Brave Ella

I was helping Porter and Ella clean up toys the other when we discovered a little creepy crawling friend. Our kids have a tendency to freak out about bugs and other small creatures (especially Ella) so I calmly told them there was a small lizard on the floor but that he wouldn't hurt anyone. I was trying to minimize the freaking out I was expecting. But what I wasn't expecting was Ella's reaction. "Oh, he's so cute!!" were the next words out of her mouth and then, "Can I pick him up?" After recovering from slight shock I told her absolutely and then she carried her little friend around for awhile before I made her let him go in the front yard.

We've come a long way. A few months ago she saw a lizard at my mom's house and she handed my mom a shoe and instructed her to smash the poor creature. And the other day she even informed me that she could play outside again because she wasn't afraid of wind and firetruck sirens anymore (yep -more phobias from me - well, at least the wind part anyway).

Happy Birthday to our little Storm Trooper

It's hard to believe that in three years you can grow from a sweet loved little baby boy to a Star Wars Storm Trooper.

Porter turned 3 last weekend and we had so much fun celebrating how glad we are he is part of our family. On Friday we had a small celebration. When I asked what he wanted for dinner he said, "Chocolate!" But he settled for hot dogs as long as there was chocolate birthday cake for dessert. When asked what he wanted to do for his birthday he said, "Blow out candles." He's a pretty easy guy to please. We had a fun evening watching "What's Up Doc?" and even more fun the next day listening to the kids quote lines from the movie.

Two days later, we celebrated with more family. And once again, he was content with the chocolate cake and more candle blowing. One of his favorite presents was his new pillow case from his cousins. The older kids had all received one and Porter was so excited to get his fun new case. When I was tucking him in bed that night he said, "I'm the birthday boy and I got two birthdays." What a lucky birthday boy! And we are even luckier to have such a great little boy.

And to top it all off...one week after his birthday he decided he could be potty trained. And so after all the woes of the potty training post, it is going to be the last box of diapers we have to buy for him. Woo Hoo!!!

Fancy girls and a human hamster

A few weekends ago, we went to Sam's Family Fun Day. It's a carnival that a family in Rockwell puts on every year to raise money for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Their son, Sam, is a little younger than Baden and he has Duchenne too. We have gone to the carnival the last two year and it is so much fun. We enjoy doing the Stride and Ride every year as a fundraiser, but I think putting on something like this would be so much fun. For now we'll continue to work with the MDA, but maybe someday we'll venture out on our own.

The kids loved all of the activities - well, except Porter and the train. He thought he wanted to ride the train but then when I lifted him up to put him on he completely freaked out. And every time I asked if he wanted his face painted, he would put his hands on his cheeks and firmly say no. The girls loved getting their faces painted and Baden took his turn trying to make a field goal. He also experienced life as a hamster. They had these really cool human sized hamster balls. Baden loved it, but he did say he flipped way too many front flips in a row.

The Battle - mom vs. boy

This was going to be a post about me winning. It was going to be a post about me taking a stand. It was going to be a post about this being the last box of diapers I was going to purchase for my youngest child. It was going to be about ending my eight and a half year diaper buying streak. And it might have been if Porter always looked like this sweet little angel sitting on a box of diapers.

But most of the time Porter looks more like this punky little boy sitting on a box of diapers. A little boy who is fiercely independent and wants to do things his own way on his own schedule.

After many many days of potty triaining, Porter has only gone to the bathroom in the toilet twice. And the crazy thing is he doesn't have tons of accidents either. The boy is just plain old stubborn. And he has bladder control like no one I have ever met before. Many days he has only had one accident (and nothing on the potty). How does that happen? Other times he has literally sat on the potty for a half and hour and then gone in the kitchen for lunch and wet all over the chair (not 5 minutes after the marathon bathroom sit-in).

And to top it all off, my mom, who has potty trained enough two-year-olds she could write a how-to book, says Porter is hopeless. But she did tell me to look on the bright side - you don't ever see kids starting kindergarten in diapers so he'll have to start using the toilet at some point. Thanks, Mom!!

I have potty trained three children. What is wrong with potty training #4? I even asked my pediatrician for suggestions (haven't ever had to do that). He said Porter would go when he was ready - boo!!!

And so this post isn't about last boxes of diapers, or me winning. It's about a little boy who turns 3 on Friday who has absolutely no desire to go on the potty. And no amount of coercion will tempt him - I've tried everything (from delectibles to consequences - I even bought a little froggy potty that sits on the floor of the bathroom which I said I would never do because, well, they gross me out). So, Porter is winning the battle and I am sad, beat-up and discouraged.

And now when he hides to take care of business and I find him in all of his stinkiness, he says, "I'm not stinky mom. Don't change me." Yep - no desire for potties AND he hates getting his diapers changed. Mercy - I give!!!

Happy Fall

Porter, Ella and I headed to the Pumpkin Patch one morning to meet with our friends for a little play group. The kids had fun, but with all the rain we've been having, it was really crowded, a little stinky and a little muddy. And there was an over abundance of school field trips which had been canceled and all rescheduled for the same day. The schools took over the hay rides which was a huge let down for Ella. But there were some monkey bars Ella was so proud she could do on her own and my friend Suzanne took some fun pictures of the kids and her cute Lucy. We were going to go back with Brooklyn and Baden but the rains continued and the days ran out. And so, like the fair, we look forward to next year.

If you can't take the heat...

you leave the fair early. We made our annual trek to the State Fair of Texas on what happened to be the most humid day every. And I'm not joking about that - it was a little over 90 degrees and the humidity was 98%. It was nasty, absolutely nasty (and of course the next evening it was a beautiful and much dryer 70 degrees).
In the short time we were there, we hit the car show (because the AC was fabulous and of course because it's not a trip to the fair without climbing in new cars).

And we found a magic/juggling act that was very entertaining. Especially because they picked Uncle Ben from the crowd to help with the performance. What a good sport!! Thanks for being so much fun Uncle Ben.
There was a BMX bike show that we thought would be oh so cool but it was oh so not. Huge let down!! The kids were moping and we were all sweating and melting away.

We made one last stop to look at the quilts on display and of course the huge butter sculpture. And it was then that we made our decision - it was time to go. Yes - it was only 5:30pm and no - we had not had our corn dogs and turkey legs (GASP!!). And you will understand exactly how hot and nasty it was when I tell you the kids were in complete agreement. We let them each play one game in the Midway and then we were on our way home. We stopped at Sonic on the way home and brought home corn dogs to eat - because it was fair day and it can't be fair day without a corn dog. We are looking better for a much better fair experience next year - the kind of fair day we have come to know and love.

Wolf Rank and Raingutter Regatta

Baden has been doing great in Cub Scouts. In September he earned his Wolf Rank. His goal was to earn it in 6 months and he did it in 5. Now his goal is to earn as many Arrow Points as he can. He's already earned his gold point and 3 silver. We are so glad he loves being a scout so much.

And at the October Pack Meeting, the boys participated in the Raingutter Regatta. Baden had so much fun. He and his boat, Nitro, did great. He ended up winning the gold trophy for the Wolf Den. Technically he was the 3rd best boat in the den, but two of the Wolves moved on to compete with boys from the other dens and they won 1st and 2nd for the entire pack.

Great job Baden - Pinewood Derby here we come!!

Cars, cars and more cars

Porter has recently discovered the fabulous world of Disney Cars. Actually, discovered is putting things mildly - he practically lives in the land of zooming, racing, revving... Every morning when I leave to take the older kids to school, Dallin turns on Cars for Porter and he watches the entire thing - every morning. And while he's watching the movie, he pulls out his car mat and dumps out all of his cars (most of which are characters from the movie) and then he pulls out his Cars puzzle and puts that together. It's a very exact procedure.
The best part of the Cars obsession is that Porter has started memorizing lines from the movie. I have always been impressed with the ability Dallin and his siblings have to memorize movie lines and apparently Porter has inherited this fabulous trait. My favorite line Porter says is, "Hey DJ - looks like we got a nodder." I love when he plays with his cars and he plays out scenes from the movies. I love that he can sing a long with all of the songs. It's great!! And it keeps us all laughing. And guessing when he's quoting a line for the first time and we can't quite understand what he's saying.

But he also has a feminine side too. Porter and Ella arrived in the living room one afternoon as princesses. Although it seemed like fun at first, Porter could only take the dress for about 10 minutes.

Just a spoonful of sugar...helps the bananas go down

One morning, a few weeks ago, I had some bananas that were screaming to put me out of their misery and bake them up in some banana bread. We love banana bread at our house and it frequents our breakfast table. So, I whipped up my normal batch that makes two large loaves. The morning was quite full and we were in the process of preparing to leave for the day. We were going to be home just long enough to bake the bread (for about an hour), but not long enough to wait for it to cool so we could have some for breakfast. So, I filled one bread pan and then I filled my mini-muffin tins. The muffins would bake quicker and I could pull them out and serve them for breakfast while the loaf was still baking.
My plan went smoothly. We did all of our chores to get ready to leave and then our yummy muffins were done and there was plenty of time to have a bite. I set the table and called all the kids in, said blessing and told the kids to be nice at the table while I finished switching loads of laundry. Our laundry area is within earshot of the kitchen table and while I switched loads I heard this conversation.
Baden: The banana bread always tastes different when Mom makes it into muffins.
Brooklyn: Yeah - I wish we could eat the bread instead of the muffins.
Ella agreed.
At this point I stepped into the kitchen and explained that the banana muffins were exactly the same as the banana bread. Using a different pan to bake the batter does not change the taste of the bread at all. And with that, I popped one of those mini muffins into my mouth, allowed a second to taste it's banana cinnamon goodness and promptly spit it out in to the trash can. My first though was - banana mini-muffins are definitely not as good as banana bread. But that's ridiculous - so then I started trying to figure out what I could have done wrong. It didn't take long to figure it out.
SUGAR!!!
In my haste, I had forgot to add sugar to the batter. Mr. Baden, you are absolutely correct. Banana bread tastes different when you cook it in mini-muffin tins - especially when you leave out the sugar.
The loaves we made last week, sugar included, were divine.

School Days, School Days

The kids started school about a month ago. We are finally getting back into the school routine. Baden started third grade and he says its a little bit tougher than last year but he likes his teacher and he's already learned so much. Brooklyn loves school and she has so many friends. I walked into the school today and two kids approached me to ask if I was Brooklyn's mom. She's so great.

I can remember so many thing about second and third grade. It's hard for me to believe that I have a 2nd and 3rd grader now.

Ella and Porter are enjoying time with mom. Ella has a little preschool with her friend twice a week and Porter gets to play with his buddy twice a week. I love just hanging out with them - trying to take advantage of every second before they too head off to school.

A couple of first days from the past.

You've had a birthday - shout hooray!!

Happy Birthday Ella Marie!! "I finally turned 5!" - that's what she told me yesterday morning. She has been waiting and waiting to be as old as her friends. She is always wanting to be older - but I wish she would slow down and just be my little girl for as long as she can.
Ella was the sweetest little baby when she came to our family 5 years ago. She was so content and pleasant. She was just what our family needed at a time when a lot of things were hard to bear. She made us smile and brought a ray of sunshine to our home. And she's continued brighten our home ever since.

Ella loves to help out around the house. One of her favorite things to do is make her bed. Brooklyn and Baden like to play royalty and Ella always asks if she can be the castle decorator. She also loves to color and draw. We often find her sweet notes left around the house.
We love Ella's laughter, her kindness and beautiful smile. How thankful we are that she's part of our family.

Cheerleading Camp

The girls went to cheerleading dance camp this summer at the Follett's house. They loved it. I think both girls are hungry to participate in anything involving any kind of dance. They learned a cute dance to Hannah Montana's Hoedown Throwdown and we have been privileged to hear it over and over again since camp - it was nonstop for at least a month. Porter loves to sing along and occasionally we even catch Baden singing the catchy tune.

Philmont Scout Ranch - Cimarron, New Mexico

** Warning - this is my journal entry for our vacation, it is long**

This summer, we had the most amazing family vacation. On July 3rd, we piled into a very loaded mini-van and started our journey to northern New Mexico. The adventure started early for the kids when we stopped in Amarillo for the night and they slept in actual hotel beds instead of a pull-out couch (yes - we deprive our children and it's easy to entertain them). The next day we finished our drive and arrived at Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico.


Philmont has a great history full of American pioneers and the stories of the Wild West. Before becoming a Boy Scout Ranch, Philmont was owned by Waite Phillips, a wealthy Oklahoma oilman, who donated his beautiful land to the Boy Scouts of America. In December 1941, Waite Phillips said, "These properties are donated and dedicated to the Boy Scouts of America for the purpose of perpetuating faith, self-reliance, integrity and freedom - principles used to build this great country by the American Pioneer. So that these future citizens may, through thoughtful adult guidance and by the inspiration of nature, visualize and form a code of living to diligently maintain these high ideals and our proper destiny."

Philmont is most famous for it's wilderness treks into the mountains - many boys scouts climb the peaks every summer. However, there is also the Philmont Training Center where there are conferences throughout the summer to train adult scout leaders. We were lucky enough to get accepted to attend the Philmont LDS Scout Leader Conference. There are two conferences held each summer that are specifically for scout leaders from our church. The conference is run by the LDS Young Men's General Presidency and also the Primary General Presidency. The conference is set up for the scout leaders to attend training every day and for their families to hike, play, craft and tons of other fun things. I knew from the first time Dallin told me about the conference that it would be a good time for our family, but I had no idea how much we would enjoy it and what it would mean to our family.

When we arrived on Saturday afternoon, it was fun to meet up with other families from our stake attending the conference and also the Porter's, a family we knew when we first got married in the Irving Ward (Brother Porter is now President Porter of the Dallas stake). We were greeted at the camp entrance by President David Beck (YM General President) and Sister Cheryl Lant (Primary General President) who gave us our instruction packet and headed us toward Tent City which would be our home for the next week. Yes - we lived in tents for a week. But they weren't your average run of the mill tents. Each tent had two twin beds and a small piece of furniture to hang your clothes. They also had a light and an electrical outlet. I never got a great picture of Tent City (there are actually two tent cities at t he Philmont Training Center - we were in South Tent City), but here's a view of the boy's tent. We didn't spend a lot of time in the tents when we weren't sleeping, but for the first several days we were there, afternoon storms would blow in so we would all hang out until they passed. On Sunday it even hailed and on the day of this shot the wind was blowing so hard we thought we were back home in Texas.

We spent our first day unloading the van, unpacking and organizing the tents. We had our first introduction to the cafeteria - we really weren't roughing it at all. However, while eating around a campfire might be hard for some, I assure you that going through a cafeteria buffet line with four small children can be just as rough. Our first meal was harrowing - I think we listened to Porter yell for most of it about wanting to eat a brownie. However, we quickly had a system down and meals got better from there. I don't know if our system worked or we just started letting Porter eat his dessert first and that made things easier. We learned that if we got in line to wait for our meal shift about 15 minutes early, then we were the first through the line, we got a good table and we were pretty much settled before it got too crowded. Our system worked so well that Dallin even took all the kids to a meal on his own while I was attending a "Supporting Your Spouse" meeting for all the women.

The "getting ready for bed" routine was a little scary the first night and the kid's even took cold showers (Dallin and I discovered the warm showers in camp after we had put the kids down). I was a little nervous about the kids waking up in the middle of the night and waking up the rest of the camp, but they did so well. Brooklyn woke up almost every night and kind of wandered around our tent until we heard her and took her to the bathroom. But we were all so worn out each night that eyes were often closed before heads touched pillows. And after the first night, we were a showering machine. We discovered the family bathroom which had a toilet, shower and sink. I would undress and shower the kids and Dallin would dry and dress them and then we would carry them back to the tent so they wouldn't get dirty again. And boy did they get dirty - especially the girls.

Sunday was great. We had most of our church meetings outdoors. There is such a wonderful spirit being out in nature and then to be able to worship in nature made it even better. The kids were taught by Sister Lant in primary and we had great meetings. And then we got to spend the day together - and it truly was a day of rest. No meetings, no dirty dishes, no meals to cook. It was such a great day for our family. And then we spent the evening at an adult fireside given by Brother (1st counselor - YM general presidency) and Sister Gibson. It was just fabulous!!

And then our week began. We started every morning with a flag ceremony. The entire camp gathered at the flag poles. Patriot music would be playing and the spirit was great. There was a brother who conducted the ceremonies and other events during the conference. He was absolutely fantastic. He would pass out "band-aids" at the flag ceremony - they were sticks to aid in leading the music. The kids thought it was great. By mid-week, as soon as we neared the flag poles, Porter would start asking for his stick. There was a lot of announcements and reminders but it was so entertaining. Some of our favorite lines from flag ceremonies:
-- Every morning he would say, "Most people say that ..... is their favorite day at Philmont." On the last day he said, "Most people say that today is the saddest day at Philmont."
-- After making an announcement for the early morning run, he said, "If you can't make the run, meet me here 45 minutes later and I'll beat your knees with hammer and you'll get the same effect."
-- He told us we needed to drink six 5-gallon beverage coolers every day. His wife stepped up and whispered in his ear and he said, "Oh - that's makes a lot more sense." He then held up a water bottle and said, "You need to drink 6 of these a day." The kids thought it was so funny.

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On Wednesday morning, the Cub Scouts participated in the Color Guard. Baden was able to help raise a flag. Dallin got to stand near the flagpole just in case they needed any help. Baden is behind the flag in the first photo - but you can see his braces underneath. I love the shot of my two scouts getting ready to salute.

We had a great Family Home Evening Talent Show on Monday evening. Each of the families at the conference got to go up and stage and introduce themselves (that's about 150 families) and show their family flag. We didn't get a shot of our flag up on our tent, but here it is laying on our floor at home.

Our days were full of so much great stuff. Dallin would go to his training meetings all morning (which he loved). And the rest of us got to play.

I went on hikes, attended wonderful spiritual classes, read my book (I was also doing laundry), visited with fantastic women, did a COPE course (learned I have terrible balance, and when you are going over a large turning barrel, hold your shirt down when you're sliding off), and even rode a horse. It was great!! My hike was not far and it definitely wasn't very tough, but I did get closer to the Tooth of Time peak (the kids at the conference between the ages of 14 and 18 were on a trek almost the entire time we were at Philmont - they were really roughing it - and they hiked to the Tooth of Time).

Baden was a Deputy. He got to do archery, shoot rifles, ride ponies, visit a greenhouse, make homemade ice cream, play lots of fun games, and do crafts. He also visited the Cowpoke group. The hiking was a little hard for him, so when the Deputies would go hiking he would go with the 6 -7 year old boys. He didn't mind - he got to ride ponies more times than everyone else and he got to do two crafts. He also got to make one of the famous Philmont leather belts with his initials on it.

Brooklyn loved Philmont!! She was a Cowgirl. And she really loved camp songs. She came home singing so many fun songs and they all learned fun camp games. She went on a hike to the only documented T-Rex track in the world. She also rode ponies and did crafts. And she made great friends. She loved her friend Betsy from Idaho - and the Olsen girls.

Ella and Porter were both Small Fries. They got to play together and spend time at the playground, riding ponies and doing a little craft. They had a lot of fun, however, by the last day they were completely worn out and ready to just stay home and rest. I had to walk away from the Small Fry building on the last day listening to Porter yell for me all the way down the hill.

Everywhere we went, Ella would say, "There's my friend from small fry." She loved having so many little girls to play with. One of Ella's favorite things about Philmont was when she fell out of her tent one morning. She was climbing out to run to the bathroom but she fell over the bungee ties and landed on the ground and when she looked up she was about ten feet away from a deer who was grazing in the play area. I think it startled both of them, but after her initial shock and after the deer ran away (I'm pretty sure she scared it more than it scared her), she thought the experience was pretty cool.

Near our tent was a playground where the kids played whenever they had free time. They would play so hard and get so dirty. There was a climbing wall that had our girls stumped. About halfway through the week their dad showed them how to climb the wall. Brooklyn thought it was cool, but Ella was so proud of herself. I was so glad she overcame her hesitation and found something she really liked to do.

On most days, Dallin would join us for lunch and a short break time and then we would all be back to our activities in the afternoon. Dallin would join us again for dinner and then there was always family activities in the evenings. On Tuesday, the entire afternoon was family time. We spend our free time with the Olsen family touring some of the sites at Philmont and in Cimarron.

We first went to the Kit Carson museum. The tour was very interesting and my kids thought it was cool to see some of the things we had read about in our Kit Carson book from the library. However, tour quickly became much more interesting for the adults than the kids and a kind Philmont staffer offered to take all the kids outside (and between us and the Olsen's, we have a lot of kids - 10 on that day). When we joined the kids outside, we found all sorts of fun mountain man activities. Our favorite was the tomahawk throw. Ella was the only one of our kids to stick her tomahawk, but we all had fun.

Then we headed to Cimarron where we went to an old hotel that still had gun shot holes in the restaurant from Wild West days. And then we had ice cream at an old fashioned ice cream parlor. The kids really enjoyed their ice cream (my bets are that Brooklyn might have enjoyed her's the most of all).

We celebrated the 4th of July in the middle of the week (even though the actual 4th was on the day we arrived). There was a children's costume parade. Our kids were Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. Porter was not so sure about the whole idea of waiting in line just to walk around, but once the parade started and he realized that people were cheering and pointing out how cute he was, he absolutely loved it. It was so fun to see him strut around. Baden was a little embarrassed, he's not one to enjoy dressing up (I have no idea where he gets this).

We spent the rest of the evening playing bocce ball on the lawn, eating barbeque and even going on a tour of the Waite Phillips summer home, Villa Philamonte. It was gorgeous. It was kind of an open house tour, but because Baden went on an official tour earlier in the week, he was our tour guide. We were so impressed with how much he remembered.

We even caught a glimpse of the real Papa Bear. We don't get much footage of him being this silly so of course we had to share.

We ended our week with a great closing program. Each of the kids got to sing a song they learned in their groups during the week (evening me and Dallin). The Philmont Staff did skits and had us all laughing. A great northern New Mexico wind blew down off the mountains and the sunset was amazing. It was a great way to end a fantastic week.

Although I'm sure you could have great family camping experiences anywhere, there was something about Philmont that was perfect for us. It was just the vacation we were needed. We got to play and spend time together and we were spiritually fed all at the same time. Our family completed the LDS Philmont Duty to God by having special family devotionals every night as a family. It was the perfect end to our Philmont days.

The best part about being at Philmont was getting to be outdoors and getting to spend quality time with each other that was completely uninterrupted. There were no phone calls, emails, bills to pay, etc... And we were surrounded by wonderful faithful families who influenced our family in wonderful ways.

The other great thing about Philmont was being surrounded by Boy Scouts. The men wore their scout uniforms at all their training meetings (so they were pretty much in them all the time). I loved hearing about all the things Dallin was learning about how to use the scouting program to bring young men unto Christ. It was a great example to my sons to see so many adults who love Boy Scouts. How thankful I am for a program who helped to build and shape my husband throughout his youth. I'm thankful for a program that will help my sons to have the same great character their father has. I'm thankful for a program that will teach my sons to do hard things, both physically and mentally. I know the scouting program will teach my sons to be better missionaries, better men, better sons, husbands and fathers and it will help to bring them to Christ. And through the process of molding my boys, it will influence and shape our entire family. What an awesome part of our lives!!

As we left Philmont early on Friday morning, we drove up the hill a little ways and stopped to get one last look at this little paradise we got to live in for a week. From this point you can see the horse stables, the large camp where scouters stay before heading out on their treks and also the Philmont Training Center. It was hard to leave such a beautiful place - even harder when we got out for gas in Amarillo and felt the Texas heat (we wanted to turn around and head back).

If you ever get the opportunity to go to this wonderful camp and attend the LDS Scout Leadership Conference, take it. You will not regret it. It was truly a week that we will never forget and hope that maybe one day we can go again.

"No one ever really leaves Philmont. Your soul becomes one with the trail, and deep in your heart a piece of Philmont remains forever." -- Earl Owens, Scout Leader and Boy Scout Jamboree Coordinator