Disc Golf

A while back, the Elder's Quorum in our ward had a disc golf activity. Below you can see how excited Drake was to be out in the cold playing disc golf. His buddy Parker is about to make a nice shot behind him, while Graham is looking on.

Graham with his frisbee.

Graham and his friend Tandy (Parker's sister).

Playing the Piano

Or maybe I should say "Playing ON the Piano". A little while ago, I went to dust the piano, and I found a footprint, in a spot I wouldn't have thought there to be one. If you can see it in the picture, then you may wonder just as much as me how it got there. I didn't see it happen, but the proof is in the dust.

One of the boys favorite things to do is read, either with me or Shad, or just by themselves.

They also enjoy playing in the backyard, and often get a horse to come over from the neighbor's pasture, which they eagerly try to feed twigs and weeds.

Here is the first picture ever taken of me during this pregnancy... at least that you can see I'm pregnant. It was taken just one month ago, and now I only have two weeks left!!

Mother's Day

This was my favorite present this year for Mother's Day--a creation by Drake. I didn't even know he could draw people yet! Although I'm sure you can tell, that's Drake on the left, and me on the right, with a baby inside me (Shad complimented Drake on it's likeness to a real fetus). I asked Drake if I could frame it, but he quickly informed me that he already did put a frame on it, as you can see with the strips of paper.

It was a good Mother's Day. Shad made breakfast for all of us; Graham finally went to nursery for the first time, so Shad and I both got to enjoy Sunday School and Priesthood/Relief Society; Shad made a delicious chicken dinner; Drake even cleaned up his toys last night without me or Shad asking him to! Happy Mother's Day to all!

House Projects

We continue to make improvements on our home, slowly but surely. A weekend ago, we went up to Rexburg so Shad could help his dad with the process of finishing their basement. Just this weekend, his parents and grandmother came here to help us. Friday night Shad had a choir concert. Saturday, though, was spent entirely on the house, inside and out. We're extremely grateful for all Shad's parents have done to help us out on our home. I haven't taken updated pictures of what was done Saturday, but they'll come soon.

Shad and the boys working together in our backyard.

Shad digging holes to put in bigger windows and window wells in our basement bedrooms.

Drake helping dig.

Drake and Graham playing in a bigger sandbox than they're used to (at Shad's parents' home).

Piles of dirt and huge boulders dug from Shad's parents' place (the basement door is new).

Drake and Graham sharing a carrot, and the swing, with Uncle Matt.

Shad perfecting his first taping/mudding experience.

Late night ice cream run

When we were down in Salt Lake for Conference weekend, we drove down to Provo Saturday night to hang out with my siblings. It turned into a late night for our kids, but it was fun to see my family. Well, at one point I'd mentioned how I'd seen someone come out of Macey's grocery store with a "huge" ice cream cone, so my brother Nathan suggested (several times throughout the night) that we all go there and get ice cream. Eventually, late at night, we did. My brothers, Nathan and Matthew, got the "Kong Cone". The rest of us settled for a little less. Drake and Graham thought it was great to eat ice cream so late at night for no reason at all. It was fun.

Shad, Graham, Nathan, Matt, Landon and Melissa

Nathan and Matt giddy with ice cream
(Adrienne is in the background)

Shad's Birthday

So I realized I never put up pictures from Shad's birthday, which was a month ago, so I'm doing it now. He got mostly tools and stuff for working on the house or outside, which he enjoys doing. We went out to eat with Drake and Graham at an oldies diner, and they got their meals in little cardboard cars. Then we enjoyed some carrot cake and fun at home.

Shad's the only one smiling for the camera... the boys are obviously more interested in the cake.

Here, Shad is doing a "magic" trick with a match and an invisible piece of string. He's amazing! Graham is swiping some frosting while they're not watching.

The boys enjoyed helping Shad open presents. Now Shad is officially one year closer to no longer being in his twenties also. Where does the time go?

Everyday Life

I might post more often if I felt there were really interesting things going on in our lives. I suppose I should be grateful for the mundane, though, for it means that at least things are going well. It could be more exciting if I shared things that would embarrass the boys, but then they'd have an excuse to get me back later. So this post is just a collection of pictures showing a few of the "ordinary" occurrences in day-to-day life, for which I am glad to be a part of.

Drake and Graham playing in the sandbox (obviously a cooler day, but they didn't care)

Drake after first crying really hard about something, then eating a cookie, then falling asleep, all within a few minutes (he inherited his father's genes for falling asleep anytime, anywhere)

My three boys sharing time together.

Graham lovin' the sprinkles that Drake so conveniently found in the cupboard while I was busy.

Drake with his rabbit, Gilbert.

Graham in a blanket--one of his favorite pasttimes is to just grab a blanket and walk around, or lay on the floor and just cuddle up with it.

Drake loving Graham while Graham is loving the blanket.

The boys helping sweep off our back porch.

The boys riding around together.

Another pic of them in the sandbox, but on a warm day.

Still awake? I promise the next post will be a little more exciting... maybe.

Police Station Field Trip

Earlier this month, Drake's preschool had a field trip to the Pocatello Police Station. Drake enjoyed it, and Detective Ellis was really cute with the kids the whole time. Now Drake will often talk about dialing 9-1-1 in an emergency, good and bad guys, and other stuff they talked about. Drake's favorite part, of course, was the tour...

This is Drake lifting a weight... at least 2 pounds.


Here are Drake and Graham taking turns on a motorcycle.



Here, Drake and his friends are in the back of one of the squad cars.


His next field trip is to the pet store here in town, and it's quite the pet store!

The Big Log

So we've had a huge, and I mean HUGE log sitting in our backyard since we moved in. We thought of trying to incorporate it into our landscaping somehow, but only because we couldn't move it anywhere. Well, a guy in our neighborhood came over one day to till up our old garden area with his friend's tractor, and he saw the log and decided he could get rid of it for us. So he had his son run home to get his chainsaw. An hour later, he, along with several other grown men and his buddies tractor, had rid us of the big log. I kept the first cut they made to use as a table for the kids, but the rest they took away!

This picture shows the tractor (behind the shed) with the second piece they cut. The rest of the log is just to the right of the little shed, behind the snow patch. I think the shed is six feet wide, to give you an idea of the size of the remaining log on the ground (after at least 5 or 6 feet or more had already been cut off).

This is just a close-up of the tractor hauling off a piece.

This is what I found Drake and Graham doing when I finally came inside to check on them.

Besides the snitching of the peanut butter, the boys just sat by the back door and watched everything going on.

Sometime in the future, I'll post pictures of that little shed when it's been converted into a nice little playhouse for the boys... someday.

Brother like brother

Each night, when it's time to get the boys ready for bed, they are more than happy to take off their clothes. That's followed by them running around the house, while we try to dress them in their pajamas in stages...

Here we're halfway there... as they continue to run around.

Here Graham is wearing a cowboy hat we found from Shad's childhood stuff. Graham really likes hats, and horses.

Like father like son: We made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies one night, and my three boys loved the "lickies".

Graham especially enjoyed it, as it's probably the first time he's been able to just go at it.

And Drake even went so far as to lick the cookie dough off of Graham's face--waste not, want not, I guess.