SIDEWAYS!

Just look at this poor Palm Tree...Yes this tree is growing sideways in my front yard.

Sometimes I feel like this sideways tree! No matter how hard you try sometimes life just seems to keep pulling you down!!

This past weekend Ron took it down. I loved that tree! But I guess we couldn't let it grow into our backyard...

Now what? I want to put another palm tree in but... it'll probably do the same thing!!??

Bearizona

For Labor Day weekend we drove to Flagstaff and went to a drive-thru Wild-Life Park Bearizona. It was a long drive there because of delays and construction but definitely worth it! All the kids thoroughly enjoyed it!

These are some of the smaller animals that we saw in the exhibits that you walk around to view.

My favorite was the baby bears! They were so cute and very close. Callie was VERY interested in them too! She just starred at them.

They had a petting zoo and an AWESOME bird show!

The larger animals were in fenced areas where you drive thru to see them. It was AWESOME!!!! The Bears were up and about. They walked right in front of and next to our car. Amazing! I wanted to open my car door and play with them! (But I didn't of course!)

It was hard to come home. I really wanted to stay in the nice 75 degree weather!

Family Diamondbacks Game!

We went to another DBacks game last week. This time we THOUGHT it would be fun to take the boys! Yeah... Don't think I'll be making that mistake again any time soon! It was fun but definitely a lot of work trying to entertain the kiddos. Not sure why I thought Mason and Noah would enjoy sitting down for a couple hours! They NEVER sit still.

Even though I didn't get to watch much (ok not really ANY) of the actual game we did have fun. We hung a lot in the playground area and the mini kids baseball field. It was fun to watch Mason and Noah be actual baseball players! They were really cute. There was a "coach" in the kids field helping them at bat. When Mason was up to bat the coach kept saying "Wow! I like this kid!" I think because Mason swings the bat pretty serious!

Overall it was a fun night!

Food!

Mason gave a talk in Primary last Sunday about the Word of Wisdom. It was really sweet to listen to him talking about things that are healthy for us to eat and how Heavenly Father wants us to take good care of our bodies. My favorite part of his talk is where he holds up an 8 x 10 photo of himself going down a water slide. This is what he said:

"Last summer I wanted to go down the big water slide. But I was too little. So my mom told me if I ate my broccoli I would grow big and strong. This summer I got to ride the cool water slides because I ate my broccoli!"

So cute! He is such an outgoing child, very fun and full of life. Not a shy bone in his body! His primary talk got me thinking about my children's health and eating habits. As a mom there are many things that make me happy. But some of my great mom moments are when I feed my children healthy things (especially healthy things I made). Whether it's when they are chowing down whole-wheat blender pancakes, or whole wheat banana bread with no butter or sugar in it. I feel such a sense of accomplishment when they finish a plate of broccoli or spinach-spaghetti. I know I'm weird but I just imagine their little tiny blood vessels flowing smoothly and free of plaque build-up!

Some of the fruits and veggies Mason and Noah BOTH enjoy:

• FROZEN corn and peas (yes, I said frozen and I mean literally frozen. They don't like them cooked!)



• baby food (any veggie flavor of baby food, weird I know! But they beg for baby food!)



• Broccoli

Noah:

Noah is a little more adventurous than Mason about food. He'll eat almost anything I'm eating. He especially LOVES any and ALL fruit.

• Strawberries


• Bananas


• Blueberries (his favorite!)- The only down side to blueberries is the STAINING!!!! It's everywhere! His teeth, fingers, clothes... I buy the frozen blueberries at costco and they are pretty messy! But he loves it!

• Grapes (Only the Red ones)


• Apples


• Watermelon

Noah also loves Beans.

• Pinto beans


• Black beans


• White navy beans


• Honey Baked Beans are his favorite!

He also LOVES Edamame! So cute to watch him carefully squish out the bean.

EVERY morning Noah wakes up at 5 or 5:30am asking (more like DEMANDING) for Oatmeal! It's kind of annoying but also funny.

Mason:

Mason will not touch fruit. Bananas are the only fruit I can get that boy to eat. He won't even try it. Vegetables on the other hand he eats very well. He LOVES his vegetables.

• Broccoli (his favorite!)


• Spinach in his spaghetti (although I'm not sure that he really knows what it is! :)


• Green Beans


• Peas


• Corn (OK, I know it's technically a grain.)

Bunk Beds!

Thanks to Ron's sister we have bunk beds for the boys now! Thank you JEFF and LISA!

I can't believe my boys are old enough to sleep in bunk beds! We finally got them put up this last week. It's been a little bit of an adjustment. The first night Mason was REALLY excited to sleep on the top bunk. But for some weird reason fell asleep on the Love Sac (Huge Bean Bag) in their room. The Love Sac was Noah's first bed... poor Noah has been sleeping on it for about a year now. Their bedroom is kinda small so we didn't get the toddler bed out, but he really didn't seem to mind. I don't think I would either. I'd love to sleep in a 6ft. wide bean bag stuffed with Lazy Boy foam (oh wait I do! I fall asleep in it putting Noah down for naps or bed all the time! Ha!) At first Noah didn't want anything to do with the top bunk. He wouldn't even let us lift him up there.

Yesterday Mason taught Noah how to climb up to the top bunk. It was so cute he told Noah "Look Noah, you put this leg here and this leg here. Then you take this arm and put it here and your other arm over here..." So last night of course Noah wanted to sleep on the top bunk with his big brother. I was a little weary about letting him because both my boys are notorious for getting up in the middle of the night and coming to our bed to sneak in with Ron and I. I am happy to announce that Mason and Noah were still on the top bunk this morning at 5am when I went to the gym. YAY!!!! So cute!

Although, I should mention when I got back from the gym at 6:30am they were both in bed with Ron! ;)

Is Summer over yet?

Everytime I look at this picture I laugh! It's almost like Callie is saying "Really mom? ANOTHER picture?" I do feel like I'm at my limit with hot summer days. It's the offical time of year when I am sick of the pool and heat and I'm ready for some nice weather!!!!!

Brotherly LOVE

Callie LOVES Mason. I think he is her favorite person. Her face just lights up everytime she sees him. He is very sweet with her, always concerned and watches out for her. I strategically put her carseat next to his seat because he is such a big helper! Fusy moments in the car are rare solely because of Mason. Mason is so proud of Callie too! He is always introducing Callie to any and EVERYONE! Even to strangers he'll say "This is my new baby sister Callie". (Although is sounds more like "cow-wee" so cute! We are working on pronouncing L's.)

Noah is very sweet with her as well. He is constantly giving her kisses and informing me of that too! I love it! I am very fortunate that both my boys are such loving children. I know some families worry about sibling jealousy issues but I can honestly say I have never had a problem with that. (Knock on wood!) Mason and Noah both take the job of being big brothers VERY seriously. They love to protect Baby Callie. I think they are practicing for when she's older and will have to scare off her boyfriends! :)

Not sure why Mason doesn't have a shirt on in either of these pictures?!?!