So many mosquito bites

When I planted the garden this week, I hadn't noticed that poor tommie was getting attacked. I was more concerned about Jackson and Jimmer following behind me, digging back up my seeds! I felt so bad when I looked over and saw that the mosquitos were swarming around him. Needless to say, he was so happy to get some calamine lotion on!

new family pictures

I took advantage of all the pretty leaves in prescott and took a few pictures with my good-looking boys!  I think they turned out great! 

 And a few others of my favorites from the week:

Prescott

Shaela and Jared were nice enough to let us tag a long for October break to Prescott. The weather was perfect and it was so nice to just play! The first weekend was conference, so we went on quad rides in the middle of the sessions and ate great food. The big news from conference this year was of course the change in missionary age, so we all called Matt realizing he could leave in like 8 months. No more BYU for him this next year!

You know you have watched too much conference when Jared starts sitting like the general authorities! :)



While the boys were in priesthood, Shaela and I went into the mall. Yep, 6 kids at JC Penney on saturday night! However, I think we were like the only people in the whole mall. You would've guessed it was closed down or something cause no one was there. The big hit of the trip was Shaela's new orange stretchy pants. She is fascinating isn't she?

Jared and James left us sunday night to go back for work in Mesa. Shaela and I entertained the kids all day, not too mention 10 dogs!  Shaela's dog Sadie had 8 puppies and I took up Jimmer too. Let's just say that in the mornings there was a ton of poop to spray out of the garage!

Actually, Jimmer loved it. I was always scared he was going to bite the puppies heads off, but the puppies always ran back to play with him again. Shaela actually only sold 1 puppy in prescott.... she tried to sell Jimmer too but they didn't want him! He really is WILD, but the trip actually helped him calm down a little. Besides, he is getting really cute!

We took the kids to catch tadpoles one day. It was such a pretty place we stayed for quite a while and ate lunch. The boys were so excited to have so many tadpoles, but Macey started feeling bad for them (all cooped up in that ziploc bag) so she let them ago. Ha! She reminds me so much of shaela! Everyone was mad at her for letting them go, and she was mad at everyone for trying to hurt them! 

Towards the end of the week, the fighting really set in. Jackson just became so angry at Weston and would hit SOOOOO much. I'm sure weston's whining didn't help any, but man, I sure ran out of parenting ideas to keep Jackson from hurting everyone. Shaela decided he needed an anger management class called "huffy hippos" at the child crisis center. I tried everything from time out, to spanking, to sending him out with the dogs, prayers, ignoring it, etc. By the time James made it back up that weekend I was sure completely out of ideas! We finally just decided he's a boy that just needs his dad around! James is always helping him relieve his "competitive energies". That, and he really has been through A TON these past 4 months... moved, had JaNae's kids, Wilford and Kathleen lived with us, had a baby, got a dog, started preschool, had Julie's kids, etc. Poor kid! The whole world used to revolve around just him! I laughed at this picture when weston barricaded himself in the corner so Jackson couldn't get to him when he was playing! Someday they'll be best friends I'm sure! 

By the time dinner was over, the kids went straight to bed at 6:30. Macey, Shay and I watched ALL the Anne of Green Gables movies. There used to be a day Shay would make fun of me so bad for watching those, but we sure had fun falling in love with Gilbert Blythe! :) Macey must not be at the age of liking boys yet, cause she slept through all the "good parts". It really was a fun week though. And, while I was gone, James worked real hard to get the garden ready to plant and planted a winter lawn in the front. Our whole front yard had completely died, as in, just dirt in parts. Seriously. Look how amazing it looks one week later! 

Kate and Eliza here

Brad and Julie went to Hawaii to celebrate their 10 year wedding anniversary and I volunteered to take their kids. Its been so fun to have cousins around 24/7. Granted, 4 kids under the age of 5 is a little hard for me, but I've loved having something for jackson to do ALL day. I've laughed a little at their craziness. They all 3 have to take a bath together, and BOY is that a mess! One day, they deicded to empty all the water from the 5 gallon jug on the water cooler. They held the faucets down and let it drain into different bowls. Claimed they were helping me because i was going to do that anyways! Brad and Julie packed the girls a present to open each day so we've had fun with new little toys. 

Jackson brought a doll up to me yesterday and said "Mom, will you help me put these cute shorts on?" James about died.... 

not too mention They watch "My little pony" twice a day and have conversations about strawberry shortcake!! Guess I've become way too accustomed to being surrounded by boys!  

At least Westwood wears it's problems! :)

James and I have now gone to 2 westwood football games. Noticing how "wild" the kids seem, we have been commenting on whether or not we would let our kids go there. We laugh as we remember some of the crazy things we saw, or weird people we met. But, when we realize they seem to only be getting "weirder", we wonder if really we would want Jackson there. We were commenting to Kimball Layton at a missionary meeting one morning on the crazy things we saw, he remarked that at least at Westwood, everyone "wears their problems" (tattoos, piercings, etc.) rather than wonder what's really wrong, you know when you look at them if they are on drugs, a lesbian, etc. I've been thinking about that at lot this past week... Still don't know where we'll be in 10 years, but for now, we still have fun at the games. Next time, we'll just sit with the mormons!

Loving Baby Tommie

It's hard for me to believe that Tommie is already 2 1/2 months old. He is the best baby. This past week he has a cold as well, and it's been interesting for me to realize how much I take his happiness for granted! I look forward to changing his diaper so that he'll give me one of his huge smiles and sometimes, I really forget he's along because he is just so quiet and good. Jackson really is the best big brother. At nights, Tommie lays by him in his bed while we have family scriptures. We are always having to stop and tell jackson to stop kissing tommie! :)  His coloring must be different than Jackson's because I loved when Jackson would wear browns and tans… but Tommie looks so much better in bright blues and greens. So, sadly, I'm really not liking Jackson's old clothes on him!  (ignore the dates on the photos...they are wrong obviously) 

Outdated: Labor day weekend

We spent labor day at the cabin. It was the first time James and I were able to say, "Hey, let's go to the cabin!" and just go….without a drive from Utah! It was so nice.  We went with Brad and Julie, my mom and dad with matt, mansi, and brianna, and Adam and Melanie Brown. The weather was perfect! It was so fun to just spend some time with my sisters and sit around holding Tommie. We took Jimmer for his first big trip. Let me just say that the ride there was HORRIBLE. We left with Brad and Julie and had to stop so many times…I'm sure brad was so bugged. Jimmer barked non-stop, pooped on my feet, and was scared of the rain storm. We didn't plan ahead and all our luggage in the back of the truck was soaked by the time we got there. We also had to stop to feed Tommie and let Jackson out to to go to the bathroom. Then, the ride home was just as obnoxious because we were held up in the traffic. Jimmer had eaten some poisonous mushrooms or something right before we left the ranch. He was so sick and throwing up and we though he would just lay there on the way home. But, traffic was so slow and he kept biting jackson's feet and barking to get out. When I finally decided to just walk him along side the car, all of a sudden traffic picked up and off went James!  Although I couldn't see the car anymore, I was still running to catch up to James. Jimmer had never been on a leash and was going crazy trying to bite it off. Every car was laughing at me as they passed me on the highway. Eventually James had found a spot ahead to pull over and wait for me. We laughed about it the whole way home. Guess you could say it was our first trip with "3 kids" counting Jimmer and Tommie did awesome for his first trip out of the house. Enough of that though…. the cabin was so much fun! We loved the zip line and the new swing sets. Brad and Julie had brought up a on of pop cans to shoot and we had a fun few hours exploding those. We went into town for church on sunday and surprisingly, my parents were late! That was funny to me that all their kids made it on time, but not them! All in all, it was a great labor day weekend and made us glad we moved to Arizona yet again! 

Concussion, 3 week flu, and James

3 weeks ago, I was riding in shays suburban on the way home from taking the kids to the zoo. She needed to give a boy in her ward a ride to school and so I agreed I'd climb in the back so he could sit up front. As I was climbing over into the back seat, she hit the biggest speed bump ever and I flew up and nailed my head on the top of the car so bad. I knew I was hurting really bad but everyone was just laughing. Sure enough, within an a hour, the dizziness and vomiting started and James diagnosed me with my first ever concussion. I laugh about it now but I sure had the worst headache of my life and was annoyed by any noise or light. I couldn't even watch tv without feeling like I was going to throw up again. James sure stepped up to help with the kids while I just laid on the couch for hours. It didnt help that janes and i had colds that lasted so long. james got it first, and would complain his jaw just hurt so bad. i made fun of him till my jaw pain set in and sure enough...it was the weirdest sickness ive ahd in a long time! luckily shaela has become all homeopathic, so thanks to essential oils, I'm finally healed! No more headaches, jaw pains, or even runny nose for that part!

Have I mentioned how great James is yet?? I know this transition has been incredibly stressful for him...I can't even imagine how hard it is to start his job from ground zero, but he has been doing awesome! He gets home and still wants to play with the kids and work in the yard. And, maybe even play around with iPhoto at nights when I'm asleep! Ha! He just got me a new phone for an early birthday present and we both have loved playing around it. And nothing's better than finding pictures like this one! I sure love him!