The Lost Tooth July 20, 2012

Our little Von Bon lost his first tooth! He has been wiggling that thing for weeks. Every day he'd have me wiggle it a bit to see if it was ready. It would move quite a bit, but I was very surprised when he announced in the car while driving through the Sam's Club parking lot that his tooth was out. It must have been more ready than I thought. It didn't even bleed! He was one happy camper, and couldn't wait to get home and put it under his pillow. He also made us promise not to tell little E when we went up to the parents dinner at scout camp. He wanted to show him in person when camp was over. Too funny!

Gentry's Scout Day Camp (Day #54) 7/20/12

Cub Scouts in our ward have been a little hit and miss as of late. So, I was very excited when the Primary President took me up on my offer to help chaperone the boys up at day camp. It was an early start to the day, we met at the church at 7:00 a.m. with sack lunches and bottled water in hand. We have a fun group of boys in our ward and the day was lots of fun. The boys got to learn a wide variety of things and do some pretty fun activities. They learned how to hold and shoot and bow and arrow, they pulled a hand cart wagon, shot bb guns, built a mini tee pee, and even panned for some gold. My job was pretty simple, just keep the boys in a group and help out as needed. On the river pond boat, I helped facilitate a little race between our group and the group on the other raft. Our boys won, no problem. I was impressed with how they worked as a team and got in a really good rhythm paddling. We enjoyed lunch on a grassy spot under the shade of a big tree; and I had a wonderful time watching G try new things and interact with his scout buddies. I am go glad I got to go! What a fun day!

Glow sticks and the water park Day #53

Before I get too far into this post, I should mention that although today's date is actually August 27, 2012, this post is being written about July 19th. It would appear that I blog, much like I journal....really great and consistent for several weeks, then a month passes by without a word. So, for posterity sake, now I will know the actual day this occurred on, since I can't figure out how to get blogger to let me change the date.

Oh what do you do in the summer time, when every day is HOT!?! Well, you head over to the splash pad, again, even if you've been a hundred times, because that is where the cool/free water is! :)

Later that day....

While cleaning out a drawer in the kitchen, Mr. Gentry found several packs of glow sticks. We decided to open one, and were very disappointed to discover they were so old, they no longer cracked and glowed. So, of course, we had to open ALL the other packages...to find out if they had survived. After some more disappointments, we found several that still worked, and I thought it would be fun to take some pictures of them in the dark to see how they would turn out. We were all pretty fascinated with the results.

National Gentry Day (Day #52)

With JayDee's make a cake with mom day being such a big success, Gentry was very excited to dive right into a day of his own. He was having trouble deciding what to do, craft or baking? Fieldtrip or hang at home. I told him that perhaps we could have a duo-purpose with our day. As part of his cub scouting, there are certain tasks he is supposed to complete with his parents at home. One of which includes planning a meal and making it. He like the sound of that, so we pulled up my "food things I want to make" board on Pinterest, and hauled out some cook books, and got to work. He loves baked spaghetti, so the main meal was easy. For a bread side, he found a parmesan garlic pull-apart bread on my board and dessert caught his eye quickly; chocolate cupcakes with green mint frosting and an Andes mint stuck in each on. (He's just like me, sold on a good photograph...every time!)
We got right to work with the cupcakes so they could cool. Then we moved onto the spaghetti. I taught him to add salt to boiling water, and showed him how to grate cheese...without loosing any skin off his knuckles! ;) We had a delightful time together. When it was about an hour before dinner, we put the spaghetti pan in the oven and started on the pull-apart bread. While that rose, we iced the cupcakes and topped them with the candy bars. We had a great time, and he just keeps me laughing. He always has interesting questions and notices things that I would normally just skim over. I cannot emphasize enough how glad I am we decided to do this. Certainly one of the best ideas my guys have ever had! I am one blessed momma!
Here are some photos of his big day:

using the mixer...without any help!

grating up the cheese

pull-apart bread, ready to rise

risen, baked, and ready to eat!

LOVE that face!

mint chocolate cupcakes!

Baked spaghetti...his fav!

National JayDee Day Day #51

With our oldest off to Scout Camp for a week, the younger kids decided it would be fun to each have a day dedicated just to them. On that day Mom's focus would be mainly on them and we would spend time doing a craft or a project...whatever they chose. JayDee came first, and he's always had an artistic side that I cater to whenever possible. For months he's been begging to make a cake and decorate it with fondant. It was quite the endeavor. First there was scouring the internet for pictures of the perfect cake. Then the baking and layering. Followed by over an hour of coloring fondant to the shades needed. His tenacity was impressive, and he saw it through to the end. His finished product was something to marvel at; he was pleased and I was impressed. I coached him a bit with each phase, and helped him learn how to gauge sizes and shapes for fondant, but he did all the "heavy lifting" At the end I threw in a few more intricate fondant decorations to help the cake feel cohesive, but he made all the large focal points. It was a fun day and I was reminded how important it is when you are in a big family, to set aside some one-on-one time with each kiddo. It did great things for both of us. Here are some photos of his masterpiece from start to finish:

grease it up, and flour it down!

mom was too cheap for another cake mix...but who doesn't love rice crispy treats?

time to dirty ice it

major concentration here!

the turtle is coming along nicely!

the back of the cake

the front of the cake

My artist and his masterpiece!

*Just in case you wondered...it too two days before he was "okay" with cutting into that thing! :) I know just how he feels...every birthday, for every child!

Day #45 Our Sunflower Hut update...

Over the weekend some of our sunflowers started to bloom. They are such happy and pretty flowers. It has been fun to watch them fill into the circle we planted them it. I don't think they will ever fill in enough to really form a wall, like we intended when we first planted the sunflower hut; but they look neat, nonetheless. Here are some "before" shots from several weeks ago, followed by the current ones from today:

Before shot, several weeks ago

Just starting to grow

Same spot, today...huge growth!

standing in the middle of the "hut"

pretty flowers, cute boy...and his penguin!

There you have it! I will post more pictures in a few weeks when all the flowers bloom. I think this will have to be a new garden tradition! :)

From building a truck, to building up the Kingdom

We all love Saturdays around our house. They are either jam-packed with yard work and projects, or incredibly relaxed with sleeping in and enjoying non-scheduled family time. This particular Saturday happened to be a rather jam-packed one. It started off with the little ones sleeping in and the rest of the family picking the weeds that have quickly over-taken our garden. Once it started to heat up, we headed inside to cool off with a breakfast smoothie before heading over to the Kid's Workshop at Home Depot. In case you missed the last post on it, the Home Depot sponsors free workshops for kids the first Saturday of every month.

This month the kit was to build a Penske rental truck. It was already super warm by the time we got there, so everybody was a bit toasty while they assembled their trucks. Despite being warm, they had a lot of fun. I love watching them all work together to figure out the directions and adore watching them sit by their Dad and use tools. Here they are, hard at work:

To cool off afterwards, we hit Macey's; home of the world's largest (and cheapest) "small" ice cream cones...love that place!

With the trucks made and the last ice cream licked, it was time to head home. We ate some lunch and relaxed for a bit. Then, we took little E to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. He has been asking us for months to take him to perform baptisms for the dead; we just haven't made it yet. The Provo Temple was closed for cleaning, but we are blessed to live in close proximity to several Temples. In our Church, we believe in performing saving ordinances for the dead, and we do these works in our Temples. If you would like to know more about my religion or our beliefs and practices, feel free to ask me in a comment, or visit this link here.

Our plan was to have Daddy Erik baptize and confirm little E and then have E wait for us while we went upstairs to do a Sealing session. Because of the closures, the Timpanogos Temple was very busy. There was an hour wait in the Baptistry. So, instead, we left E downstairs to wait his turn while we went upstairs and did a Sealing session. It worked out perfectly and it was a beautiful day to be in the Temple. I love having the opportunity to serve in the Temple, and build up the Kingdom of God; being there with our oldest son made it all the more special. I am excited to take him again, he was so happy to be participating and serving within the sacred walls of the Temple. It was the perfect Saturday! :)

Day # 39 The rather late "Spring Clean"

Typically on a Thursday, we try to do something thoughtful for someone else. Earlier in the week though, we all sat down together and wrote out Thank you notes to my brother for the fridge, and my sister for delivering it. We also wrote notes to my parents for our trip to St. George earlier this year. (I am hoping thank you notes are a "better late than never" type thing) I really need to improve on how quickly I get those sent out. We did them earlier in the week though, so we could hand deliver them when we were up for the family BBQ. That meant our regular Thursday schedule was free for a little tweaking.

I woke up not feeling very well and didn't have much energy to do what needed to be done for the day. So, I plopped myself in the living room and asked the kids to bring me all of our craft drawers, my scrapbooking drawers, my fabric bin, and our 2 large file bins. I spent the better part of the day consolidating supplies, throwing out things, and organizing every bin, tote, and drawer. It felt great to actually accomplish something on a day when I would have preferred to just stay in bed. 2 trash bags later, and all that was left to take care of was a giant stack of papers to shred. I was dreading having to sit and shred all of it in our little shredder that can handle 2 pages at a time...then it occurred to me that this was just the kind of project little fellas would love to help out with! I put them right to work and before I knew it, the papers were shredded! I may be a little late to the Spring cleaning party, but at least now when I want to be crafty, I know where all my stuff is! :) The kiddos looked pretty cute shredding paper, they lined up and each took turns putting the next paper in...yay for team work!

Who knew shredding paper could lead to almost 2 hours of fun??? ;)

Day #37 From reading about adventures, to living them

On my little desk calendar I made with cute photos of my family, there is a quote on the July page. It says: "Boys live adventures men only dream of" Ah, so true! I love sitting back and watching as my boys seek out and live their little adventures. Whether they are galavanting about in capes under the assumed identities of super heroes, or lining up every matchbox car and farm animal figure they own to create an elaborate set up among strategically placed buildings made of wooden blocks. Watching them is one of my favorite parts of being a mom. Their imaginations and the wonder and excitement they hold for the simplest things, just delights me.

Instead of being the traditional Time to Read Tuesday, we were able to head up to the beautiful mountains to spend the evening with their darling cousins. There are always plenty of adventures to be had running around in Grandpa's fields. Today's journey started by cooling of with a few cruises down the slip 'n slide.

the superman slide

strike a pose

a few of the cousins...

all smiles!

Once everyone dried off and got some yummy bbq in their cute bellies, they migrated towards the field where the horses were. Within no time, their awesome Aunt Meg had Yankee saddled and ready to ride. We spent a good couple of hours trading out riders and leading around the horse while everyone who wanted to, took a ride. Between the mild evening weather, the beautiful sunset, and the mountains encircling us, it was a spectacular scene. Watching the smiling kiddos enjoy their adventure on horseback was just icing on the cake! One day I hope to have our own field and horses and I look forward to decking the fellas out in cowboy hats and boots; but crocks and faded t's will suffice for now. Here's a few shots of the fellas mingling with the equines!

Once it got dark, we broke out the glow sticks and all the kiddos enjoyed running around in the semi-dark yard. The adults gathered in the house to relax and chat. It was a wonderful day to spend with family and combine our gratitude for this great nation and the freedoms we enjoy; our thoughts and prayers were also with our armed forces who keep this nation free, and the hundred of fire fighters working to protect the land and homes currently being threatened by fires throughout the state.

Before we left, I was able to sneak the little guys inside to snap a few shots of them with their sweet little cousin; I love how toddlers look holding babies. I got some pretty precious pictures. We are so blessed!