's toy shoppe house. It was harder than it looks! But this is me we're talking about; I have very little creative skill.

Richard's gingerbread house. I tried to convince him this could take the place of the edible kind but he wouldn't have it.

I did have a video of me and the older boys putting together their foam Christmas house kits, but Spencer was coughing in it and didn't think anyone wanted to hear that. ;) He has croup...:( And he loves oranges, but will only eat them with a fork.

Richard's past times

2011-11-25T13:51:00.000-07:00

Richard has been big into reading "The Magic Tree House" books lately. He reads one in about 2 hours. Yesterday on Black Friday (yes, I braved it for the first time ever!) I got him a beginning crosstitch kit because I stitch and he likes watching me. Here he is trying it out. He is enjoying it even though it is a challenge. I finished Ben's stocking with Carole's help. I started on Spencer's; it will be ready next year. :)

Boys and their Leaves

2011-11-25T13:49:00.001-07:00

Ben spent alot of energy raking up our front yard. He even borrowed leaves from a neighbor's yard to make this great leaf pile. Into which he fell. From a tree. He is fine. I mean, he didn't get hurt. :) All of them were outside a good portion of the afternoon while I cooked inside for our Thanksgiving dinner. We had turkey, homemade mashed potatoes, gravy from the turkey drippings (Ben's specialty), green bean casserole, homemade stuffing, homemade rolls, homemade pumpkin pie, and homemade apple pie brought by Sarah. Oh and homemade whipped cream and sparkling apple juice. It was awesome! We love food!

Turkey cookies

2011-11-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

Cate shared a Thanksgiving treat with us that her family always did when she was growing up.

Richard at Karate

2011-11-21T11:45:00.002-07:00

Richard joined the Karate club at school this semester. Here he is at the showcase where all the kids demonstrate or display what they have learned during club. He paused at the end of the 2nd video because he was waiting for the Sensae to do number 10. But he didn't for some reason and that's what Richard wanted to tell me when he came off the stage. I got a kick out of watching him!

Recent events

2011-11-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

Spencer in a new outfit that my Mom sent him.

Garrett wearing the robot helmet we made. Richard perfected it of course.

First snow (luckily most of it is gone already) and Richard quickly made a snowman all by himself. We later put on a carrot nose and the helmet as its head.

Our first ever UVU basketball game. It was really fun! Spencer wasn't a big fan though. He likes the chips and that was about it.

just a quick brag

2011-11-17T17:15:00.001-07:00

Richard likes talking about cells, and how small they are...and tonight he was trying to explain it to Garrett, who is 5. He kept saying they are a quarter and a quarter and a quarter the size of certain objects. Ben interjected that Richard really ought to be saying they are a tenth of a tenth...just to exaggerate their tininess to help Garrett understand better. So then Ben asks Richard "What is a tenth of a tenth?" And GARRETT replied "a hundredth". I gasped and laughed out loud at the unknown genius of my five year old.

And the picture is from when Richard recently guessed Ben's color combination at Master Mind. Little bit of luck involved, but still...

Our Halloween adventures

2011-11-01T11:21:00.000-06:00

We started off our Halloween adventures by joining Ben at his office and trick or treating around to various desks and departments. Most people at Ben's office are always surprised when he says he has three kids; he just doesn't look that old I guess. :) Here they are in the flesh!

Garrett wasn't a fan of wearing his Darth Vader mask, but it's still pretty obvious I think.

Baby Yoda

Here we are Sarah's house in south Provo. She joined us for some trick or treating after we left Ben at work.

Storm Trooper Richard.

This was awesome. We really got a kick out of some of the decor that people obviously put a lot of time into. The house next door had a fog machine, music blasting, a couple different colored strobe lights, spooky stuff hanging from the trees, the works!

Thanks for coming with us Sarah!

Halloween in Provo right near our house.

This morning Garrett decided to put this on. I love how he says 'punkin'. Have I said he likes to play the piano and is getting to be a good reader? That's happy!

Nose tricks and pumpkins

2011-10-31T14:21:00.000-06:00

I love laughing with Richard. He has a fun sense of humor. He also lost his 5th tooth this week. The tooth fairy forgot to come two nights in a row...but she finally made it.

This is the scary spider Ben helped rig up at his office this week.

Sunday evening at our house

2011-10-23T21:05:00.000-06:00

Spencer has always played with my hair-at church, at home, before naps, cuddling on the couch, it's my favorite thing he does. Finally caught it on tape. :)
Also, we played tickle trooper. Garrett didn't like it though...Enjoy!

Ward Halloween Party

2011-10-23T20:50:00.000-06:00

Saturday night we attended a Halloween party at the church. The boys were dressed as a Storm Trooper, Darth Vader, and Yoda. Ben made the ears. :) First there was a trunk or treat. Very fun and the trunks were all decorated. Ben always likes to get dry ice to make it look spookier. Then we had a chili cook-off and voted on favorites. Spencer liked the corn bread the best. The boys, including Ben, participated in a donut eating contest.

Our Halloween Decor

2011-10-18T16:21:00.002-06:00

After using the same window hangings that my Mom used for who knows how many years, I bought some new ones!...The boys designed the layout.

Trick or treating to the back door

2011-10-18T16:19:00.000-06:00

Listen carefully for the little boys' voices.

Wrapping up Richard as a mummy

2011-10-18T16:17:00.000-06:00

Kids' Halloween Party

2011-10-18T16:05:00.000-06:00

Spencer kept trying to touch Seth's hair, because it was curly and fun to touch, and he was dressed as Buzz.

We had a 'wrap the mummy' contest. I think Ben did a great job on Richard. :)

Here are our mummies

Then the kids (10 of them) went trick or treating from the front door to the back door. We practiced saying thank you a lot. :)

Thanks for the great party Kaatia, Kaari and Annalynn!

Annual Pumpkin Bread bowls

2011-10-18T16:00:00.001-06:00

I love Macey's Grocery. They are so family friendly. And I love that they have sushi. And I love their pumpkin bread bowls. The kids ate broccoli soup in the bread bowls! Woohoo! And poor Spencer is getting too big for his own britches; meaning he sometimes fights taking a nap lately, and then we get this at dinner time. :) Ha!

Spencer being adorable

2011-09-19T21:13:00.000-06:00

Spencer is adorable. It's not said enough. :) Here he is singing to the birthday card that Garrett got from my parents for his 5th birthday a few weeks ago. My mom likes to send the singing birthday cards, and the boys love them. Spencer even throws in the cough from the chipmunk and giggle at the end. He also has gotten in the extremely cute habit of wearing a backpack like his older brothers, complete with water bottle in the side pouch. If I say it's time to pick one of them up from school he has to have his backpack on too. I have yet to get a picture of him in his Thomas backpack, but here is sporting his monkey back pack. We've been watching random pictures of the boys ever since Richard was born on our screen saver and it brings back so many memories and I've had a really hard time accepting how much they are all growing up and that their sweet babiness is just a memory.
Spencer holds me around the neck and still plays with my hair all the time. He is such a good comfort to me when I can't cope. I get to the point where I feel like no one cares, Heavenly Father has abandoned me, and then all of a sudden there is Spencer with a great big hug and cuddle. Fine. That is supposed to be my sign that Heavenly Father sent me the right child. Sort of like when I miscarried at 11 weeks several years ago and although he didn't know it, Richard was the best medicine I could've had. Just his presence helped me get through it. Garrett could always make me laugh with his huge mouth and happy face. Here are some cute boy pictures:

Richard 11 months

Garrett 8 months

Spencer 8 months

Playing Sorry, sort of.

2011-09-11T21:52:00.000-06:00

We all love playing board games. And Garrett is a master at Sorry. Spencer also loves to say "My turn" and he says "wawies" for sorry.

Birthday Videos

2011-09-02T13:30:00.000-06:00

4 and 5 year old Garrett

2011-09-01T21:38:00.003-06:00

So Garrett started kindergarten the day before he turned 5. His birthday was Wednesday, August 31st. He is such a darling, sensitive little person.

Spencer likes to swing 'high' on the big swings. He is definitely one to supervise when it comes to climbing and daring attempts, because he will attempt!

There he goes, off to school! He got a new Darth Vader backpack for his birthday the next day, but he likes the little Thomas one. Richard got that for his 3rd birthday from Aunt Becky.

Spencer hanging.

Lining up to go in, and waving good bye.

Birthday friends from Primary: Ian, Lidia, and Alaya.

The pinata was a big hit.

Lidia is amazed at Alaya's hitting technique.

Look at all the support for Lidia! They're all so happy!

See Ben warding them off as Ian makes some candy go flying.

Garrett chose a motorcycle cake

Yearly Campout

2011-09-01T21:19:00.001-06:00

So this is the 3rd annual Thornton Family camp-out. We joined the ward camp out up at Lodgepole past Heber. It was a lovely camp ground, but it was right at the foot of the highway and we were graced with huge semi-trucks zooming past all night that sounded like aircraft. It was a really nice group that went. So, highlights of the trip: Spencer burned his hands in the first hour we were there. He jumped up to see the fire and in order to catch himself he landed on the fire pit's metal ring...of course. He has never liked Band-aids, always tries to pull them off. Once we succeeded in wrapping him up with burn cream and gauze he was ok with it, for a while. And as Richard so brilliantly pointed out "Hey we finally got to use the first aid kit in the van." Yea. I've had it in there for years, and have used a few Band-aids but nothing more than that.

The ward had a pinata for the kids and one for the adults. We went in age order. :) Ben and I were at the top. Like, right after the Bishop and his wife. Then we roasted S'mores and then it was bed time for Garrett, so I took him and Spencer and got us all ready and while they went to sleep I read in the other tent. Yes, we invested in a little 4 man tent from Emergency Essentials. That store has a lot of expensive stuff, but for $38 I couldn't have asked for a better little tent. After a while I thought about going to sleep where I was as that was the original plan, but I was too cold all by myself in there! Dang it, I always forget how cold it gets at night, in the summer, in the mountains, when you're trying to sleep. So I crawled into Ben's mummy bag and slept near the little boys for extra warmth. Over all it was a fun experience and I was pleased with how well everyone behaved and helped, etc.

This was not hot , FYI. He burned his hands on a different later on.

Once it's Garrett's bedtime, nothing else matters.

Whoever invented strollers for restraining little toddler boys was a genius. :)

Thanks for the head lamps Dad; they came in really handy and Richard especially like them. :)

Trip to Maryland and Washington DC

2011-08-29T21:33:00.001-06:00

Brigham Young in the Statuary Hall. I couldn't find Philo Farnsworth, the man that invented the TV. But he's from Idaho anyway...

I know everyone has seen pictures of the capitol building, but this was from MY camera. I learned soooo much about Washington DC. It has given me such a greater appreciation for everything our country stands for and has suffered through.

Grandpa (who is 87 I might add) and Dad (who is 48 years older than Richard) :) buying our return metro subway tickets. That was fun too. The real deal you know.

OK, so this is the real reason we all went out to Maryland. My brother Scott married Cate Mumford on August 16th in the Washington DC Temple. It's actually in Kensington. :)

Scott coming at Dad for a hug

"Our" side of the family . :)

The last time we had all three of us together for a shot was at Shannon's wedding reception...I had just returned from the ER with 1 year old Richard who had suffered his first peanut allergy attack. My makeup didn't survive. :) I have to say I got to experience more at Scott's reception than at Shannon's, and I was so glad she and Brian were there to keep me company. If you haven't noticed yet, I am there alone with no children or husband. It was much much easier (and cheaper) this way.

I liked this one.

And this one.

This is Mom with the Nickersons; a family they were close to when we lived in Japan back in the late 80s. They drove down from PA for Scott's wedding. So did another of Mom's high school friends, Nina Rogers.

Thanks for the support!

And here they are, Catherine and Scott-I asked Cate to show off her shoes.

Here are Shannon and me in our matching dresses she made us for the reception. I love my sister. :)

This is the temple from 'the beltway' where people say the temple sort of appears. It was hard to get a decent picture...

This is at the temple visitor center on our last morning in Maryland. We saw the new Joseph Smith movie to kill time before we needed to get to the airport.

baby cars and mysterious milk cartons

2011-08-23T21:20:00.000-06:00

He was playing baby and daddy car and like I said, he saw the camera and that was that.

Starting 2nd grade!

2011-08-23T21:09:00.000-06:00

Before the first day of 2nd grade...

After the first day of 2nd grade. :)The other two just would not cooperate.

"Watch"

2011-08-06T19:41:00.000-06:00

Spencer is our technology baby...he says (or yells) "watch" fill in the blank with some description of a movie he likes. His favorites lately are "Bug" for Bug's Life, "King" for Lion King and now "Mouse" for Fievel. He can uh, also insert the VHS correctly into the VCR....(and the DVD if I don't get to him quick enough...)

Our version of "Angry Birds"

2011-08-06T19:32:00.000-06:00

Richard gives an explanation of their game; based on the popular online game "Angry Birds."

And this is what Spencer was doing during all the "Angry Birds".

Finish your milk dear

2011-07-27T21:45:00.000-06:00

He thinks he's pretty clever!

Pop can extravaganza

2011-07-27T21:39:00.000-06:00

So I walked into the kitchen the other evening and this is what I found:

It looks really bad, but I swear we hardly ever buy soda!!! But Spencer sure likes it!!!

Pilates

2011-07-01T22:03:00.000-06:00

A couple of months ago (while Richard was still in school) I was getting pretty good at doing pilates nearly every morning. Now that everyone is home in the morning I haven't been doing so well. But, here is proof that at least Garrett and Spencer encourage me. This was filmed on Garrett's second to last day of school which also happened to be 'wear your clothes backward' day. He is usually very good about getting dressed appropriately. :)

Welcoming Buzz and Woody

2011-07-01T21:58:00.001-06:00

So I splurged and bought Spencer a Woody and Buzz doll. Here he is when he first found them on my bed. He has been into Toy Story lately. I thought it was pretty fun.

My kids like broccoli-do yours?

2011-06-25T22:06:00.002-06:00

Summer time!!!

2011-06-13T12:02:00.005-06:00

Spencer is a good climber. It makes me nervous, but he hasn't fallen...yet. :)

This was Richard's last day of school. It was hot and the whole school and half the neighborhood turned out to watch the dance festival. Each grade had choreographed a dance and presented it to the whole school. I think the only acual video I got of him is on my camcorder...so here are some still pictures.

Boys in a box!

2011-05-21T20:05:00.005-06:00

We bought a new computer from Costco online and here are the boys playing in the big box it came in. Now our internet (or rather the computer) doesn't take 5 minutes to load a picture!

Mother's Day program in class

2011-05-11T11:57:00.002-06:00

After he received his award they had a short program for the mothers so I got to go to that too, in his classroom. This is just a really short clip because the others are of them singing and take a long time to load...

Richard's award at school

2011-05-11T11:32:00.002-06:00

Each month each teacher chooses one student who has shown excellence and present them an award at a school assembly. Parents are invited also. Here is Mrs. Robinson presenting Richard his award. Is it just me, or when she starts talking about the bloody nose does the room quiet down? He was ok, by the way. I went to school that day to give him a clean shirt and make sure he wanted to stay. It was their Easter party that day and he wanted to stay for it. He is a trooper. This little video clip reminded me how proud I am of him and grateful he's my son.

Talking on the calculator

2011-05-11T11:24:00.003-06:00

Try to ignore Richard's annoying noises. I thought Spencer was quite cute. He says "Hey-ya" when he doesn't like something that the boys are doing and has been 'talking' on the calculator for quite a while now.

Easter Videos

2011-05-11T11:17:00.002-06:00

Pay attention to the children in the background.

And we are working on counting money with Richard. :) That and telling time have been a bit tricky for him.

Richard events

2011-05-10T21:29:00.007-06:00

Richard was chosen for the month of May to receive the "Paws-ing to Praise" Award for excellence in his classroom. His teacher present him with a ribbon and a certificate. He was chosen because he does such beautiful (and meticulous) work and is honest in school. I was proud of him! He is reading his certificate while everyone watches. :)

Afterward Ben took the little boys to the neighboring park.

And later that same day Richard's class had a short Mother's Day presentation. They recited some poems and sang songs for us. Then they served their mothers juice and cookies. :) Very grand indeed. :) His teacher is wonderful and provides many opportunities for the parents to be in the class. I have loved this year with her. Richard was so sweet and I am grateful we are together.

Recent randomness

2011-05-10T21:14:00.010-06:00

Planting our box garden in the backyard. Richard is planting a cantaloupe plant. Everything is an experiment. We will do our best to water and weed, but we'll see what we get. Garrett is watering onions, and we also planted a red bell pepper plant. We plan to plant carrots, beets, pumpkins, and flowers from seeds and some tomato plants later this month. It'll be fun to see what grows. ;)

Spencer likes lying under that hall and kitchen rugs...silly little guy.

This is Easter morning; the boys showing off their huge chocolate bunnies from my Mom. She mailed them because she really wanted them to have a huge hollow chocolate bunny. Shouldn't every little kid have one? :) And I found edible grass at Rite-Aid, oh, uh, I mean the Easter Bunny brought edible grass this year, and here is Richard pretending to be a cow.

One of our local high schools, together with the Orem fitness center and a whole bunch of sponsors got together to make a community Easter egg hunt. We'd never been to one before, so we braved it this year. It was well organized and executed. We were way back in line and I was wondering how they were going to make it fair. Everyone had to stand around the perimeter of the high school track, then they blew a whistle and everyone ran for the eggs and loose candy. It was fun, but very cold. Ben took Spencer to the 'baby' egg hunt where some parents were just holding their toddlers and picking up the eggs themselves. Cheaters I say, cheaters! It was much more fun to watch the little babies toddle around and pick up the eggs themselves! Ben stood guard over ONE egg until Spencer decided to pick it up. That's right parents, ONE egg- it's about the kids, not the prizes or who gets the most eggs! We came home with some awesome bags that were handed out free and I think 6 eggs among our 3 boys. We had fun. That's what counts.

2011-05-07T11:07:00.002-06:00

Cate's bridal shower

2011-05-07T10:58:00.001-06:00

This is the video I took of Cate (Scott's future wife) at her bridal shower on Thursday. Very fun.

Tonsils and Adenoids

2011-04-15T11:14:00.004-06:00

So Richard had his tonsils and adenoids out on Tuesday. The surgery went fine. I stayed home with the other boys and Ben said the first thing Richard asked was "Is the surgery over?" Ever responsible. Then he wanted to go home to see me and his brothers. :) So here are some pictures of the 'fun' we've been having. It is spring break for Richard so he won't miss school until next week. I will probably have him stay home a few days also.

By fun I mean the boys eating homemade popsicles.

And working on the awesome Star Wars X-Wing fighter Lego set we got him for this very week. He has taken it apart and put it back together several times. Meant for 9 years and up...ha!

We constantly remind him to drink so he doesn't get dehydrated and we've gone through a lot of Jello and popsicles. He liked ramen the first day but then the pain worsened (as is expected) so now we are back to just Jello, juice, popsicles and today he even had a yogurt. There really are a lot of foods you can eat, it's just a matter of will power.

Spencer is also becoming very independent at times. Here he has built a train track all by himself. He likes the trains.

Ham, Wall-E and Conference

2011-04-04T09:23:00.008-06:00

Spencer's comfort thing lately is actually the book "Green and Eggs and Ham" He calls it "Ham" and even reads it in bed. Kid after my own heart. I love reading in bed on my stomach like he is here. He doesn't like having his picture taken though.

Here is Richard a few days ago drawing Wall-E and Eve out front. For a couple of days it was in the 70s so we greatly enjoyed being outside. Then it snowed Saturday night and is cold but sunny today. Weird.

I actually put some real efford into making Conference enjoyable for the boys. I copied pages from the Friend that were at their level but more ipmortantly we copied pictures of the General Authorities and had the boys cut and paste them onto paper. Then during the Conference we would tell them who was talking and they would write or draw something about what they were speaking.

Combing

2011-03-25T11:03:00.002-06:00

He was playing so sweetly until he realized I was taping; then he turned into a silly boy. :)

Copy cat

2011-03-25T11:01:00.001-06:00

Spencer is expert now at copying and imitating. This is a favorite quote from "Totoro" . Garrett is saying "And a huge one that kept falling asleep."

Just some fun pics

2011-03-25T10:57:00.002-06:00

Building Sharky's likeness with Duplos. RIchard wants to be a 'builder' when he grows up. Think he can make it?

Building temples out of Duplos.

Teeth and Visiting

2011-02-22T18:20:00.003-07:00

Lost 3 teeth:

Lost 4 teeth

At Grandma Phyllis' and Aunt Linda's on Sunday

Fun dancing

2011-02-08T17:17:00.002-07:00

Definitely a music lover.

Finger tricks and plastic muscles

2011-02-08T17:09:00.007-07:00

Garrett has been mastering finger tricks lately. He will randomly ask us if we can do what he is doing. We pretend we can't. :)

Mom and Dad sent the boys a Valentine's Day package with big poofy plastic bags. So the boys put them up their sleeves to look like muscles.

And here are the boys decorating our front window with heart clings Mom sent.

"up!"

2011-02-01T17:13:00.001-07:00

He says a word!

Bathtime Theme song

2011-02-01T17:09:00.002-07:00

Once again, listen for the Darth Vader theme.

Spencer's birthday

2011-02-01T17:06:00.002-07:00

Here a couple of videos from Spencer's birthday.

Spencer videos

2011-01-28T11:19:00.002-07:00

Spencer tells us when he is done eating "want out". My goal is to record him doing his funny things before he realizes I'm taping him. He was happier before I got out the camera.

Here he is singing the Darth Vader theme.

2011-01-28T11:08:00.007-07:00

Our ward had a talent show and the Primary kids did a rendition of the Rubber Ducky. They all wore their pjs and showed off a rubber ducky.

Richard has lost 3 teeth now and is proud of the 'window' in the top of his gums.

My parents gave the boys a spray art kit for Christmas, so here are some of our masterpieces. Garrett did the fish andRichard did the butterfly. I did the dragon. :) It was a neat activity, complete with color changers.

The popcorn tin from Christmas has many uses besides holding popcorn. :)

New Year's Eve and beyond

2011-01-08T12:40:00.005-07:00

Spencer's almost first shrimp. :) We had homemade cocktail sauce, shrimp, Martinellis and a variety of other fun homemade snacks. Richard made it until midnight. The other boys and I didn't. :) Didn't even try. :)On New Year's Day Spencer turned 2. He is the littlest 2 year old

The boys playing with some of Spencer's new toys. We also got him the "Mahna Mahna" CD by Inside Out. We all love dancing to that. :)

Been a while

2010-12-30T10:39:00.010-07:00

This is as close to Santa as Spencer would get. :)

Each of the boys got a wooden car kit to paint and glue from the Thorntons for the birthdays, so here they are modeling them.

This is a Lego pirate set Richard got from my parents for his birthday.

They all love to color, which I love!

Bowling for Richard's birthday. They all wanted to go 'real bowling' instead of Wii bowling. :)

Since my last post we've had Thanksgiving, Christmas pictures, bowling,Richard's 7th birthday, Christmas and life in general. I don't have a lot of time to spend online as it is done at the library in short increments, so here are some pictures!

A new face he's learned to pull. He'll be 2 on Saturday.

Our Jack O Lanterns

2010-11-03T11:22:00.005-06:00

We have been watching the Japanese Animation movie Totoro lately. The kids really like it. I saw it in 4th grade I think...anway, so that is he 'cat' like pumpkin in the back. I helped Garrett with his in the middle and I carved the nonsensical Christmas tree.

Richard barely had any help. Yes, we let the 6 year old use a little saw knife...

Halloween Parade

2010-11-03T11:17:00.005-06:00

The KSL 5 news helicopter landed on the lawn of Richard's school the day of their costume parade and so some of the kids were on the news. I filmed Richard for my own records. :) And then we followed Richard's class back to their room for their party. I was able to step in for a minute and help and Garrett and Spencer were very good.

BYU Halloween Carnival

2010-11-03T11:14:00.002-06:00

BYU had a carnival set up for families so we went with Scott and his friend Nicole. It was a lot of fun and very family friendly. I'm glad we went.

First Snow on October 27th

2010-11-03T11:08:00.002-06:00

We went outside at about 7:20 that morning so we could put the first footprints in it. :) Then we played at Richard's school playground. I don' have boots for Spencer so he had to sit in the stroller.

Bunk beds!

2010-10-16T13:28:00.007-06:00

So this set is usually $400 but we got it for just under $200. We felt like it was a pretty good buy; I like the color and it is sturdy enough for our needs. Here are some adventures on it. We did have to leave the bottom rung off so the baby won't climb without us being right there. :) And so since we kicked Garrett out of the toddler bed Spencer inherited it. He likes it just fine but still wakes up at night, I guess he's disoriented and not all incased like he was in the crib. He'll figure it out.

Garrett's special day at preschool

2010-10-16T13:12:00.004-06:00

Garrett got to bring a toy to school for his 'special day' and so I went for a little while too. They sang some funny songs and also started their assessments. So this is Garrett cutting out a teddy bear. He was slow and methodical (and using his left hand apparently) but it was fun to watch him concentrate. :)

Thanks Everyone

2010-10-03T13:20:00.001-06:00

I really appreciate the comments and that that posts are entertaining to you. :) I don't get online very often so that's why they are few and far between. But I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who views our blog. Keep in touch!

Me and Ta Da!

2010-09-21T18:16:00.001-06:00

Spencer is fluent in "Ta-Da" and "Me!"

Mahna Mahna

2010-09-21T18:13:00.002-06:00

There have been several remakes of the muppet "Mahna Mahna" and I don't think their idea was the original one anyway. But we recently fell in love with the a cappella group "Inside Out"'s version of it. And Spencer asks for it by name. Unfortunately I am in this one...but it was a good recording of Spencer. :)

Playing at the mall

2010-09-21T18:11:00.002-06:00

Garrett and Spencer playing on the dinosaur and the treehouse slide at the mall after their Dr. appointments this morning. They each got a flu shot and were well behaved so Garrett requested the mall. I happily obliged. :)

Garrett's preschool

2010-09-21T18:08:00.002-06:00

Monday was Garrett's first unofficial day at preschool. I got to go with him. We even rode the bus together. Here he is inspecting his new classroom. He loves books and puzzles and make believe. He starts tomorrow going on the bus by himself. The driver is very good at what she does and there is and aide who is also very good with the kids. I am excited for Garrett but will miss him while he is gone.

Sir Lancelot

2010-09-21T18:06:00.001-06:00

Richard was chosen to bring home his first grade classroom mascot, Sir Lancelot. He and Tigger became good friends and we had an exciting weekend with him. :) We filled out a page in Sir Lancelot's journal about all the adventures we took him on.

Happy Birthday Garrett!

2010-09-01T11:16:00.005-06:00

August 31st was Garrett's 4th birthday. He chose a bug cake. :) The little bugs on it are finger puppets. He got some new Toy Story Pajamas from Grandma and here he is sporting them. We went to the Dinosaur Museum in the morning with some friends and even got to visit with my Dad who was in town delivering my brother Scott to BYU. I am so excited to have Scott down here again. We invited him and Ben's sister Sarah over for pizza and bug cake. It was really fun to have them over. It was a great day. Garrett is great!

The tooth fairy has also visited our house again. :)

I will post some videos of the party when I have a chance to view them. I can't view them on the computers at Ben's office. Just wanted to get these up quickly.

Richard is doing really well in 1st grade. He is always happy and seems to be a better helper at home. He tells me all the rules and procedures of the classroom and seems to have fit in really well. I signed him up for a 4-H club on Thursdays. It's just for 1 st graders. They'll play games and learn to socialize and stuff like that. He is excited. He is such a good boy.

Spencer says "bubba" for bubbles very clearly, "Maaa" for me or if he wants something, and "uh-oh" and "wow" when is excited. Very funny. He loves to be outside and just hanging out with the bigger boys. He and Garrett are neat little buddies together.

Just being brothers

2010-08-27T09:28:00.003-06:00

Garrett and Richard would wear their shark and whale shirts every day if I didn't have to wash them occassionally. :) They love naming their toys and things they build by adding an ending to the toy. Like, Garrett's pet shark is creatively named "Sharky" . Spencer has also been dubbed "Spency". But because Garrett is a bit lazy with his 's' sounds at the beginning of words it sounds like "Betsy". We are working on that. :)

Here are just some fun pictures of the boys together.

First Day of First Grade!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-27T09:20:00.003-06:00

This was before school in front of our house. Richard's class starts at 8am! He is sporting his awesome new Star Wars Legos backpack and Darth Vader lunch bag. I actually enjoy making lunches for him...we'll see how long that lasts, right?! Ha! We were really prepared...chose his clothes the night before, lunch made, etc. I feel like I've accomplished something too! I am just as excited about school as he is! He is such a good boy.

And these pcitures were after school. Richard looked a bit like he was in shock! But he was happy and really loves school. He talks about it a lot. His favorite part is writing-ha!!!! Garrett is excited to possibly start preschool at the end of September.

Camping and First 'loth' tooth

2010-08-10T15:51:00.003-06:00

We went camping at Nunn's Park up by Bridal Veil falls last weekend. Ben tented it with all 3 boys! Ha! Everyone had a great time and even slept well! I got to be at home in my own bed and sleep all the way til 7am without being interuppted! (I am not too fond of sleeping in tents.)

Also, Richard lost his first baby tooth, with another on the way! The tooth fairy left him 50 cents too!

July 24th...

2010-07-26T10:56:00.003-06:00

That's Pioneer day here in Utah. :)

We had a picnic in Sugar house (south Salt Lake) and the kids loooooved throwing pebbles into the stream, especially Spencer. WE also went to the Tracy Aviary and Spencer liked the little Tinamou the best...they were his size. :) I was disappointed the peacocks seemed to be hiding that day.

New apartment

2010-07-26T10:53:00.002-06:00

All 3 boys share a room and do great with it! I'm sooooo glad!

Just some pictures of our new apartment.

We love summer reading!

2010-07-21T10:41:00.002-06:00

Richard sporting their new public library hats from the summer reading program.

Spencer being cute

2010-07-21T10:39:00.001-06:00

Great-Grandpa!

2010-05-15T20:57:00.003-06:00

This is my maternal Grandpa, Burke Visick Waldon. He babysits for me sometimes and absolutely loves the boys! He had 3 boys of his own (and two girls, my mom and my aunt) and loves being a Grandpa to the little guys! Richard and Garrett call him "Great Grandpa Burke". He was in the Armed Forces Day Parade and is very proud to be a VFW (Veteran of Foreign Wars).

Mischievious Spencer

2010-05-15T20:54:00.006-06:00

This is what he usually looks like...meaning, he's always testing the limits. But he's so cute...

Springtime planting

2010-05-15T20:51:00.002-06:00

Here are Richard and Garrett planting in the garden at my parents' house. Richard stays outside all day with Grandpa when there is nothing else to do. Garrett will help for a while, then wander inside saying he's done helping. Richard also loves to wear his hood.

Easter/Conference Weekend

2010-04-08T11:58:00.008-06:00

We spent the weekend and a few days before at Grandma Margot's house in Bothell. Ben's sister's little family lives there also so we got to spend a lot of time with cousins Natalie, Lizzy, Tyler, and Jacob.

Egg drop

2010-04-08T11:54:00.003-06:00

This morning Richard's kindergarten class had an egg drop experiment. Each child was supposed to place a raw egg in a container that they thought would sustain a long fall. Richard put his in some memory foam inside a cardboard box. He was really proud of it, and it worked! Good job Richard! We decorated it too. :)

It survived!

Park Day!

2010-03-25T10:24:00.003-06:00

To show that Washington does actually in fact have sunshine! It was a beautiful day so we went to the park. They wanted to stay a lot longer, but I didn't want the boys to get 'bored of the park' so we left when I was ready so we'd have more to experience next time! Ha!

Fun Videos

2010-03-19T14:45:00.001-06:00

In the world of Spencer...

2010-03-18T15:34:00.008-06:00

Spencer is my piano prodigy.

Spencer prefers eating his yogurt, pudding, anything extremely messy by hand.

We don't usually let the baby eat out of the garbage...

Guess it wasn't as good as he hoped.

He has been suffering with a yucky tummy lately, but over all is growing and doing well. He takes some steps now, but mostly still crawls. After all, crawling is faster!

The boys with Santa 2009

2010-01-17T18:47:00.002-07:00

Gotta love those baby pictures with Santa...even Garrett isn't too happy.

Spencer's 1st Birthday!

2010-01-17T18:39:00.005-07:00

Spencer turned one year old January 1st, but we were traveling home from our Christmas vacation that day, and life is hectic...but we finally got the cake made and ready to devour!

First just a finger-ful.

Then we wised up and gave him a fork and a bib.

Then he decided he wanted my spoon and that the handle part worked better than the spoon part.

And the final product: doesn't he look proud of himself?! First birthday cakes are the best!

Can't be complete without the birthday bath:

Boys like to build

2010-01-17T18:33:00.003-07:00

Richard is really good at building things now. He makes Imperial Walkers from Star Wars, guns, R2D2 and other interesting characters out of these little 'peggy blocks' as we call them. Here he is with his latest, a model train. He was given 3 different Lego sets for Christmas and his 6th birthday, and he is already pretty adept at building them all by himself. Good job Richard!

Eating fun with Spencer

2009-12-10T09:54:00.002-07:00

This was a couple months ago, but it makes me happy. Enjoy!

Annual Gingerbread houses

2009-12-10T09:43:00.004-07:00

We decorated gingerbread houses on Monday night with some good friends. Alainna and Stephen helped Garrett decorate one house and Ben and I helped Richard with the other. Garrett really got into it and really enjoyed having some one on one attention with a new friend. Thanks Alainna, and congrats on your baby!

It's Autumn Time!

2009-12-10T09:37:00.004-07:00

It's Autumn time, it's autumn time, the leaves have fallen down! And Spencer is loving the leaf piles the neighborhood boys make for him.

First Halloween

2009-10-27T18:13:00.010-06:00

Richard helped Ben gut the pumpkins, and then Garrett looked on while Spencer dove right in.

What's in there?

And finally...into the mouth! It's ok, I mean, it's squash right? Ha!

Besides sleeping babies...

2009-10-27T17:54:00.004-06:00

crawling babies are the cutest thing in the world! There's no going back now!

This was 2 days ago...

This was today!!!