More Bean Adventures

I still can't believe summer is over.  But this autumn has been kind to us and we are so grateful for the sunshine.  

I am still playing a bit of catch up so bare with me while I try and bring my blog back up to date with a July catch up and then a re-cap of our week.

I feel like I have a million pictures of Elsy when she was little little in swings and I realized I needed a few of cute little Tommy in the swing too.  Awww.

So this summer I began waking Elsy up from her naps at 3pm.  She has always been a napping rock star but it has begun to infringe on her bedtime.  So I have started to shorten her naps to two hours instead of three and I'm not sure if that is helping but I'm not ready to give up nap time... especially when she is still so good at it, so I don't mind letting her roll around in her bed at night for a while.

When I wake her up I sneak in and pick her up while she is still sleeping (because I don't want Tommy to wake up yet) and then I put her on my bed where she slowly wakes up.  Most of the time she wakes up really chipper, but sometimes she is quite the dragon.

I have decided that I really like the idea of going hiking with the kids so in July we decided to try out a short hike with the kiddos.  We decided to let them start out walking on their own and then put Tommy into the backpack after a while.  It was just a few paces onto the trail when Tommy lay down on the trail and refused to move.  We laughed about it so much it became a game for him and after several attempts at getting him to move along we just put him in the backpack.  He knows how to work the system.

It was a trail along Jacob's Creek.  The perfect distance for little legs, about two miles round trip and we decided that that was perfect for Elsy's feet and our backs (we took turns carrying Tommy).  We hiked into a little waterfall area and ate lunch.  We were sad we didn't bring the kids swimming suits because while the weather was a little chilly when we left, by the time we got to the creek it was sunny and people were splashing in the water.  And boy is it a chore to keep Tommy out of the water!

I was surprised at how much energy Elsy had!  I carried her a little of the way back because she seemed a little tired but when I put her down she basically ran all the way back!  Tommy fell asleep and collapsed down into the bottom of the backpack.

Oh how I love my little man!  I just love his blonde hair.  I wondered if I would get any kiddos with my complexion with how dark Logan's genes are.  But here he is!  Blonde hair and blue eyes... and super tan.  I just love how he holds my hand everywhere and comes and hugs my legs if he is feeling nervous.  He always has a car or a little superhero in his hands and they are always making loud noises.

Elsy always wants to walk around the temple every Sunday.  We don't always get to but we did today.  This is from a time we walked around the temple in July.  I took this picture and just couldn't believe how old she looked.  It made me think of those pictures people take of their eight year olds in front of the temple for their baptism pictures.  She sure is growing.  She walked around singing "I Love To See the Temple" at the top of her lungs.  

Tommy and Elsy have also recently taken to holding hands.

I hardly ever can get a picture of both of them smiling so I had to include this one.  They are becoming such buddies.

Another exciting thing that happened this summer was Logan and his business partner Johnny presented their project, ShowIt, to investors.  They spent quite a long time preparing for it.  Doesn't this look like a first day of school picture? Haha!  Anyway, the meeting went really well and helped steer them in the right direction on what to do with this idea.  We are constantly learning as Logan moves forward with his talents and ideas.  He really can do anything he puts his mind to and it is fun being a part of it!

And then here is a picture of me on the job as well.  We are always driving to the park, grocery store, play dates or groups, the library, etc.  I love chauffeuring my kiddies around.  We keep library books in the car and I am constantly handing them back new books, singing songs, and just chatting with them.  

This crazy girl has got sass.  She can be such a sweetheart and such a stinker.  She loves to turn off the lights in nursery and has been driving the leaders a little crazy with that one.  She knows what she wants and knows how to get it.  This week my goal is to not give in to tears.  Instead I will be pulling out the "Calm Down Jar" again and handing it to her immediately when she starts to melt.  I want to teach her there are other ways to communicate than to scream and cry when she doesn't get what she wants.  This girl has an amazing vocabulary and loves to tell me what words start with.  "Ssssssnake!  Snake dat starts with a S!"  I have been impressed with her abilities to do this, even with words that could be mistaken for a K when in actuality it is a C.  She also likes to tell us what things say by sliding her finger along the word.  She usually makes it up, but I am proud of her for knowing that groups of letters can be read.

We got to church early one day and let Elsy pretend to drive.  She looked so old and mature!  Today she told me she was going to drive someday and that I wouldn't have to.  I can't even imagine that!

Napping under a living room tent!

My friend Laura told us about Ebright Park.  It is a fun one!  The first time we went there all three of us wore our sunglasses.  Now every time we pull up in the parking lot they instantly want their sunglasses.  Tommy loves to wear his "Haaa!" and his "Sussss" (Hat and Sunglasses)  He has been blowing us away with how many words he is trying to say.  And I am starting to understand him more and more which is awesome!

I just love following my kiddos around while they discover the world around them.  There is nothing more important than helping them along the path of life, teaching them what is true and false, what is safe and what isn't, and how to be happy and not sad.

Part of our goals this summer were to up are game on taking care of ourselves, spiritually, physically, and mentally.  Logan decided for his goal he would wake up at 5:30 am every week day to go exercise and then come back to read his scriptures before work.  I was blown away at his ability to do this every day, all summer!, even when we went to bed late.  However, he always ended up with extra time and would fall asleep on the couch after reading for a while.  I finally convinced him to sleep in his bead that extra half hour and then just get up at 6 am. Haha, so he has been doing that the last couple weeks and I think that has helped a little.

I have been reading my scriptures in the morning instead of during nap time and have been trying (but not always succeeding) at waking up before the kiddies do.  It is really empowering to wake up before your kids.  But at different stages of being a mom I don't think it is always possible to wake up before them!  In order to do this, though, we have been having to go to bed sooner than usual.  We have always been night owls, even before we were married.  We seriously stayed up until almost midnight every night!  But since the beginning of the summer we have been trying to be in bed around 10:30 am and it has been a real game changer in our lives.

I have always had a good habit of reading my scriptures every day since I was probably in middle school!  But Logan has always struggled.  I have mentioned to him now and then that it is important to be reading his scriptures every day but he never seemed to see it as a priority.  After an entire summer of reading, earlier this week Logan came to me and said something along the lines of, "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you sooner.  I can't believe I didn't think I needed to read the scriptures every day.  I am learning so much."  I was so happy for him, that he was able to feel that difference.  It has been a great change in our family to be doing these goals together. :)

While Logan wakes up early to work out, I have been going to the Zumba class at the Duthie Hill LDS church building.  And I LOVE it!  There are four amazing instructors that teach three times a week for one hour and it is such a great work out and is so much fun!  All the kids play in the back of the gym with nursery toys while I get a crazy good workout.  Its so fun but since it is so late in the morning (9:30) I only go once a week because I usually like to be ready for the day before that.  I also have been running this summer and that has been something I always hated but now it is something that I really enjoy.  I also do my weight days in the hallway of my apartment outside the bathroom while the kids take a bath in the mornings.  I feel so good, and it is so nice to chase a kid or run up the stares and not feel out of breath!

I have made the discovery that playdates are not a greater stress for me, but are a wonderful thing to keep my children distracted with friends while I get other things done!  We have neighbors, the Carruth's, that have a little boy, Cache, that is Elsy's age and a little girl, Nora, that is Tommy's age.   We love having them and other friends over.

This summer has been a great one but it has also been a hard one in many ways.  Logan has seen me struggling and brought me home some flowers one day.  He must love me or something. :)

Okay I am all done with July!  Hurray!  But look at this cute picture of Tommy that my brother-in-law Marshall took when we were at the reunion in June!

And this one of my pretty Elsy that Logan took!  Oh my gosh my kids are the cuuuuuuutest!!

The internet was down at Logan's work this week so he got to take an extra work from home day and we loved it!  The kids are quite the distraction for him though, sometimes.

Here is tJoy School group on their first day!  Haley, Elsy, Ella, Cache, and Doran.  Tomorrow is our first day of Joy School at our house.  I just planned everything out, right before doing this post.  Hopefully it goes well!

We are going to be doing the letter C.  Here is a picture from when they did the letter A.  Elsy has been talking about the letter B all week so I feel a little pressure about my C's haha.  We are going to be doing caterpillars.

We are trying to go to the park a lot with the sunshine we have been having, since we know the rains are going to be coming down soon.  My friend Andrea showed us a new park, Grandview Park.  It feels like it is on the top of the world and may be our new favorite.  Especially since we can have three way slide races!

It also has a walking trail that Elsy enjoyed riding her bike around.  Here she is after she found out she had to let Tommy ride on her bike for a few minutes.  She climbed up onto a rock to cry.  I thought the sky matched her mood. 

This week she wasn't very kind to a boy at play group.  When we got home I gave her a talking to.  And then we sat, and once I could tell she was feeling bad I told her there were three things she needed to do to make things better.  She had to say she was sorry to Hunter, then she needed to pray and say sorry to Heavenly Father, because when you aren't nice it makes him sad too.  And then she needed to take the Sacrament on Sunday.  She said she was sorry to Hunter when we were at play group (because I made here haha) but then we prayed together and I could tell she was feeling the Spirit and that was really special.  Then, today, while we took the sacrament we talked about how we were doing the last step, where we decide to do something different than be unkind next time.  We did this with a couple things throughout the week.  I know she is young enough and pure enough to not need to go through this repentance process, that it isn't necessary until she is eight when she can be baptized.  But I also am realizing that I need to teach her to do these things so that they are a habit for her before hand.  I have been struck to the core, lately, by the words of the second verse of "I Am a Child of God."

"I am a child of God

And so my needs are great.

Help me to understand his word

before it grows to late.

"Lead me, guide me,

walk beside me,

help me find the way.

Teach me all that I must do

to live with Him someday."

I don't want to miss the opportunities to teach my kiddos, before it grows to late.  Every week, when I write down my weekly goals, on the very top of my goals for the kids it says to "Talk of Christ."  I know I miss many opportunities, but I am trying to remember that the reason I am home, taking care of my children is because I need to teach them about Christ.  About what is right and wrong.

Okay, I know that when other people put pictures up of their kids with messy faces and they think their kid looks so cute... all I think is, "Gross".  But its true that you think your kid is cute no matter what and since this is my blog, I can post whatever pictures I think are cute and the general public doesn't have to enjoy it. :P

Okay, so we have taken on a lot of new things the summer!  One of those being Logan's new woodworking hobby!  He made me a beautiful shelf to help prepare him for the big project of the summer which was an entertainment center!  It has gone through various stages over the course of the last three months but it was finally finished this week.  I thought I would post some pictures of the different stages!

I found some pictures of different entertainment centers on Pinterest that I really liked and then Logan drew up some plans on Sketchup.  I think the hardest part of this whole process for him was having to maneuver around an 8 foot entertainment center on our probably 10 or 11 foot wide porch.

After dinner each night the kids would want to sit in their spots and watch the work be done.  Because it rained so much this summer Logan built a make shift porch cover canopy to protect himself and the equipment from the wet, but every night he would drag what he had done inside so it would stay dry over night.

It was fun to see it coming together slowly but surely.  And it turned out so professional too.  This pictures is of the night where he was cutting a little dowel of wood and covering and sanding down all the holes where the screws went in.  I like this picture because it shows our old tiny entertainment center in comparison.  Logan got a new TV when we first moved to this apartment and it was overhanging the edges of the old entertainment center and we had to screw the TV onto it so it wouldn't fall off.

I did some research on paint and decided I wanted to do a chalk paint with a little bit of a distressed sanding job.  So in order to do that we had to stain the whole thing so that when we sanded it through the dark wood would come out instead of the cedar color.  Here is Logan taping all the wood planks that we wanted to leave the stained color right before painting it with the chalk paint.  This was the day before we went to the Oregon Coast, Logan said he wanted all of it done except for the doors before we went on vacation.

Logan was so nice and drove all the way up to Kirkland to buy me some Annie Sloan chalk paint from a little boutique up there.  We had a fun time painting it together.

And here is Logan applying the wax coating.  I just love the way the wood stain turned out against the chalk paint.  We used Valspar Dark Walnut stain and Annie Sloan Antique White chalk paint with the Annie Sloan wax over the whole thing.  We also discovered if we treated the wood before we stained it, the wood absorbed the color more richly.

We made the deadline of having it done before leaving to the Oregon Coast the next day.  But because we went on vacation the project got put on the back burner for about a month before the doors were completed.  I wanted some sliding barn doors and the hardware for that can cost an arm and a leg... literally.  So Logan looked up how to make his own hardware.

Look at how happy he was to be working out in the summer sun!

What Logan ended up doing for the hardware was building it all out aluminum and then painted all the nuts and bolts and wheels, and bars with black spray paint.  I thought his way of hanging them all out so they wouldn't get fingerprints on them was pretty handy haha!

Voila!  I absolutely LOVE it and it looks even better than I wanted it to.  Now I just need to decorate it!  Logan was so kind with my picky-ness and we were glad we paid attention to the little details because it turned out perfect.

Yesterday we went to Rattlesnake Lake again.  We cracked out Elsy's old Obedience Sticker charts again because she needed a reminding.  I think that is something we will be rotating to quite a lot!  Haha!  But for her reward she said she wanted to go to the lake and throw rocks in the water.  She is her father's daughter.

It was a beautiful day and we all shared an apple and had fun throwing rocks in the water.

Another exciting thing that happened was my sister, Sharee, had her third little baby!  Then named him Levi Rube Liebing.  Rube was a very close family friend and hunting buddy of ours who passed away almost two years ago.  What an special name to pass on to a special new little baby.  We are all so excited to get to know him.

Before I left for the Women's General Broadcast last night we went and got doughnuts at Krispy Kreame.  The kids LOVE it there and Tommy knew exactly which doughnut he wanted.  

And of course, Elsy wanted pink with sprinkles.  She daintily ate of the tiniest layer of the top off to eat the frosting and then promptly wanted to eat our doughnuts instead of the rest of hers.  We had fun watching all the doughnuts get made too.

I just loved the broadcast last night and I wish I could share every feeling and insight I had with the world so they could know what beauties the gospel holds.  I just felt like I was floating with how much was said that spake directly to my soul.  I always like to go to the church building for the Women's Session because I feel like I can feel the Spirit there easier.  I was so touched by the music and the messages that I felt almost as if a conduit of light was coming straight down onto me and enlightening my mind to the things I needed to do to help myself in the things I have been struggling with, worrying about, and questioning in my life.  Logan and I talked for a while about the quote that Uchtdorf shared from The Little Prince, that went something like this, "One sees only with the heart.  Everything essential is invisible."  I was struck with how true this sentence was.  How the love I feel for my family is invisible, how the truthfulness I have from the gospel can't be seen, or even heard really unless it is felt with a humble heart.  Logan and I had a great conversation about Uchtdorf's talk.  How we can't force people to listen harder in order for them to understand the gospel, but we hand try and help them to listen differently.  I am so grateful for the messages shared and am excited for this weekend when we will get to hear from more leaders of the church at General Conference. :)

Please Just Stop Growing Up

My kids are growing bigger and bigger and I just cant believe it.  Every night after we put them to bed we just talk about how much we want to go hug them and how much we love them and miss them already even though they are just on the other side of the wall and we saw them five minutes ago.

Today I am doing a little flash back to the end of June/beginning of July and then I'll tell about our week this week. :)

This little boy has picked every one of my tomatoes off right before they began to turn red.  He also just pulled out my bean plant from the roots this week.  He is such a delight in our house and is such a tornado of energy!  He is constantly moving, even at dinner time we can't get him to sit down in his high chair because he knows how to escape.  He usually just squats or eats standing up, in the high chair... I know, we are so safe around here.  When Tommy gets excited about something he does this little running in place thing only its on his tippy toes.  And he is usually yelling when he does it.  He loves to growl and his favorite things on the entire planet are cars.  "Ca-Car!" he will shout as we drive down the street or get into our car or when he gets his diaper changed and he doesn't have one in his hand.  How do boys just know that cars are something of their nature?  Does gasoline just flow in their veins?  (I guess that would explain about their gas problems hehe)  Every night at bed time I take a few minutes to ask each of my kids how their day was, even though Tommy can't really talk yet I still ask him.  And every day the first thing he says when I pull his pacifier out of his mouth is "Ca-Car!" and I always say, "Yes, you played with cars today."  The above picture is of him watching the cars drive by below our back porch.

Here is a fun picture of the flowers Logan sent me, the leaves from the bouquet of flowers Logan's parents sent us when we moved here in February that are still to this day living and in a jar on our table, and the flowers that my kids picked for me.  :)

So Logan decided we needed to take on a new responsibility if we are hoping to one day have a farm... oh wait.  I haven't told you about that recent development in our life goals... yeah, we want to have a little mini farm someday now.  :) We want to raise pigs, and breed Labradors (only that's not new, I've wanted to do that since I was younger - we used to do that at my house growing up), and have a chicken coop, and of course bunnies, and maybe I guess a cat even though I don't like those.  And a big garden.  Yep.  Anyway, Logan said if we wanted that we needed to start being responsible now so he took us to get a fish tank... haha...  In the course of three months of our having said tank we have killed like six guppies, one tetra, a snail, and probably three neon tetras... and I haven't been able to see our sucker fish named Shark for a week or two so I don't know if he is still alive either.  We have a small group of survivors now and haven't lost a fish in like a month so I guess we figured it all out.  But I have taught Elsy to salute the dead fish as they go down the flushing toilet, just as my father taught me.  Oh, and we still have never cleaned the tank.  We are so responsible now that we have a tank its insane and we are so ready for a farm.

At the end of June we had a scare with Elsy.  She had had a mild cold at the beginning of the week and I thought it was gone but then on Sunday she was really clingy.  We went to church and she didn't seem to be feeling very good.  She fell asleep on me during sacrament meeting which she never does.  I could tell she had a fever so we went home after sacrament meeting.  By the time we got home she was screaming uncontrollably about her neck hurting her.  My aunt had meningitis when she was little so I have always been a little worried and keen on that one.  Elsy's fever was very high and her neck was hurting her bad so we decided to take her to the ER.  It was such a sad experience.  I feel like if I had had a minute to just sit her in that bed there and talk to her about everything around her and what they were going to do to her it would have gone better but its the ER, right? So they are just really fast about everything and so she was scared to death, in pain, and just cried and cried.  So, so sad.

Luckily they announced to us that she had a bad, double ear infection and that was all.  They kept us there for an hour to monitor her and gave her some antibiotics.  We felt a little silly for bringing her to the ER for an ear infection but were pretty relieved and its like they say, peace of mind has no price.

However, the next day she was still doing pretty bad.  She came to me and asked if she could have breakfast in my bed so I let her, she didn't really eat much though. :(  Just sat staring out the window.  My heart just broke for her.

After a few hours I started to get concerned again.  Even on pain meds she was in a great deal of pain and had a pretty hot fever.  She would lay like this and just cry.  She would say her neck hurt and would hold the back of it and when I would touch her ears she would say they didn't hurt but she wouldn't let me touch her neck.  I was still worried about everything, so we decided to take her into our pediatrician again.

One of the great things about Logan's job is that he can get off whenever he wants basically.  So he came home a little early and decided to come along.  It was good to have him there to help her feel a little better.  They said she was fine, just having muscle tension from the ear infection.  Not fun but I was glad she didn't have meningitis.

Tommy love, love, LOVES to watch the fishies and feed them.  When I'm cooking sometimes I let him lay on the counter and put his face right up to the glass.

So, I can't remember if I've told you about this yet so I will again but we started doing this thing called "Bedroom Play Time" at our house.  Its basically where we lock the kids in their room and don't let them out.  Just kidding... its a little less intense than that.  We put the gate in their doorway so we can still hear them and if I'm showering or something I can even turn on the baby monitor so I can still hear them.  It totally rocks because I just tell them its bedroom play time in the mornings and I can do anything now.  I get showered, ready for the day, read my scriptures, make grocery lists, have uninterrupted conversations with Logan, do chores, you name it.  It is the BEST!  I just was so tired of the kids following me around asking me to entertain them all day and I realized they never played with their toys.  Logan brought up the idea of bedroom play time and he did the first couple times.  At first the kids hated it but they got used to it.  It slowly got longer and longer and now they will do it for like an hour sometimes.  I'll put on some Disney music for them sometimes and they just play, fight, and start playing again and it is just about the most awesome thing ever.  You seriously need to try it.  DISCLAIMER:  Your child's room will probably end up looking like the above room after.

We went home for the 4th of July weekend to watch the fireworks at my parents house.  We also got to celebrate Carl's birthday, he turned 17 (which is totally crazy).  When I think of him I still think of his little nine year old self.  I can't believe how much he has grown and changed since I moved out of my parents house and left for college.  I love that brother of mine.

I also saved my birthday money and Logan and I went shopping and I got a new shirt and some shorts.  Yayah

I love going to my parents house, and yes I would move to Tri-Cities in a heartbeat if that were an option for our family...which its not... at least not yet ;)  Here is Elsy picking up the peaches that Grandpa is pruning from the trees.

Summer is just perfect there.  The sky is so big and blue, the grass is so green and soft, and the time just slows down there.

This little Elsy girl, boy does she have our hearts.  She is such a chatter box and I just wish I could remember all the funny things she says each day.  She has such an energy and is so bound and determined to do things on her own.  Even if she is in tears and frustrated she will refuse my help to get a stuck shirt off her head or the sliding glass door closed.  I always say she just sparkles and she just always is.  She is always sparkling from head to toe.  Her favorite colors are pink and purple and her favorite animal is a unicorn.  She will play playdough for maybe an hour straight, loves to color and paint, and is so helpful.  She loves to stand on a chair next to me and help me scrub dishes. 

My parents had an Independence Day BBQ at their house.  And of course my kids basically just ate Cheetos.

Something I love about Tri-Cities is that both sides of my family are there, almost all of my aunts and uncles from both sides are there and all my cousins.  Even a lot of my married cousins live there too.  I just love the closeness of family.

Every year my parent's neighbors spend thousands and thousands of dollars and almost all of West Richland gathers in my parents yard and the neighbors yards and all down the street to watch one of the best firework shows you will ever see.  A few years ago areal fireworks were legalized in West Richland and ever since then they have gone to town.  This year they even hired flame throwers! Haha!  It is so cool because you are so close to the fireworks and it is as good of show as I have ever seen at any stadium I've been to.

It is always hard to come home from vacation and get back into the swing of life but we do it anyway.  I just get so cabin feverish that I have to leave the house every morning and almost every evening.  We go all sorts of places like parks, children's museums, the gym, stores, visit Logan for lunch, etc.  Here we are visiting the library.  Every time I go to the library (I just went yesterday) I think, that was a lot more stressful than I remembered!  Elsy and Tommy always want to be on the computers but are both still to young to really know what they are doing so I keep going back and forth and then when we do books, Tommy pulls all the books off the shelves and onto the floor or runs away and I can't find him, while Elsy pulls all the books off the shelves and puts them all in the check out bag!

So Logan sent me this picture while I was at a meeting.  He had to put the kids to bed and here he is trying to read them the scriptures before bedtime haha.

And another of those two kids and the fish tank, eating blueberries this time.  The novelty still hasn't worn off with them.

My friend Laura made us some strawberry jam and said she got the berries from Remlinger Farms.  When she told me how cheap it was to pick we decided to go on a weekend to pick.  We decided to do raspberries instead and we got the mother load.

The kids ate and ate...

And ate some more!  They were the tastiest raspberries I have ever had!  I told them at the pay counter we should pay them for how much the kids ate but they said that was all part of the experience.  When we came home we didn't know what to do with them so we invited some friends over and made a big raspberry cobbler.  It was delicious!

And now for this week of fun!

Elsy had her first day of Joy School this week!  She really has a hard time looking at the camera...

unless she is wiggling and/or posing.   She looks like she is ready to start a race in this picture.  I just hope her years of education aren't going to race by. :/

I was grateful she wanted me to come in with her for the first few minutes.  But once she saw they had one of those toy roller coasters she was sold!  We got together with four other moms and have a weekly rotation having Joy School at our houses.  We don't have a real curriculum, just doing a letter a week kind of thing.  I was so glad when I went to pick her up that she shouted, "Mommy!!" and ran into my arms and gave me a huge hug.  This weekend while she was drawing in her notebook she started to draw some letter "A's" so I am pretty excited about that!

Tommy and I missed Elsy while she was gone but also were productive.  We went on a run together and can I just say it felt so nice to only run and push just one kid around Yellow Lake instead of two!?  Tommy really misses Elsy when she is away.  His name for her is "Za-Za!" and he kept wandering around asking for her and even crying for her.  They are such good friends.

And here is "Za-Za,"  eating her jam toast and looking like the joker.

So I always try to cook with the kids and they have now learned, as I did, the true meaning of cooking... and that is snitching bites and licking spoons and beaters.

Tommy has such intense eybrows.

Logan's work allows him to work from home twice a week and this summer he really started taking advantage of that.  We have been trying to grow closer as a family and his work being so flexible has been super helpful with that goal.  Some days he can only work a half day from home and the kids get so excited when he comes home.  Tommy loves to 'drive' Logan's mini, and he even has a little toy Mini Cooper just like Logan's.  

We always try to do a fun family outing on the weekends but yesterday I was cranky and it rained all morning and then was super windy all the rest of the day.  Logan decided we should go out to fly a kite and that was just what we all needed.  It was so windy and the sky looked amazing and the kids had a blast.  Tommy let go of the kite a few times and sent Logan running.  Logan likes to bring an old sheet of paper and rip off little pieces and fold them around the kite string.  The wind will send them shooting to the top of the kite.  He says that he is sending wishes.  Anyway, by the time we were done there was a ton of little paper rings up there in the sky flying around with the kite.

Elsy loved learning how to hold the kite and keep it up.

And right as we were about to leave the kite got treed.  Logan has been working out all summer and has started to climb everything again.  (When we were dating he would climb everything and everywhere, it was a hobby of his to climb roofs).  So he climbed right up into the tree.  He has been climbing all over the outside of the jungle gyms at the parks we go to and it just fun to see him doing that again.

Tonight as a family activity we painted... well Tommy ate the paint and crumpled up his paper.

And Elsy only painted in shades of pink.  I got her a little wooden bird house for a dollar at Michael's to hang in her room and we let her paint that too.  

This week I finished reading the Book of Mormon.  I started it at the beginning of June and the goal was to finish by the end of summer.  I am a little late but that's okay.  It was such a great experience!  I have such a strong testimony of that book, even more so now.  This time I read it I tried to pay particular attention to the parallels it has with what is going on today, in society, in the church, etc.  I can not believe how many things there are in common.  It was so uplifting for me to read but it also has brought a sorrow to me for the way things are in today's society.  How there are persecutions, how people allow themselves to be deceived because of the easiness of the way of the world and how challenging (but rewarding!) the way of the gospel is.  How the pride of the church members can cause others to doubt and question, how we need to be humble in all that we do.  How electing unrighteous leaders can cause the downfall of entire nations, and how righteous leaders can keep everyone stay mindful of what is right.  As I read I felt a strong and intense need to be prepared for the future.  To not only stay close to the Lord but I felt an overwhelming need to get together a year supply of food storage and put together our family's 72 hour kits.  It was interesting because I was talking to a few people about this and every time I mentioned this prompting they would say that they had the same intense prompting.  It was startling to me and has made me work all the more to save and prepare for any disaster that could come to our family.  So here is another plug from me:  Read the Book of Mormon!  What a powerful book of scripture.