Crash!!!!!!

Ok, not to terrible, but our computer died last week and so it'll be a little difficult to keep this up until we can replace it. So check back and hopefully new posts will appear as I am able to get access. Love to you all and have a wonderful Holiday!

"What would Jesus do?"

Raising a pre-teen has been a unique experience, especially since Colton is our first. He feels things are pretty unfair. For example, last night he was grounded for hurting Whitney's arm. He felt it was her fault and thus she deserved it. After hearing both sides of the story it was determined that though Whitney shouldn't have blocked him, he still had a choice and he chose to hurt her arm. Because he wasn't sorry or even felt bad that he had bruised her arm I felt I had no choice but to ground him.

He spent two hours crying, pounding in his room and finally playing "Had a Bad Day" on repeat over and over. After explaining why he was grounded I finally had to take the CD cord to end the annoying repeat of the song and started out his room. He cried back. "You want us to be like Jesus but you aren't." After stifling a chuckle I asked what he meant, to which he replied..."Jesus wouldn't have grounded me for not being sorry, he would have looked angry at me and walked away."

Ok by now I was really having to hold back uncontrollable laughter and try to help this poor boy see why he was in the wrong and why Jesus wouldn't have approved of his hurting his sister. In desperation he responded that maybe he should just run away since we obviously don't love him. He'd be better off living at the ditch (a small fort the kids in the neighborhood built near a ditch). I reminded him that he would be cold and hungry and he insisted that is friends would bring him stuff. This is really hard for me. I really don't know how to help him see how much he is truly loved and that he was being punished because we do love him and want him to be a better person. Any ideas I'd welcome them:)

Crazy kids....

Sarah and Luke are showing us how to be reverent at church (some how they forget this when we are actually at church.)

Whitney was Alvin from the chipmunks (everyone thought she was a baseball player.)

Luke was our little "Woody" boy (everyone thought he was a cowboy, it's been a while since Toy-Story came out I guess.)

Here's our crew - of course Colton had the most unique costume as "Joe the Plumber." We could tell who watched the political debates and who didn't, as only 1/2 the people actually knew who he was. He ditched his pipe wrench, tool belt, and flannel shirt, too much to bother with I guess. (I'm sure next year he'll be done with the whole dress-up thing, I was amazed he did it this year.)

Our running lady bug at the Ward Trunker Treat:)

Hope you all had a fun Halloween, we ended up trading our kids candy for a toy. They got to pick 15 of favorite items and traded in the rest. Yeah that's over.

Ouch!

My three year old has a way with words. Today he was using the potty and told me "mom, my poos are pokie like spiders. They hurt." As he grunted to finish the task. I'd never had it described quite that way. Sorry, it was just to funny not to share.

Halloween Miracle....

Whitney & her happy pumpkin!

She got down and slimy in this one... Colton, Luke & Sarah didn't want to touch any slime.

Before the carving began...

The end result....

We had a great time carving pumpkins for home evening. The miracle was that this is the first time in several years that we actually got them carved before Halloween. One year we ran out of time and didn't even carve any. Of course the good side to not carving is they can last through to Thanksgiving:)

We took the seeds and heated a table spoon olive oil for 25 sec. in a microwave bowl and then added the seeds and cooked for 8 more min. We stirred the seeds every couple minutes. After we added sea salt & garlic powder to one batch and nacho cheese popcorn powder to the other. They made a fun, crunchy treat the kids actually liked; well all except Sarah. She isn't a fan of trying new things.

Colton's growing up...

Well, Jason and I were informed not too long ago that Colton didn't need parents. To which we burst out in uncontrollable laughter...let me explain. We were riding in the car all together. Colton had just earned some money from our garage sale and was pretty thrilled. He had his MP3 player and and new bike for his birthday. He didn't know what he should spend it on since he just had his birthday. We discussed a cell phone (which was a no from us) when he informed us "well, what do I need you for, I've got $20." Apparently, if you got 20 bucks then you really don't need parents cause obviously, parents are only necessary when you need money. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time.

Here we go again...

The other day I had to laugh. Luke was rushing to use the restroom. I heard his little voice hollering "Mom I think I have diarrhea!" I responded back with "How do you know? Does it hurt?" his reply "NO, it's a waterfall!" He was right. Sorry about the potty post but it was too funny not to share.

Don't ruin my prayer!!

Well, having a three year old leaves many opportunities for funny stories. Today we had our usual dinner prayer. I asked Colton, but Sarah jumps in before he can start and says her speed "bless the food" prayer along with her ta-da arms in the air ending as though she put on a grand performance. After Colton finished the prayer Luke insisted it was his turn, Yes our food is often double and triple blessed (we should be the healthiest family ever). Anyhow, Luke began to say his prayer using things that Colton had said (at least he was listening) and low and behold Sarah jumped in and began to pray again. Lukes arms fly out in disgust and exclaims "Oh, now my prayer is ruined!" His little face was scrunched up in and angry scowl, oh boy was very hard not to laugh during this very serious infraction.

Luke & the pony-tail...

The other day I put a pony tail in Sarah's hair. Luke, of course, wants to have and do everything that everyone else does so he tried to pull the top of his hair (1/2 inch on top) to form a pony tail. He was sooo upset that he couldn't have a "tail" as Sarah calls it. He hit himself on the head and demanded that I put his hair back on from his hair cut a month ago. What do you do? Poor kid just doesn't get that request is just impossible. Gotta love him.

More UT picts....

Sarah & her cousin Haylie...

Miracle...Luke's fear of dogs is fading!

Swimming at Uncle Joe's...

Amber & Mom Miller at Kristen's...
Sarah, Haylie, Brittany & Luke waiting for fireworks on the 24th Kearns celebration...

We are doing fine. Hope all is well with y'all!

It's All About Ike...

Just writing an update. Thanks to Ike we had one of those rare cancellations of church. It would have been great if the decision had been made before I got the family ready, but hey it was better to stick it out at home. I don't want to give the impression that we were in grave danger. We had some rain but the biggest problem was strong wind that took down trees, power lines and such. Many a fences couldn't hold and unfortunately the one around the ugly scrap metal place was one that succumbed to the storm. Power is back on and we are doing great. The only major loss was our dear sturdy trampoline (which I've bragged about it's strength in times of such storms). We have seen many a storm together, but this time our tramp was no match for Ike. Ike won out and we have a pile of metal, mesh and springs. Jason did, however, try to save it. He saw it raising and went outside to pull it to the side of the house when he ended up in some trampoline-wind ballet. It was light on its legs as he began guiding it near the fence, but then a gust took it up and over the fence and landed in the street. Fortunately the neighbor standing in his yard was not injured, however, I would counsel all that the last place you should be watching a violent wind storm is standing outside in it. It is not the only pile a mesh & metal on the street. Many tramps in our neighborhood found a fate of twisted metal. All is fine, nothing that the Elder's quorum and a few chainsaws can't handle. Now I hope you enjoy a few more pics from our trip to UT in July...

West Jordan Park

This is the kids favorite park to play in West Jordan....
Luke hiding...
Sarah and me just hangin' out...
Colton running from the camera...
Whitney and her mighty swing!

More Fam. - Union Station...July

Baby Jase & Sarah...aren't they cute?

Sarah & Luke climbing the trains at Union Station...
Colton...thinks he's big enough to climb on top...I didn't like that too much!

Mary & Brian joined our tour....

Mom, dad and the rest of us!

Funny Kids... Huntsville, UT - at the lake

Brian, Julie, Mom, Curt, Lecia - my side with Sarah
Luke playing in the sand & water...
Alex with Grandpa...the sandcastle builders
Kali & Amanda...
Uncle Reuben's boat - lots of fun!

Just a funny note from today - When I dropped Jason off after lunch with me and the babes, I rolled the window down and did a loud whistle as he was walking into work. I do it quite often so he wasn't too surprised; he turned around and smiled. I was surprised to find my little kiddos in the car trying to mimmic me, I could hear this faint blowing sound coming from two carseats. It finally dawned on me they were trying to whistle too. I guess I'll really have to watch what I do when they are around, they catch on too quickly:)

More Reunion Pics....

Luke & Sarah... My hubby of 12 years...
Reuben, Brian, Joe, Dad E., Bryan, Mom...and a few back of the heads:)
Alex & Reuben trying to steal the show...Darin Leon, Joni, James & Nate...

New members of the Grandpa Dickey Bus Club...

Found in a small town in WY...

Found heading to Denver from Vail...

Our joyful, sick car riders...

Reunion - Huntsville, UT

Kali, Julie, Mary, Matt & Andrew Mary & Luke
James, Joni, Dad & Mom, Barbara on bottom corner More picts to come this week....

Visiting Utah

We have been home now for a week. We went to Utah and of course had the great joy of driving. Some we hear have drivin within 24 hours. But with our kids that task was impossible. We get about 8-10 hours of driving a day. So it takes us 3 days and 2 nights. The trip out went well. We went to Lagoon with the Mom & Dad Erickson, Mary & Brian, Joni & the boys, Lecia & Curt and their kids. It was a lot of fun. That weekend we had an family gathering at my brother's home in Huntsville. It was so nice to visit with everyone. We missed Kristen and Mike who just moved to Denver and Jerel & Crystal who couldn't be there either. The treat was seeing Joni, James, Darin Leon, Nate and Joni's mom Barbara. It had been several year since Jason & the kids had seen them. I saw them last Dec. when Kevin passed away. Well it was a treat all the way around. It had been a year since we had seen most the family. It was a wonderful day. We also celebrated our 12th Anniversary on that day, August 2nd.

We went on to Jason's family and had a BBQ, wedding reception, to end we lots of fun enjoying fireworks. We missed seeing Axel & Lisa, but sure loved visiting with Grandma Great, Mike, Kristen, Bobby, Brittany, Amber & Zach and the kiddos. It was a really good trip until we headed home. Whit got sick, Sarah joined in and by evening of the first day driving home everyone but myself and Luke were sick. We got to see Kristen the next morning in Denver and thankfully recieved blessings for all the family. Our prayers were answered as we had no more throwing-up from that point on and the trip became more pleasant. I drove the 2nd day and by the third day Jason was feeling better and drove the rest of the way home.

Happy 4th of July!!!!

The day after the 4th we had a great time just playing around. The kids played in the water, Rob attempted to touch the ground (was pretty close) and cooked hot dogs and smore's. Rylin loved the smores. We also saw how Aunt Jena created a water slide with the kiddie pool. Jason took the kids for a ride in the lawnmower wagon and on the dune buggy. It was a great weekend.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Rob and Jena came for a visit. We took them to Crowley's Ridge for the fourth and had a picnic with a few friends. The kids loved playing on the trails and riding the paddle boats. Rob even got the dune buggy running-miracle of all miracles, well I must give proper credit to Jena who really talked them through the checks to see what wasn't working. It was pretty funny. We also found a new friend "Buckey" on the Wii and enjoyed playing with everyone. Robby and Luke were so cute together and Sarah kept calling Rylin "Baby" as though she is so grown up. We were eaten alive by the mosquito's and well after Jason and Robs synchronized fireworks found a few tips of things not to try with fireworks. Fortunately no one lost a limb, just a few burned hairs and maybe some skinned knees. Over all we had a really great time.