Holding Hands

Sage was laying on the floor next to Chad,

holding his hand and talking to him.

She doesn't know what his bib says.

Just kidding.  It was sooooo sweet!

A Bit of Our Week

The kids played "Rope the Bull,"

a game Lily made up,

for over an hour in here. 

All together. 

Happily.

I love that.

Sagey reading a dinosaur book to Chad.

In Gary's dinosaur shirt. 

If a shirt doesn't have a fish("fiffy") or a dinosaur on it,

no matter how adorable it is,

it is merely tolerated.

(Notice we don't have any fish or dinosaur pants.)

Doing a rain dance today!

Donning more rain appropriate attire

as the dino waits at her feet. 

Are all two year old girls,

with four-year-old brothers

this enamored with dinosaurs? 

Silly Me

This was the second time I had put Sagey in this dress.

I thought, the first time she wore it,

upon seeing her diaper peek out from under the hem,

"I wish that dress came with bloomers."

Feel free to have a good laugh.

I did.

Bumbo

Aunt Alane lent us her Bumbo.

Little Chad likes it!

Today

I went to Vegas today, with three children in tow. We went to the Dr's office, Costco, and Target. They were excited to go because they knew the day held a stop at McDonald's. I was excited to go because it was a getting-out day with three of my favorite people in the whole world. We sang the ducky song, and the speckled frog song, to entertain ourselves on the way there, and Gary kept tabs on the cars and motorcycles that passed, or were passed by, us, and kept an eye out for the up-down-up-down of McDonald's, who also has a farm. In and out at the Dr, and even though it was my Dr, Gary still asked, "No shots, right?" Through the drive-through at McD's, to eat in the parking lot at Costco. I'm not sure Sage ate much, but she was excited about her Barbie Mermaid, and had some of my water. Then into Costco. I love those carts. They are big enough for three kids to ride, with room leftover for stuff. My list wasn't long, so I took time to browse. I ended up with swimming goggles, a bathing suit for Sage with a built-in diaper (?!), and a book for me called, "Jane Austin Ruined My Life." I hope it's good. On to Target. I had a more substantial list here, which included letting G and S spend their $10 gift cards from Christmas. The other three girls had spent theirs already, and I will think about the baby's later. They browsed the doller aisle, chosing a stretchy spider and scorpion putty, (S and G, respectively), and then added sharks and pet shop puppies(G and S, respectively). Watching the picking-out process was priceless. Sage wanted everything Gary wanted. Mostly dinosaurs. When I told them something was more than they could afford, they were happy to keep looking. The rest of the list was run-of-the-mill, except for Gary's hat. You know I've been wanting one to keep the sun off of his scars while they heal. The first hats we found were ladies hats, but we found a fedora with a red and blue band that won his devotion. We found more hats later, smaller, with frogs, or sail boats, but he was dedicated to his fedora. He is camping with his father right now, or I would take a picture and post it. He is very adorable, and it shades his face quite nicely.

Home, James, home. The baby only cried half the way there, and then everyone fell asleep to IZ Kamakawiwo'ole and his ukalele. Everyone but me, of course. We arrived in time to pack up Samuel and Gary and send them with Chad to the Father and Sons camp-out at the reservoir. Sage and I played fetch with her new puppies to distract her from not getting to go with the boys. Lex left for a slumber party. Then, the rest of us partied with pizza and a movie. I put the kids to bed, practiced my guitar, and scared away Lexi and her slumber-party cohorts with the flip of the porch light switch. Now I am looking forward to snuggeling into bed with my new book. Days like this are perfect. Days like this are rare. Days like this need to be written down.

More of what we did when Grandma was here

We went to St. George to the Dinosaur Tracks museum, to continue the dinosaur theme of the week. I did not take any pictures. Then we went to a park close-by, and I took a few.

Another day Grandma helped us make cookies.

We admired this adorable smile.

We went to the Valley of Fire.

The weather was absolutely perfect that day.

I had to use both pictures of Sage.

I just couldn't resist the pointy toe in the second one.

We went to an early Easter Egg Hunt at the park.

We made a swordsmen, a canoe, a tower, and some dumbbells, out of marshmallows and toothpicks.

We took the girls summer clothes shopping.

Lexi became a model-quin.

I leave you with this amusing story. We were sitting here in front of Cold Stone, finishing our ice cream, when Lily looked up and said, "I wouldn't ever eat there! It's the Dangerous Mexican Grill!" Lexi laughed and said, "No it's not! It says the Dragon Mexican Grill!"

They are top readers in their classes, really they are,

but I guess when you're on Spring Break, you're on Spring Break!

We Interrupt This Emergency to Bring You a Regular Broadcast...

My only picture of actual Easter Sunday that I posted last time, was the one of us watching Conference in our balloon hats. Grandma C had gotten the kids a bag of those long balloons, and we'd lugged various bicycle pumps in from the garage. Grandma googled how to make balloon things, and she and the kids went to town making stuff. I am very proud of the fact that Samuel is now quite adept at making balloon dogs.

The other pictures were from Saturday, on our ATV ride to the sand dune for a picnic. Here are some more:

Chillin' in the shade

Grandma cooling her toes in the sand. Grandma enjoying the baby.

The kids, coloring eggs.

Sage had the green dye. She was the fastest dipper you've ever seen.

In. Out. Next egg please.

And then, we hunted eggs.

The hunt for the little kids was at Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Tim's.

Isn't that grass awesome!

Fun day.

Gary Update

Update on Gary: It's been 48+ hours since his 4-wheeler accident, and he is pretty pain-free, as long as we don't touch his road rash. The swelling in his lip has gone down a lot, and you can hardly see the stitches, though that whole area is still really sore. His left leg is splinted, as the drs think there is a fracture near his knee. We'll see an orthopedic dr tomorrow to have him look at that. I'm planning on getting an apt soon to see the dentist about his loose front teeth. Jill...? Man, if I ever need to get a job, I think I'll go into pediatric dentistry, as I'm slowly becoming an expert. Thank you for the meals, the visits, the treats, the gifts, the phone calls, the babysitting. We are so blessed to be surrounded by so many people who are concerned for and love our little guy. and us. We feel so loved. Thank you.

Easter Weekend and...

I began uploading pictures to tell you about our Easter weekend, and Spring Break, and life intervened, and so I was planning on finishing it tonight, and then..... then life Really intervened. I ended up spending the evening in the hospital, and want to think about Easter another day. And just want to keep my far-flung family and friends, and the close ones too, informed, so that you know what's going on and so you can keep us in your prayers. First of all, everyone is FINE, beyond a little road rash and some stitches, and, I really can't even laugh about it yet, but, some jostled front teeth. Gary ran in front of a four-wheeler this evening and got run over. The stitches are in his top lip, and his nose is swollen. His front top teeth are loose, and he has road rash in various places from his feet to his hairline. He had xrays and CT scans, and everything looks fine inside. They sent him in an ambulance from Mesquite, where we had taken him, to the Children's hospital in Vegas, just to keep him under observation for the night. Chad rode with him and stayed there, and I came home to be with the kids and will go in in the morning. I hope to report soon that he is back to his normal self. We are so very grateful that things were not worse, as they so could have been. I am also so very grateful for so much family here that helped with so many things tonight. Thank you.
The pictures, well they're still here. I don't know what to do with them. I'll figure it out later.
I think Gary's going to be hurting tomorrow. Will you keep him in your prayers? Prayers of gratitude too, that he is OK. Thank you. Goodnight.

Hand Motions

Here's more of the hand-motion game that we played. Lexi's question was, "How do you put on your make-up in the morning?" Samuel's was, "How do you brush your teeth?" We thought it was very funny. Hope you do.

P.S. To my Facebook friends, in my links, you can click on my blog and see the videos. They just don't load here.

...and finally...

The End!

...and Chad. Phew!

...and Sage

These so make me laugh.