Funny Boys

Lately the boys have been hilarious. They should totally have their own comic strip.

CAT
A couple days ago Liam did something and got in trouble. I overheard Liam and Greyson in their room.
Liam: "I'm just a bad boy."
Greyson: "I'm a cat!"

Liam's voice was so sad and forlorn. Greyson responded immediately like someone else might take the position of being a cat before he could call dibs on it.

We all started laughing and it totally brought Liam out of his funk mood.

THE LAKE
We were driving to UTAH yesterday and passed a lake. Greyson looked out his window and said, "The lake is so far away I can't even see the monsters!"

MARSHMELLOWS
While driving to Utah Jason and I were discussing the study of kids wanting one marshmallow now or choosing to wait 10 minutes to get two. How this correlates to
later success in life etc.

We know Ilana would wait and we think Jack would too. We weren't sure of the little boys though. So I turned around and asked them. Grey said one now. Liam said that he thinks he would wait and get two later.

Greyson is only 4 years old so we weren't surprised. Liam's answer was interesting. We moved onto other topics and about 10 minutes later Liam pipes up from the back seat, "Can I have my two marshmallows now?"

It was so cute and totally sad that we didn't actually have any marshmallows! I'm not sure he understood why we didn't have marshmallows. So funny.

BELLHOP
We arrived at a hotel in Park City, Utah. A bellhop was helping us bring our luggage up to our room. He asked if we had ever been to Utah before.

Natalie: "Yes. We went to BYU."
Ilana: "I was born in Utah."
Liam: "I was born in Germany."
Jackson: " Louisiana."
Greyson: "Where was I born?"
Natalie:"California."
Greyson: "Oh yeah, In the desert."

Don't know if the guy believed us but he was chuckling at the end. It was pretty funny to see how wierd we all are. Such is the life of an Army brat.

Home Sweet Home

The little boys loved to watch out our big front windows as the workmen worked on our front yard.

At one point a big semi brought some materials.  Gregson was super excited to see Optimus Prime make an appearance in our front yard. 

Deer like to help themselves to our goodies. 

Finished product.

Back yard. 

The move from Kansas to Colorado

So about a year ago we moved from Kansas to Colorado.  Yeah, I know, this blog post is a little late.
Air Force Academy

Inside the chapel.

Canyon Creek few minutes from the house.

Zoo a few minutes away where the kids love to feed the giraffe.

 Amazing view from the zoo.

 Got us some awesome swim gogles.

 Moving and the fun of boxes.

 My littlest bobble head.

Cliff dwellings near us.

 Helen Hunt falls. Grey wasn't interested in staying still long enough for a lame family photo.

More Fun Than a Barrel of Monkeys

Here are some of my favorites from our last family get-together...

The cute Cannons

 The newly engaged couple

 The whole group

 Halladay family trying to recreate an old photo

 The Luke girls and their oldest...all girls!

 Payback for oh so many moments growing up.  :)

 Luke girls and their spouses

What a windy day!  Yay for family togetherness!

"My" Jesus

Greyson has been super cute this week.  He loves to talk about Jesus and usually takes "possession" of him when speaking about him.  It's His Jesus.

Grey and I had a little fight the other day.  He was throwing a fit and I made him lie down.  I snuggled him and sang him two primary songs.  (Only recently he will let me sing to him, before he would tell me to stop).  After the second song I was really quiet and he immediately said to me, "Thanks Mom.  I feel better now."

Ha!  It took me by surprise!  I couldn't believe he said that.  (Of course, that could be his new suave way of telling me not to sing anymore).  Then a few nights later I was having a hard time getting him to stay in bed.  At first I didn't handle it the best.  Then I changed tactics and took him out into the hall for a little talk.  He sat on the stairs with me and suggested we say a little prayer to help us.  What?  Yes, my 2 year old suggested a prayer might help.  I think it made us both feel better but he still didn't stay in bed:(

Today was Easter Sunday.  We had a great day at church.  The primary children sang and so did the ward choir.  As soon as either choir started to sing he would stop playing with toys, climb up on my lap and listen intently.  He snuggled and was super calm.  It was funny to watch the difference in him.

After church we came home and watched The Lamb of God.  All the kids really loved it.  The older three got a little scared at the parts where Jesus is going through pain but I think Grey didn't really get it.  He would just point and say "Jesus!" when he came on the screen.  Afterward he said, "I love Jesus.  He's so cool!"  I laughed and said, "He's so cool?"  Grey smiled and nodded his head.  "Yeah, he's so cool."    Well, I have to agree with Greyson.  Jesus is so cool.

This weekend Jason went out of town.  Friday when Liam figured out Daddy was leaving, Liam got a little worried and said, "But who is going to watch us?"  I laughed and said, "Dude I'm right here.  Mommy will take care of you."  He said, "Oh, like a babysitter.  Okay." And went on his merry way.  Um, no.  Not like a babysitter, like a MOM!  Silly boy.

Hoping you all had a Happy Easter.

Death Valley with Grandpa.

Matt, Dylan and Grampa took a three day trip to Death Valley.

We saw sand dunes, castles, ghost towns, volcanoes and a devil's golf course (wouldn't want to play there unless you got free balls).  We hiked into a natural bridge.  But, the highlight, was off-roading through Titus Canyon.  It was an hour of kinda scary roads and then about 20 minutes of a very narrow canyon.  Our new Subaru was up to the task.  Great kids and great trip.

"Super" Christmas 2013

Christmas this year seemed to have a distinctly "super" theme.  The kids scored some awesome super hero stuff all from different sources.  (Apparently we have trained the extended family well.)

Hard to tell but the Captain America socks have white wings on the top.

The kids immediately donned their new digs.  Aunt Tee Tee couldn't resist sending knee high super hero socks (cape included,  you heard that right, what's a sock without a cape).  On the kids they are more like thigh highs but Tee Tee's convinced they make you run faster. 

 Grey opened this action figure and in his limited English shouted, "Iron Man!!  AWWWWESOME!!!"

 Liam loves Hulk.  He has this deep gravely voice he uses to eloquently express the Hulk's complex and deep emotions.  "Hulk Smash!  Hulk Smash!  Hulk Smash!"  To be fair, if you give a kid the Hulk, you should expect the obligatory smashing of everyone and everything in his path.

 He was so excited with his new Batman shirts he put one on and then ran upstairs to hang the other in his closet so it would be ready for the next day.  So funny.

 Socks?

 Nope,  super socks.

 
That's the sock capes dragging along behind him.  He'll grow into them, someday.

Family Tradition of making a Gingerbread house.  This is the first year Ilana didn't join in.  It was a little sad to see her growing up and want to do other things.  I didn't think Greyson would be into it this year but he was the most excited!  He kept directing where I should place icing dots for his candies and at the end he shouted "I did it!" over and over.

 The delicious masterpiece.

 As part of Jason's time at the school here, he had to take a formal picture for the year book.  We got a few minutes to do a family photo as well.  The kids were so good.

 We were lucky enough to have Grandma Judy come spend Christmas with us this year.  It's always better with family.  Especially if they are a great cook and do dishes for you too!  Thanks Judy!!   Modern day "family togetherness".  Three people and, count them, one, two, …yep three electronic devices.  :)  Not to mention the big TV in front of them all.

Hope you all had a happy Holiday Season filled with family and love.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.