3 Men & A Little Lady: November 2013

Friday, November 29, 2013

{Blessings}

I love Thanksgiving because it is a time to count my blessings and I have so much to be thankful for this year! This year has brought much change in our families lives. Change that was sad, hard, scary, but also exciting and fun! Kenny decided on a career change that meant moving to Colorado and buying a business. He is now a business owner which is scary and exhilarating! He is loving his new job and loves living back in Grand Junction. It was extremely hard to leave California and our wonderful friends, but I am so grateful for their friendships and know they will be friends for eternity! I also knew that as long as Kenny and my 4 beautiful kids are together, we will be fine in whatever our life deals us. They are my rock!

I have had to rely a lot on faith this year. I felt like our lives were being turned upside down and I was anxious about our new life plans. My prayers have all been answered and I truly do understand that it is on the Lord's time when things are going to happen, not my own. It was interesting to see how our move all played out. I am so grateful for my knowledge of the gospel and am grateful for the comfort and peace I receive from my Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the scriptures and for the opportunity to read the Book of Mormon. The words of the prophets made me think deeper and believe more. They have brought me joy as I read from them.

The best part about moving is being closer to family. We are living with Kelly and Clarissa, which has been great. I love that our kids are getting to know them so well. We are an easy drive to the aunties in Denver and a day's drive to my parents. I have the most amazing family and I can't wait to see everyone more often and to have my kids grow up closer to their cousins.

My faith, family, and friends mean the world to me. They are my greatest blessings. They make me who I am today and make me a better person.

We spent a fabulous Thanksgiving break in Denver. We had a lot of fun playing with our family!

Mya got to love on cousin dog Louie and play with Penny and Kerilynn!

Mya introduced Penny to Little People and she loved it!

Girl cousins in cute matching dresses from Grandma!

Pretty in Purple!

The Summers Grands!!!

Handsome boys

4 of a kind!!!

The boys loved taking Penny on her fist BEAR ride!

Mya and auntie Kim

Drew took Penny down her first slide! She thought it was fun and got to go again and again because everyone wanted to take her down the slide.

Mya took Penny for a ride on her first swing at the park!

I then took Mya for a ride!

Soaring High!!!

Mya also took a ride with auntie Connie!

Tackle auntie CAROL!!!

Owen's Best Friend!

I'm sad I didn't get a picture of our beautiful and delicious Thanksgiving Feast! Uncle Gabi outdid himself and fed us all so well. We have spent the last several Thanksgivings now with family and I can definitely say we won't be doing that ever again! I love FAMILY!!!

I am one BLESSED Momma!

Saturday, November 16, 2013

{Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow}

Our first Colorado Snow brought a lot of EXCITEMENT!!!

The flurries started falling and Mya was outside to greet the snow!

We woke up Saturday morning to a blanket of white fresh snow covering the field. The kids treated it like Christmas morning and were eager to go outside before the sun even came up! I wouldn't let them go out before 7am!

Drew kept eating the snow, so I gave him the quick lesson on not eating yellow snow!

Who said trampolines are only fun in good weather?!!!!

We weren't fully prepared for snow. We had bought heavy jackets and gloves, but were waiting on snow pants and boots. The snow came earlier than we thought, so we had to resort to plastic bags to cover the kids shoes!

The dogs were trying to sled with the kids too!

I LOVE this picture even though it is blurry! Looks at those happy faces!

My little snow Angel!

Owen and Mya worked hard on constructing Mr. Snow Man!

Owen was quite proud of his creation!

Attempting to crawl through the snow!

Kenny constructed our outdoor dogs there own straw igloo to keep them warm this winter. Cassie preferred sitting on top of it and keeping watch. Unfortunately, the Colorado cold was too much for our old arthritic black labs, so they are now sleeping inside at nights. I never would have allowed it if I didn't wake up to seeing them hardly able to move outside. My tender side go the best of me and I told Kenny they needed to be brought inside at nights.....very uncharacteristic of me!

Leo bearing the cold!

We spent the afternoon sledding down a friends icy drive way and then went in for hot chocolate. It was a wonderfully, cold, fun day!!!

The boys are still praying for a snow day!!!

Monday, November 4, 2013

{Family Fun Day}

The kids worked hard to earn their own money, so that they could go to the Bananas Fun Park and ride go-karts.

Ian and Drew were so excited to go on their first ride!

Off they go!

They LOVED it!

Unfortunately, Owen and Mya were too young, but they still enjoyed just sitting in the go-karts!

Laser Tag...every man for himself!

Each kid was given a handful of coins to play games. They were quickly used, so the boys went on a hunt to find lost coins!

They found quite a few coins, so the fun continued!

They squealed with excitement as they tried to defeat the pirate!

Ian and Drew earned enough tokens to take home a big hammer. I'm sure I will want to pop it in a day!

We had a great time at our Family Fun Day!!!! I love spending time together as a family.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

{Mica Mines}

Hiking has quickly become one of our families favorite past times! We are discovering new areas to explore all the time and making a list of favorite spots people have told us we have to try. We loved going with our friends the Whites to hike the Mica mines.

Kenny and Joe White grew up together and hiked together all over the monument when they were teenagers. They enjoyed reminiscing about their hikes they took and the foolish and dangerous things they did. Their stories terrify me from ever letting my teenage boys go out hiking without an adult!

Mya and Drew

Me, Mya, and Eviee White

Martha, Russell, Drew, Ian, Me, Mya, Eviee, and Kenny

Independent Mya wanted to climb all by herself.

Owen was a little more cautious and kept reminding us of when he fell off Fish Head Rock. I was a little nervous by how high up we were! Luckily we were all kept safe!

I am so grateful that the Whites moved to Grand Junction at the same time we did and love spending time with them. I look forward to all of our future adventures in years to come!

They say the cutest things.....

Mya, my little girl, said in her prayers last night, "Please help us to be strong and healthy like the Hulk!"

Owen almost ran straight into a woman as we entered a dark parking garage. As I told him to watch out, he quickly yelled, "Well she's all black!" Coincidentally she was African American! She was wearing a black dress, which is what he was referring too!

Owen told me today, "You are the best mom I ever had! I love you all the way up to Jesus!" He also loves kissing and told Kenny, "I just want to stay home from school and kiss mom all day!"

Drew lost a tooth at school when he bit into his apple. He felt the tooth inside his mouth as he was chewing and when I asked him about it, he said, "I didn't realize it was mine and I wondered if it was one of the workers!"

While at church, a teacher asked the kids what happened to Jesus right after he was baptized and brought up from the water. Ian enthusiastically raised his hand and said, "He asked for a towel!"

After a long struggle with my boys, to get them inside, bathed, and into bed, I yelled, "I am done, go to sleep!" Owen looked up at me and said, "Mommy I'm sorry you're sad, but the problem is that you don't beat up Drew and Ian. Just beat them up and I will be on your team!"

We are not a family who eats beans, so when Drew went to a friends house to play and eat dinner, he was hesitant to eat the burrito that had refried beans in it. When I picked him up he said to me, "Mom she put mud inside the burrito!"

Aunt Connie pleaded with Owen to shoot his daddy with the gun instead of her and his response, "No, he's the best daddy i've ever had!"

I begged the boys to quit fighting and Drew looked at me and said, "Its not Mothers Day anymore mom!"

Owen got kicked in his "man hood" and said, "Oh, I hurt my Tenders!"

Drew asked this morning, "Mom in 2011 can we get a cat?"

Everytime I feed Mya prunes, Owen comes up to me and says, "Me like chocolate mom!" I give him a bite and his face turns to total disgust.

Owen ran up to me after wrestling the dogs and said, "Me see Cassie's boobies!"

While I was nursing Mya, Drew walked in and said, "Is she done drinking from your boob?" I replied, "No and it is called a breast, thats the proper way to say it." He looked at me puzzled and said, "No thats the Spanish word for it."

Kenny opened the fridge and said, "Something in here stinks." Ian looked at him and said, "Dad, sometimes I toot over there!"

Last night as the boys were saying good night to Mya, Drew looked up at me and said, "Mom, Mya has a boy haircut!"

Drew was reminding me about how when we saw macaws in Hawaii, that one of the macaws was chewing on a woman's hair. He said, about the macaw, "Thats not very nice, it's not choosing the right."

My favorite word Drew and Ian used to say when they were toddlers was, Laddie- for water. I thought it was such a cute word. Owen comes to the fridge and points his little finger and says, "Wa-Wa" for water. So cute!

Last night Kenny went in on a call to deliver a goat and Ian came into our bed. He climbed in and snuggled up beside me, he usually snuggles into Kenny. I asked him why he was snuggling with me and he said, "I can snuggle you because daddy isn't here mom!" He is such a daddy's boy.

Ian is such a daddy's boy. The other night Kenny had to go to the clinic and Ian was sobbing for him for a good twenty minutes because he wanted to go too. When I asked him why he was so upset he replied, "I just want my daddy, he is my favorite boy!"

Birthday parties celebrated in California are usually BIG! There is always a huge jumper, pinata, food for the whole family, and tons of presents. Well we went to a party last night and the boys spent 2 hrs. jumping in a big jumper. On our way home we saw another party going on that had an even bigger jumper with a slide attached. Ian asked, "Can we go to that party too?" I replied, "We don't even know who those people are. " His response, "Well lets just go ask them their names."

As we prepared to go to the Glenwood Springs pool in Colorado with Kenny's four sisters Drew impatiently said, "Come on girls, you're taking too long!" Kenny told him, "Get used to it, this is what men do, wait for girls to get ready."

Much to my dismay I found black ink all over our white sheets on our bed. I of course went straight to Ian and asked very sternly, "Did you write on my sheets with a pen?" With an innocent look he replied, "I was just trying to write my name."

Drew was watching me as I divided my hair into sections with clips to straighten it. He looked up at me and said, "Wow, you look beautiful!" Then when I was completely done with my hair he said, "You're a cute little mommy!"

Ian was dipping his finger in Kenny's contact solution and then touching his eye. I asked him what he was doing and he replied, "Just putting my eyes in mom!"