Brain Slime

8-10-13

Our entire family was in the Highlander driving home and Ridge had us all cracking up with this gem.
 "Hey guys, my ear is sweating! (pause) Oh never mind it's just slime from my brain."
A certain 6 year old needs a bath and perhaps a q-tip! 

Asher quick quotes

7-30-12
Asher just waking up, coughing: Mom, my coughs smell like snakes!

While watching me bake zucchini bread: Does this mean we get to have BIKINI bread?

While avidly watching the summer Olympics as a family Matt frequently commented that he wanted the U.S. to beat China in the medal counts.
One night we ordered Chinese food and Asher would not partake, after much coaxing he replied, "I'm not going to eat ANY thing Chinese, they are the enemy!"

Easter basket Saturday!

Grandma Muffin comes for a quick visit

Grandparents day is a BIG deal at our elementary school. I had no idea how big until the first year of kindergarten, I sent Jay off to school on the bus. Parents are asked to not bring younger siblings to the school for things like that, so knowing it was only for 2 hours of the day I didn't think anything of it.

Jay came home and innocently and without malice told me that he was the only kid on the bus that morning and the only one in class that did not have a grandparent or special friend at the school with him. When I had driven by that morning I had noticed that there were crazy amounts of cars and streams of people walking into the school to attend a special breakfast with their grand kids.
Okay lesson learned. So for the past few years, on grandparents day I have been keeping the boys home and just letting them go late after the festivities were over.

 LONG way to say that this year we were so excited to have Grandma Muffin (Jo Raye) fly in for the festivities, which also included Jay's 9th birthday!

 Walking into the school for "breakfast". Turns out it wasn't that great of a meal. Next time we know to skip the breakfast.  The boys gave presentations, played games and read books with their Grandma. They loved it!

Last night here, the boys climbed into bed to snuggle with Muffin for a story. We are so glad she could come!



Kansas City Temple open house! Hooray!

Ramblings: A little of what we've been up to.
A new LDS temple in Kansas City has provided us many unique opportunities lately. I am currently serving as our ward's YW President. The Youth in the temple district have been practicing to put on a Cultural Celebration for our Prophet President Monson, on May 5th. There will be dancing, singing, acting, orchestras, choirs, dramatic readings, soloists, sign language and more! 12 stakes are involved and over 3,000 youth have signed up to participate. It is quite the undertaking and wonderful opportunity. Our Young Women and Young Men have been practicing for months Ie: hours and hours, with more to come, but oh what a once in a lifetime opportunity. I am thankful to be a part of it.

Last week marked the official opening of the tours or Open House starting with V.I.P. tours and Press tours. I was able to serve dinner to a group of people for the V.I.P. tour. The governors of Missouri, and Kansas were in attendance, Congressmen, Judges, Members of the Quorum of the 70, and Local LDS area authorities were also there. It was truly an honor to be able to participate in that capacity. I love the temple!

 Today was a very special day. We were able to take our sons and some friends through the new K.C. LDS temple. What a wonderful experience.  The workmanship, and decor are a beautiful sight to behold. Our boys loved it and we think our friends did too.  Next week Matt & I will serve as tour hosts, leading tours through the temple. The open house was extended an extra week b/c of so many requests for tickets, so we get the opportunity to do this several times.  I'm a little nervous!

Here is our little family sealed for time and all eternity. I love these boys so much and am thankful we get to be together forever! (It was also super windy!)

 Asher, Jamey and Lisa Bower. (My brother in law Brent's mom.) We love her! *Asher had just caught a moth and is holding it in his little hands.

"Holiness to the Lord. 

The House of the Lord."

More October!



28 inch brown trout caught in S. Platte River Colorado



22 inch large mouth bass caught in Missouri



Ridge the fireman at our church/ward Trunk or Treat



Asher the ninja, so happy to be in the parade!



BYU Football player



Our family after the Trunk or Treat.  Matt is testing out his new remote for the camera

Matt's 36th birthday, James Bond dvd

Matt and I went out to dinner for his birthday, then came home for presents and apple crisp & Trick or Treating with the boys.Happy Birthday lover!



Does this face look excited?  We have a fun trip coming up next summer and Matt wants to be prepared with some "light reading."  That thing is HUGE!



Can we go yet? They were chomping at the bit to start Trick or Treating.



Jay, Cole W. and Ridge going through their haul after trick or treating.



This picture cracks me up.  So much candy!



I had a meeting on Sunday so Matt had the boys peel potatoes to help with dinner.



Silly faces with the 3-D glasses on.



Donuts with Dad Day at Ridge's Pre-K.  He was so excited to have his dad there at his school.  Matt forgot the camera so ran out to the car to get it and when he came back, Ridge was sitting there with his arms folded in his lap.  Matt asked why he wasn't eating his donut and Ridge explained, "I was waiting for you daddy."  Aw, melted Matt's heart- mine too!



Presenting the penholder he made for Matt.

Date night: Carving pumpkins at Ryan & Kali Ponder's house. Matt did all the work, I was moral support.

Let's talk about me! (Name that country song.)

*This is for my parents, sisters and grandparents. On Oct. 10th I celebrated my 35th year on earth! Hooray! I had a lovely day. Breakfast with sweet friends, lunch and shopping with Matt. He had the day off for Columbus Day so that made it extra fun. Then he and the boys made me a delicious fillet mignon dinner with crab legs. My friend Tiffany volunteered to make me any dessert I wanted. I had seen this creation on Pinterest of a Smore's "cake" and she made it for me. I think it was 7 layers. Cheesecake, chocolate chip cookie, brownie, graham cracker, marshmallow frosting, fudge frosting REPEAT. I think it weighed 15 pounds by itself. Super fun and yummy!

Yesterday, October 15th I ran my 3rd Half Marathon.  13.1 miles.  The weather was gorgeous and the company was fantastic. My dear friend Carie talked me into doing one  a couple years ago, and now it's kind of a tradition.  The training schedule is always a little draining for me by the end I am DONE with 4:45 a.m. early morning long runs but race day it is SO worth it. I love Race Day.  Super fun, I highly recommend it.

This is Tiffany and I almost at the finish line spotting Matt and the boys in the crowd.  I LOVE seeing my family's faces in the crowd.  I always get a little teary.

Post race going through the chute to get our medals and food. We had to walk farther down this year before getting them, and I was a little worried.  I asked Tiff, "WHERE are our medals?  I want my medal!"  I worked hard to earn that thing. :)

Chocolate milk was new this year and tasted really good! The boys thought so too.

Flowers from Matt & boys.

We found our friend Carie at the finish line and Matt lined us up for our post race picture.

My sweet family!

The boys made a poster for all of us. It says "Go MOM! GoCarieGoTiffany! Great race!"

After this we headed straight to Asher's soccer game where he scored a goal and they had a tie game.  It was very exciting. I am a little sore today and thankful for ibuprofen.  I am also thankful for a healthy body that can do hard things.