Before it got cold, I took the boys to the lake to let them throw rocks. They could do this for hours and hours. I wanted to relax so I thought I would take them up and they would throw rocks and I would read and it would be so nice.

It started out fine. The boys were throwing rocks and it was all peaceful in the mountains.

Here Jackson is picking out his perfect rock. I should have known by the look on his face that he was going to do something that would cause me a lot of work. You think he's giving me a sweet and innocent smile, but no.

I was enjoying my camera and watching about 15 ducks swimming together when I hear shrieks of laughter and then this is happening. Do you see the mud flying through the air? This one is my favorite because it's right before a huge splat of mud is going to hit Jackson in the face. I just sat there for a while letting them throw mud and laugh. Finally I got up to take a picture of the final product before they were going to get stripped down and dunked in the lake.

Ew. Luckily I did bring a change of clothes, but I forgot towels for "just in case". They were so happy and thought it was so funny. The I stripped them down and they seriously got dunked in the lake to get all the mud out of their face and hair. That part wasn't fun, but they did think it was hilarious running around naked for a little bit and then getting warm inside the blanket. The lake was so cold that they learned their lesson and after I changed their clothes they didn't throw any more mud, onlyrocks. It helped that we moved to a place with only rocks, and no mud. Guess how many pages I read the whole time I was up there? 16. So not relaxing for me, but what can you do? At least they were happy.

Hee Haws

Holy Crap this week has flown by. I have been so busy I haven't watched any TV. I don't even know who got kicked off of dancing with the stars and that was on Monday and if you know anything about how much I love my TV, and how much I love to catch up on my shows until 2 in the morning, this will give you an idea of how crazy things have been. Not to mention the fact that I have been without my camera for weeks. Did you know that your memory card can lock? When it's locked you can't take or delete any pictures. And did you know that all you have to do is push a little white thing on the side of your memory card up or down to unlock it? If I would have known this I would have had beautiful fantastic picture memories of going to cascade springs with my boys, who love it there. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect and the boys saw fish and little waterfalls and climbed over the bridges. Stupid memory card.

Anyway, last week was not crazy. It was fun. We started off with our annual trip to Hee Haws and I actually had my camera for about 10 minutes after I unlocked the memory card, but then the battery died.

The boys love it there, and this includes Tyler. They love getting dirty and playing in the courtyard and most of all visiting Leroy the pig. Guess what? Leroy died. He wasn't there. Luckily there is a new pig paving the way to extreme pig obesity.

The best part of the whole thing was feeding the little animals they had there. There was a petting zoo type pen and it was funny. There were goats walking around who literally climbed on me for food. There were rabbits that Jackson and Hayden got to hold. We fed baby piggies (I love them so much - I really do) and Jackson and Hayden loved the baby ducklings and they actually let the boys hold them. They'd kick their feet a little when you picked them up, but they let you pick them up and didn't run away.

Ty's favorite animal to feed there ( you can't feed the big pig) was the donkey. He loves that thing. When Ty would walk away with food still in his hand the donkey would kick the fence with it's front leg over and over until he came back. They totally bonded. They're kindred spirits. If he were reincarnated he would be a donkey. I tried to find him a donkey costume for halloween, but I haven't found one. He has said that is a costume he would actually wear. Anyone have donkey ears and a tail?

I Like Brown

Jackson told me the other day that he got to speak in the microphone during primary at Church. Apparently he was supposed to say his name and then something he likes. So it was his turn to use the microphone in primary. He told me that he said, "My name is Jackson and I like brown."

"Wait, you said what?"

Then he said, "I MEANT to say, My name is Jackson and my FAVORITE COLOR is brown, but I didn't!" Then he sighed, rolled his eyes, and smacked himself in the middle of the forehead.

Seriously his favorite color is brown. It always has been ever since he could say his colors. One of his homework assignments was to make make a collage using his favorite color - so his collage was of everything brown. Brown horses, brown leaves, brown dogs, brown monkeys, brown hats, brown shoes...Anyway.

He continued his story by telling me that Hayden got up later, and I'm pretty sure it was NOT right after him, and said, "My name is Hayden Jones and I like brown."

Oy. Of all the colors. Any other color and the sentence would feel finished instead of leaving you thinking, "Brown? Brown what?" (My kids have apparently inherited my public speaking ability and to them I apologize.)

Hayden

This is my three year old. We're both finding this stage of life hard to deal with and this pictures describes the feelings we've had toward each other lately. I think it has something to do with the fact that we don't do well with change. Life feels really weird lately and Hayden and I have been having temper tantrums galore. With all the new things going on in our house we've had some major battles. Granted, most of the changes are good things, it's just hard for us to get used to them.

I think Hayden has been having difficulty with all the attention Jackson's been getting from me. Jackson gets to go to school every day and it's still a big deal. Hayden has started preschool, which I am grateful for, but I can just tell he thinks it's not exciting as Jackson going to Kindergarten. Jackson also started piano lessons, and Hayden wants to do everything Jackson is doing, so he tries to mess Jackson up when he's playing the piano every day. Jackson has soccer practice and soccer games, and Hayden wants to play so bad. I'm really excited for when Hayden does get to play. That kid has some aggression he needs to get out in a positive way while Jackson is just very...sweet. He smiles throughout the soccer game, like I literally took this picture while he was supposed to be playing in the game. He saw me with my camera out and stopped running and smiled. Whatever though right? He's having fun and he doesn't mind at all that their team didn't score a goal today. At least he was trying. Anyway, today Hayden got to practice making a goal during half time at Jackson's soccer game.

And here's my bipolar child and I waiting for our dinner. He's such a cute little stink, especially when he's not throwing a tantrum. And when he plays nicely with his brother.Now comes some more change for me. I have to go to my new ward tomorrow. I got cut out of my old one that I was so comfortable in. Boooooo, and yes, I feel justified acting like a baby about it, so I will. Hayden shares in my discontent:

Some Firsts

These past couple of days we've had a lot of "firsts in our house. Jackson had his first soccer game. He was a little nervous at first.

But then he told me he had "so much fun" and he loves being a silver surfer.

Then Hayden had his first day of preschool. He was really excited to go. (Don't mind the blue tape. We're repainting.) When I picked him up he said, "I can't believe I'm in preschool!!!" You and me both kid.And Jackson started Kindergarten today. HOLY COW. I can't believe it and it was so fun taking him to school today. He got a little nervous right before it was time to go, but luckily we walked to school with his friend Christian, which made Jackson feel much better.(Jackson is wearing his most "Fwavowite" clothes and he was trying to make a silly face.) He loves his teacher Mrs. Burk and he's so excited to go back tomorrow!

Idaho Day 2

Here's some of our massive group before we went to some hot springs close by.I forget the name, but it had a really big slide, and the first thing that happened when we got there was that I lost Hayden. He climbed up 100 stairs by himself and was trying to go down the slide by himself. After my (and my family members) initial panic attack I KNEW he had gone up the stairs and I found him coming back down saying, "Mom. I can't go by myself." Really?!!!! Apparently the lifeguard sent him back down the huge flight of stairs. Phew. This is how Hayden swims with me. I'm constantly the horse giving him a ride. Whatever makes you happy kid. Jackson got pretty brave. He actually jumped off the diving board in the background. Granted, he had on a life jacket AND floaties and I had to "catch" him, but he did it a couple of times. Hayden tried. He walked to the end and said, "It's so high!" and turned right around. He was also wearing the life jacket and floatie combo. Oy.We ate lunch by the Snake River and then went back to swim some more. I thought the river was so pretty. We also celebrated Great Grandma Baugh's Birthday while we there, or as we call her "Grandma Great." Happy birthday Grandma!

Family Reunions

So my tooth is much better. Sorry for being dramatic. Husband was angelic taking care of me and the kids and cooking dinner and cleaning while I just laid there, moaning and sleeping, and barfing. A whole week of my life wasted - laying in bed. Good thing he was home! Besides getting another infection, we're almost done dealing with the tooth, or lack thereof.

Before my teeth issues we had a ton of fun going to family reunions and such. My dad's side of the family gets together every year and this year we were somewhere in Idaho. We had a blast. My cousin's husband has a SWEET boat and he was so nice to take us all out on it. The boys loved the boat. Their favorite part was swimming off the back in the Snake River. The whole trip Jackson wore a life jacket with floaties. He loves his floaties, and if he has to wear a life jacket, he wants BOTH. End of discussion. This is me strapped to a wake board. I was actually terrified. I've never wake boarded before, or snowboarded or anything. I'm a skier, but I wanted to try.

And I got up for about 15 seconds. That was the end of that. I'm definitely a skier and I'm sticking to it. Me and Manda Panda:Then we spent the rest of the day swimming on the dock.
Hayden wanted to jump in, but he wouldn't do it by himself. I had to hold him like this and I almost fell in every time.

And then it was time to go.