Skating

Skating with the Dickinson's is always a fun time. Lori rents out a whole rink.
Tanner and Aunt Sherry. She got home from her mission in Brazil last summer. It was fun to see her. She is about to graduate with her Bachelors at BYU.
Dallin was so exited about roller hockey. So exited in fact that we had to take his skates off so that he could run around. He kept trying to get us to let go of him with his skates on.

I wasn't expecting Eden to start skating but when she saw that Dallin was she was all over it. The wheels are so tight the hardly moved so it was pretty much like walking around. After a few minutes she got tired of them and took them off. This was Dallin's first time to try skates. He loved it. He liked the wheels to glide and really wanted to do it by himself. He didn't understand that he would fall if we let go. I have no question that he will be on his own soon enough.
Tanner was a good baby for us too as usual. I just wish that he would stay exactly how he his at this age. So cute and cudly and NOT MOBILE.

Recap

The last couple of weeks have been so fun and busy for us. It all started with all of the youth in our ward having a movie night at our house. I think there were about 50 people over to watch "Cars." It was kind of fun hosting something like that but I spent a lot of time detail cleaning our basement to make it presentable. Then we decided to have another party for a few people in the ward. Our ward was having a game night with "no kids allowed" so we had our own at our house. It was a really good time kids and all. Then Peter took his scouts to the Ape Caves for a great hike (see picture). The next week some of the Dickinson college kids came into town so we spent a lot of time hanging out with the family. We went skating, watched movies and of course ate lots of turkey on Thanksgiving. We also went to the giant jungle gym called Safari Sam's. The kids had a great time. Even Eden was brave climbing around all over the place. We spent the first half of Thanksgiving day with the Dickinson's and spent the rest of the evening with my family. Our families have totally different dynamics. Peter's family is a lot more silly and loud around the dinner table. Lots of laughter. My family has the nice goblets and a separate kids table. Dinner is centered around adult conversation. I think I like having it both ways. We were very tired by the time we got home. On a sad/kind of happy note, we lost my Grandma Arave this week. This is hard for me and I have felt pretty wierd trying to carry on as normal. Because of cancer she was in so much pain and was very ready to pass on. We lost Grandpa a few months ago and she has been anxious to join him. We will be going to the funeral tomorrow.

Dallin was hard to keep up with through the jungle gym. He lost me a couple of times. Dallin is still so into Nacho Libre. He even quote some of it. When it is over he grabs my hand and says " More Nacho?" Peter even saw him dive off the couch onto the bean bag the other day at the end when Nacho flies through the air. Eden loved climbing around with grandpa of course.
Tanner and Joshy were being so cute together that we had to capture the moment. Tanner really enjoyed the taste of Josh's fingers. I was imagining them as roommates at BYU some day.
The great Ape Cave experience. It sounds like the boys really enjoyed it.
I can't believe how cute and moody Eden is. She is so responsive and cute all the time. She talks all the time and loves to be told that she is pretty. Today in the car we were talking about her and she said "I pwetty". I guess it is going to her head.

This was our crazy finger painting experience. Eden wouldn't take her clothes off so Peter threw and old T-shirt over her nice sunday outfit. Too bad the big green blop of paint bled through. Oh well, I am just hoping that these paints don't stain. The kids had a blast though. Dallin has had some huge breakthroughs this week. He has started repeating things we are saying all the time. Whole sentences. I hope this will lead to a lot more spontaneous language. He is also starting to share. As much as he beats Eden up, they are really good friends. When we give Dallin two of something and tell him to give one to Eden (even a cookie!) he will. Peter and I just look at eachother in shock each time it happens. Eden has decided to be a Blanky girl. She has one special blanket (it happens to be the one I made her) that is her best friend. It is so funny how relieved she is to see it every time she needs it. My guess is that this is a comfort mechanism from the above mentioned beatings. This weekend was fun. Friday night we visited with Peter's family while his brother Andy had his 14th birthday party. It was fun to see the boy/girl thing going on. On our way home all of our kids fell asleep so we rented a movie and went to Larry and Michelle's house and hung out until around midnight. That is really late for us these days. We just put the sleeping kids on a bed and had a grown up party. Saturday we went to Peter's sister Heidi's dance competition. They were really good. They came in second place. Then we went to Peter's parent's and Peter helped his mom with her homework (ironic). The rest of us watched Nacho Libre. Dallin is in love with this movie. We borrowed it all last week and that is all Dallin asked for. Usually it is just Monster Trucks. He has seen it probably 10 times. This time was particularly funny though because there was a matress on the floor in front of the tv from a slumber party. During the wrestling scene Dallin started jumping around and going crazy. Whenever anyone body slammed someone else he would throw himself down on the matress. It was hilarious. He also repeated everything Nacho was saying. He is a cute kid.

Last weekend was fun for us and very busy. Friday night Peter took me on a date. I love it when we can just go out and visit together. It really helps a frazzled mommy like me. Saturday we actually stayed home all day and worked on the house. Usually we are off and doing things on the weekends. Saturday night we had a party at our house with my family for my brother Christian's birthday. He is the oldest of our 5 siblings. It was such a good visit. Everyone stayed late and seemed to really enjoy being together. I love times like that. It was fun to prepare a nice buffet of food for everyone too. I have really learned that having good food makes a good party because everyone is happy and wants to visit longer. I guess it is sort of a bribe. For dessert I made my friend Sarah's special lava cakes. They were so yummy. Although most of all of the children were there, they seemed to dissapear into the basement and it was nice and peaceful upstairs for visiting. That made it way less stressful and probably more fun for the kids anyway. I can't believe I totally forgot to take any pictures.

Our week has been pretty normal. Almost each morning Dallin goes to preschool or we all go to speech therapy. Dallin has learned how to sayYes and nod his head when he wants something. He is also into giving big hugs. He will reach for me and say "bee hug" in his sweetest tone. These are both big deals to me. He has made so much progress in the last few months. He will also bring a clean diaper to me when he needs a new one sometimes. He likes to sit on the potty for 10 or 20 seconds but nothing really happens yet. No rush. I am not ready to fight any more battles with him.

Eden is such a good talker. Tanner woke from his nap the other day and she came to me and said " baby's cryin". I think she will be a good helper as our family grows. She can also tell me what Dallin did when she comes frantically crying to me. Probably a tattle tale in the making. I have learned that after nap time Eden needs a good half an hour to become her good natured self again. I try not to say too much to her because if the slightest thing goes wrong she thinks the world is ending. Sometimes she ends up back in her crib for a few minutes to calm down. But most of the time she is very happy.

Tanner is still just perfect. I think Heavenly Father blessed our family so much to give him to us. He likes to use his voice now by making a lot of coos and such. He is also starting to reach for things, so I am bracing myself for a lot of hair pulling. I never knew being a mom was going to be so physical. I get scratches and hair pulled and hit and wrestled with a lot. Of course nothing significant, but it is enough to wear me out by the end of the day. I imagine that I also get more cuddles than the average person too though. I love it.

Happy Halloween!

We had a very fun halloween this year. First off we went to our ward party which was at the relief society presidents house. She made the best chile ever which tasted so good on a cold night. Peter and I kind of laughed at ourselves because we were more exited about that than candy which means we are just old people now. The kids were in heaven with their candy of course. Eden kept going through the candy bucket and bringing every different kind to us to open. She would try it a little and then go back for another kind. She must have tried 20 kinds. Dallin ate a good amount too. It was fun to see all of the other costumes from the ward.
I can't believe I actually have a picture with all three looking at the camera and being content next to each other. I don't really know if they knew that there costumes were M&Ms but it was cute to see them all matching. I look forward to a day when they all smile for the camera too.
Speaking of smiling, here is a classic Tanner. What a happy boy.
I thought Dallin was at least trying to be cute here. He even gave Tanner a kiss. After the ward party we joined many of my family in St. Helens. for the tail end of their trunk or treat. The kids were hyper all running around with their cousins in costumes. Then we went to Elizabeth's house and sipped cider while the kids burned off their sugar high. In the end we had missed all the trick or treating and trunk or treating because of timing and I was so glad that there was no candy for the next day.