HOORAY! Potty Trained!

Someday, Eli might not like me too much for having taken this picture of him! But for now, it's just so cute and I'm so proud! He's been without diapers for nearly a week! YAY! Conquered the toilet! Three kids potty trained is a big feat...I think I deserve a reward, right?!?

Eli picked out dinosaur underpants and LOVES THEM! When he had his first accident, he cried so hard because he was afraid he'd have to go back to diapers (he only had 2 accidents the entire week, both on the same day, and since, he's been accident free)! Underwear is his badge of honor right now! If I don't have them put high on a shelf, he'll carry them around like it's a cuddle blanket or something! I guess that's what comes with picking out cool underpants instead of the boring white ones!

Mommy Daughter Date

Zoey and I went to the Lehi indoor pool for a date on Saturday! It's always a fun experience to take each child one-on-one for a few hours and have fun together. Their personalities are so different when the other siblings aren't around and the competition for attention is gone. Plus...it was just fun to be swimming in the pool in early March when it's still cold out!

She loved the pool, loved the "dark scary" slide, and loved playing hide-and-go-seek around the play equipment. Her favorite hiding spot was the tunnel. She asked for pink ice cream on the way home, so we got a raspberry shake to top the afternoon off. It was time well spent with her.

I asked her if she knew that mommy loved her, and she said yes. Then I asked her if she knew that I loved her, who loved her more than that? She said "Dad." Close! I told her it was her heavenly Father and I hope she knows it and feels it! The theme in Primary this year is "I am a child of God" and I love the moments when we can teach our children that. It's an amazing principle for them to understand...that so many children don't have at such a young age- or any age! We are so blessed to have this knowledge!

Jackson's FHE

 Family Night is HUGE deal at our house. Usually Brian and I take the assignment of the lessons and we let the kids help with songs, prayers, treats and activities.  All the kids love and look forward to Monday nights. Some "Family Nights" are rough if the kids are tired and whiny...so then we move it to another night, but we always try to do it each week.

This week Jackson asked if he could teach the lesson. We were thrilled and so proud of him wanting to take the challenge! We asked him what he wanted to have the lesson on and he picked "prophets". We spent time after school talking about what he knew about prophets and how he wanted to teach it.

This is what he came up with. He wanted to ask and answer 3 questions: What is a Prophet? What does a prophet tell us? and Where can we hear a prophet? He used pictures and our flannel story board to explain and answer these questions to the family for FHE.

He picked the pictures and cut them out all by himself. During the actual lesson, the only help he needed from me was to hand him the pictures on the right order- he did the whole thing by himself- even shared his testimony at the end! We were so proud and the Spirit was so sweet when he shared his very own unprompted testimony.

We had him present the lesson again for us so that we could record it on film, it was so cute! I wish we could have captured his testimony on film too, but when we had him do it again for the camera he was a little tired and got frustrated that he couldn't remember exactly what he said the first time. I guess I'll have to keep that one remembered in my heart :)

Way to go for our little 5 year old teaching FHE!!

10 months already?

Calvin is ten months and wants to walk so badly! I hope he does soon, because he's not happy unless someone is holding his hands. But when we do....man! He is in heaven! He loves it!!

Here is a picture of his teeth I tried to catch last time. He now has 4 on top and 3 on bottom with the fourth coming in soon! Can you tell he's teething by the slobber rolling down his chin! It's a hazard around here! I have to plan on all my outfits getting slobbered! I feel it's a mark of love though and look forward to it! He's completely weened...so I'm feeling a bit of freedom again! I love that. but he is attached to the binky like NONE of our other kids. I'm not sure how to handle this, but I'm kind of attached to the fact that he's attached to it. I need him to have it sometimes. But do I break the cycle now or later...I'm not sure I'm ready yet!

It seems as though he's lost the baby look and feel this last month, and the closer he gets to his one year birthday, I see more and more of a toddler in him! If we were keeping pace with the other kids, I'd be pregnant again! I'm not. That thought is still a little overwhelming right now, but Zoey is asking in her prayers all the time for a sister...which really puts the pressure on!

"St. Georgie"

Beware...this is a long one :)

Eli has a big monkey he got as a Christmas present from Grandma/pa Gray which he named George (after Curious George) but he really calls his monkey "Georgie." So when I say we went to St. George on a family vacation...to the kids, it was referred to has St. Georgie!

So...We took a trip to St. George this weekend after weeks of watching the weather forecast to see when it would hit 70 degrees down there. We finally saw our window of opportunity open up, and within days were out of town! It was a wonderful weekend. The mornings were still cool, but it would heat up nicely by mid-morning and afternoon that we could feel comfortable in short sleeves...oh it felt so nice! They don't call it sunny St. George for no reason! Zoey's expression is showing how we all felt with the exposure we had to vitamin 'D'...

We spent every day in snow canyon...the petrified sand dunes were a favorite. Calvin did really well in the pack and enjoyed getting a piggy back ride through all our hikes :) We were constantly active and wore the kids out. I think we all slept really well from pure exhaustion.

The drove down on Wednesday, got checked in and went to the grocery store. The first morning (Thursday) we hiked in Snow Canyon at the petrified sand dunes. These are some of my favorite pictures of the kids playing around:

 It amazes me that something can grow from pure rock! Look how huge this cactus is! Jackson said "I found out from kicking it that they hurt!" Yes he did that, even after I warned him. But... he's a boy.

I don't have pictures of that afternoon because we were playing too hard!  We went to Sandy Hallow indoor aquatic center and wore the kids out on swimming. They enjoyed the indoor slide and water features. After the pool, I took the kids to a park to play while Calvin took and nap and Brian cooked us Fettuccine Alfredo with blackened chicken for dinner! We were so hungry from all our playing!



Friday we headed back to snow canyon for another hike: 3 ponds which connects to petrified dunes. It was way hard for the kids and we ended up carrying half of them for half the hike, but we did enjoy a great picnic lunch that we hiked in. Jackson picked a great spot to eat his lunch!

Saturday morning Brian did the Bear Claw Poppy mountain bike trail and then we headed back to Snow Canyon where he played with the kids at the sand dunes and I went fro a 3 mile run through the park. It was a gorgeous run! The kids loved digging in the sand and Eli asked if we could do this for his birthday...dig, dig, dig. Only Calvin hated the sand on his feet, so Brian had to hold him most of the time.

 We met Grandma and Grandpa Gray at cottonwood Cove park as they were making their way to Las Vegas to see Jaran and Claire. It was an awesome park the kids love exploring the very unique playground equipment, and it was fun to have the grandparents there to show off to! Later we went to dinner with them at the pasta factory.

 The spinning toys were a favorite for the kids...they would spin until they were too dizzy to walk straight and there eyes were twirling in their heads!

 Calvin was so snugly with his dad on this trip. SO cute!

 Jackson is turning into a good rock climber!

 We visited Zion National park one day and took the kids on two walks....weeping rock and the river trail that leads to the narrows. they had fun exploring and enjoying a picnic lunch on the lawn at the lodge. Zion is so beautiful! I'm glad we made the extra trip out there to show the kids the biggest red rock mountains in the world! Jackson was very impressed by them!

We ended the day at the St. George temple, Jackson's favorite. We tried to do a spiritual thought, but hopefully the kids remember something other than running around the grounds screaming and yelling ...somewhere in there they did all commit to go inside the temple someday, and they each shared something they know and love about temples!