Sleeping Baby

Ever since we got home from Utah, Drew has had sleeping issues. He will not sleep in his crib at night, but he will at sleep in it for his naps. Thank goodness he will stay in his crib for naps. Drew has always been a great napper, which I think is what gives me some sanity during the day with three little one at home.

Anyway, when it is bed time Drew will start saying "Boys, Boys," meaning that he wants to sleep in with the boys. The problem is he has to much freedom and so when I go in to check on the boys before I go to bed I have Drew on the floor a couple of times, and in some pretty funny positions in the bed, or in Miles bed when I put to bed in Tyson bed.

Tonight, Drew kept opening and closing the door after Tyson and Miles were already asleep. When I went up to check on the boys, here is were I found Drew. It looks like he got tired opening and closing the door, and fell asleep where he was standing.

Mesquite Rodeo

Tonight we met up with my brothers family and my parent for a night at the rodeo. It is really sad to say that I live in Texas, and I have not taken my kids to a rodeo. So, tonight we went to the famous Mesquite Rodeo. I don't think that I have been to rodeo since I was little and we go to the rodeos to watch my cousins compete in them.

We got there early so we were able to walk around and see the animals, and enough some of the pre-show activities.

Drew loved the cows. When they would come out during the rodeo he would clap and yell "cow, cow." He also got very excited about seeing the tractor that came out to groom the dirt before and during the rodeo

Miles and Tyson got to go on the pony rides.

The crew.

We had a great night. The boys were entertained through the whole rodeo. Tyson took part in the chasing of the calf to try to win the ribbon. The featured cowboy that was there for the rodeo was Whiplash, the cowboy monkey. Miles and Tyson were squealing and laughing so hard at the sight of watching a monkey ride a dog while herding goats. It was pretty funny.

Miles funny: I told the boys we were going to the rodeo yesterday at breakfast. Miles sat there for a minute thinking about it. Then he looked at me and said, "the rodeo is where we watch cowboys ride - right?"

"Yes"

"Uncle Richard is a cowboy - right?"

"Yeah, I guess that you could say that Uncle Richard is a cowboy."

"So then we are going to the rodeo to watch Uncle Richard?"

"No Honey, I don't think that Uncle Richard rides in rodeos, and he is not going to be here. Remember he lives in Utah, and that is a long drive from here."

"Yes he is, he told me that he goes to rodeos, he is going to be there." Miles did mention to me a couple more time during the days that we were going to see Uncle Richard, and he asked if Uncle Richard was going to meet us for dinner. I do think that he was looking for he at the rodeo, but he never mentioned that he didn't see him.

Food Storage

I have a couple of friends that have got me on this new obsession. Food Storage! I know it sounds a little funny for me to say it to. We started several months ago taking turns going to down to the cannery and watching each others kids. Then another friend emailed me and said that she was doing a bulk wheat order and wanted to see if I wanted some. (I have decided that wheat is a hot commodity and scarce to come by.) I did the wheat order with Kathy and Lesli. Friday Kathy and I went down to the cannery and bought 448 cans - one pallet, plus some other items and loaded up our cars. Mine was full of cans and hers was full of 25 pound bags of food. It was truly a sight to see all those cans in the back of my van....and yes I did get them all in the back of my car. I took a picture with my phone, but didn't know what I was really doing and so I didn't save the picture. Anyway, for the last two day we have been traveling around to each others homes and helping each other with our wheat. I think that we ended up canning almost 2500 pounds of wheat, beans, rice and pasta. Isn't that crazy! Yes I did think that having a years supply of food that you don't know how to cook was something that only the crazy sisters in the ward did and everyone laughed at them for them for it, but I am now joining the ranks. So, now that I have all this food that I don't know how to cook, does anyone have any advice on a wheat grinder and recipes?

Playgroup

We have a playgroup that we go with our church twice a month. The boys love these days. During the summer we have been going to parks, and today we went to a spray park. All of the boys played for a little while, then Tyson came over and said that was cold and sat with all the Mom's wrapped up in a towel. I may have felt sorry for him - except that it was already 90 degrees when we got to the park at 10:00 this morning and was suppose to be the hottest day of the year. Drew was by far the wettest kid there today - he loves to be in water.

Swim Lessons

For the last two weeks I have been in swim lessons with Drew and Tyson. I decide to do Mommy and Me classes with both of them. Tyson could have probably done the class with Miles, but he is still my cautious one around water so I decided to do them with him. I really enjoyed doing the classes with the boys. I learned alot of good things that I can be doing with the boys in our pool to help learn how to swim. The goal in Tyson class was to get him to swim with just his floaties. Up until swim lessons he would only swim in the pool if he had his floaties and stomach float. Which is actually already an improvement, because at the beginning of the summer he also had to sit in Drew's float.

Our first few classes Tyson had a death grip around my neck. He was scared to death to be in the pool without his floaties. When we would go under water he would come up with this look of horror on his face. After class I would ask him, how was swim class today? His response was always "I didn't cry!" I think that is because he wanted to cry through most of the class. By the last two classes he could wear his floaties to class and the first time that I let go of him and realized that he was not going to sink was a huge turning point in the class. From that point on he did not want me to hold him he just wanted to swim around the pool and would tell all the other parents as he passed them, "you know I can swim all by myself now." So I feel swim lessons was a success for Tyson.

Drew's favorite part of swim lessons was playing ring around the rosies. We would sing that song at the start of class to get the kids to go under the water. Drew would start singing "Ashes, ashes, ashes, ashes." Drew was really like his swim lesson for the first few lessons, then he was tired of them, and they kind of turned into a little bit of fight. There was on thing that we did called a seal dive where Drew is on my back and we both go under the water while moving forward. I decided after several times of doing this with Drew that he is half turtle. He could stretch out his neck so far, that I had a really hard time getting him under the water.

While I was doing the swim lessons with one of the boys, the other two boys got to be babysat. I think that they enjoyed the babysitting more than the swimming. They love it when older kids play with them.

Troy got to come to one swim lesson to watch the boys, and take some pictures for me. Thanks for this picture of Daddy Miles.

If I Was a Disney Princess

I saw this on Sarah's blog, and had to see what I am. So is this like "grow-up" playing princesses?

You Are Belle!

Intelligent and kind. Your beauty goes much further than your apperance. Also, you make judgements of people based on their personality and not their looks. Attaining all the knowledge that you can is one of your major goals in life, but you are also a person who can make things happen.
Which Disney Princess Are You?

Whatcott Boy Funnies

I have to write these down when they happen or else I forget them. We have had a fun day today. I watched one of friends boys for the day, so I had 5 boys 5 and under all day. I think of day of insanity is good once in while. Miles thinks it is the best day to have friends come over and swim, so I also invited several friends over after lunch to swim. After we all got out and we were having a snack Colton (my friends 5 year old) told me that this was the funnest day. I would agree, I think it is a great day when you get to spend day playing your friend and kids, laughing and having a good time.

OK - so on to the funnies.

Drew: He love cars that is not a secret. Yesterday Miles found a car book that they got from the Dallas car show a few months ago. It has become Drew's favorite book. He walks around with it, and then climbs up on your lap to have you read it to him. Tonight Troy and Drew where reading the book, and he could actually name several of the cars. Troy was much more impressed than me (probably because I am the one who has to turn over all the matchbox cars to read on the bottom what they are.) I had decided to decorate his room in cars - I definitely think that I am on the right track.

Tyson: This child inherited Troy personally. He know no strangers, and has a quick wit and sense of humor that amazes me and cracks me up. So I have two stories about Tyson. This first in on the drive home from Utah we had been driving for awhile with the complaint of hungry kids, but not near any cities, and they were tired on my snacks that I had packed. We finally get into a town and see a Taco Bell. Tyson is the one that spots it and yells from the back of the van "Taco Bell to the rescue!" The second story is tonight at dinner Miles spilled his water, and so Miles, Troy and I are cleaning it up and Tyson says "Look Miles' chair is peeing. It must be a genius!" What can I say. He is the family clown.

Miles: I think that Miles is in a transition stage. He wanting to be a part of mine and Troy's conversation, and then tries to use things that we say in conversations with his friends. I have been telling Troy, we need to be very mindful of what we say and do in front of Miles, because he remembers everything, and then goes and tells anyone who will listen all the conversations that he has been listening in on. So today during lunch the boys are all laughing and acting silly and Miles says "Hey Colton, what do you think of Mom's fat butt?" I turned to him and said Miles, that is not a nice thing to say. Tyson turned to him and said "Miles, you are are not suppose to call it a fat butt, you are suppose to call it an old butt". So Miles turns to Colton and says "Hey Colton, what do you think of my Mom's old butt." I started laughing and gave up. I think sometimes I am fighting a losing battle.

Happy 4th of July

I have to say that I was probably the biggest party pooper this 4th of July. I didn't realize how tired I was from our trip. I took a Tylenol PM and went to bed about 8:30, Troy had to wake me for breakfast, then I went back down for a nap with Drew. I think that I could have slept a full 24's or maybe more if Troy had let me.

But, after I finally did decide to join the living and wake up we went to watch the fireworks in Frisco. They have this big celebration at the Pizza Hut park, we found a vacant lot across the street and enjoyed the firework show. From where we were we could see about 6 or 7 other shows going on in the distance. Drew loved those, but when the ones over his head started, he started screaming. He was fine as long he was on my lap and I covered he ears. Miles and Tyson loved them, and so did Troy and I. I love to watch fireworks. I wish that there were more holidays that we could watch fireworks for, but then I guess that would take away from the excitement of the 4th.

I love Independence Day, and I am so grateful that I live in the USA and get to enjoy the freedoms that we have here.

Briton Update

Briton checked into the MTC today and had a little surprise. His mission was reassigned to the Uruguay, Montevideo Mission. I think that Briton was fine with this change. He has taken several years of Spanish and is practically fluent in it. I got the impression from him while talking to him in Utah that he was excited to go to Russia and serve, but he really thought that he was going to go Spanish speaking. I wonder if he had a little of "finally the right call" after they told him. I guess that Briton and Ali have been lead by the spirit in there shopping excursions also, because they did not make any purchases of winter clothes.

I have not heard of this happening before. I have heard of temporary reassignments to different missions while they are waiting on visa's, but never a permanent reassignment. So anyway, I am looking forward to learning more about Uruguay. I have thoroughly enjoyed my many nights that I have googled and wikipedia'ed Russia. I am always looking for something else to look up on wikipedia. :)

Tuesday in Utah

My Grandma was not feeling well, so my Dad and the boys and I went down to see her. It was nice to get to see her new place. She had moved from the Provo area down to Price since the last time I saw her. The boys were great and enjoyed showed our "Utah Grandma Moffitt" how they do puzzles. Miles is so confused that Grandma Moffitt was my Grandma, and his Grandpa's, Mom that he told me, "I decide that I am just going to have a Utah Grandma Moffitt and a Texas Grandma Moffitt". Hey that works.

After a visit and lunch with Grandma we went back to Uncle Richards and Aunt Shanna's to ride horses and spend the night there. It was a wonderful night, and boys just love it that every time they come to Utah Uncle Richard will let them ride his horses.

This is my Uncles neighbors cat, but Miles just loved on it. Troy is allergic to cat's so they are not allowed close to our house. I told Miles I would take a picture of him the cat so that he could always remember it.

Our drive home was long. We decided to go home over the Monarch Pass through Colorado. It is a beautiful drive, but we were all so tire from our week, that for most of the car ride home the whole car was a sleep except for the driver. But we decided to get up early today so that we could get home early, and we got home about 4:00. We had a great vacation, but it so nice to be home.

Monday in Utah

I took the kids down to Temple Square today. I think the last time I was on Temple Square was when Miles was about 6 months old. I enjoyed the day with the boys just walking around and going through the visitor centers. I do think the boys enjoyed the day and felt the spirit like I did walking around. The Sister Missionaries loved my boys, and just showered them with attention and complements, which they loved! I really enjoyed the visitor centers, I think that they have been redone since the last time I was in them so it was nice.

After our day on Temple Square we got to go the family dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building for Briton my nephew, which was really reason that we came to Utah. Briton got his mission call to Russia and will go into the MTC on the 3rd. It was such a special night to be there with our family and Aleta's family and celebrate what a great kid Briton is and how proud of him that we all are that he chose to go on a mission.

What good look group! We are proud of you Brit.

Sunday in Utah

We went to church with Greg and Carly today. Gracie was so excited to have here cousins go to her class. I had told Miles and Tyson that they could both go to class with Gracie so that Tyson did not have to go to class by himself. Tyson fell a sleep during sacrament meeting and slept through about half of Sunday school. When we walk him into primary, Gracie's little face just beamed. She waved Tyson over to sit with her, and even shared her chaired with him. Just in case you were wondering, Miles told me that Uncle Greg's church had 25 speakers. OK, so I still laugh at this every Sunday.

After church My Uncle Richard, Aunt Shanna and cousins Dirk and Monica all came up to Greg's house for dinner with there families. It is always a highlight of my trips to Utah to get to see my cousins and catch up and see how much their kids have grown since the last time. Unfortunately I got to carried away in visiting and forgot to take pictures.

Saturday in Utah

Saturday was our fun day with the Utah Moffitt cousin. We got to ride the train into Salt Lake. This was a major highlight of our trip. The boys were beyond excited about this. It is a little sad, because we have a train in Dallas, but we don't live by it, and by the time we drove to the train, we could be in Dallas.

We rode the train to Gateway Mall (I guess, I don't know exactly what it was called). What a cool mall! I could have done some serious shopping, there were several shops that I would have liked to gone into. I guess thankfully for Troy, I had the three boys with me, and we had already made plans for the day. :(

We went to Discovery Kids and spent the day. This place was so much fun for the kids. They had a blast touching and getting into everything. I wish that there was something like that in Dallas I would get season tickets and take the kids all the time.

When you first enter you walk into a "beehive" filled with balls that they kids get to gather and drop down different tubes. We could have stayed here all day and made Drew one happy boy.

Tyson is very proud of the fact that he can spell his name (and Miles, and Drew). He can not identify all the letters yet, but he is getting there. I think this was done with some help from Aunt Carly.

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There was a Care Flight helicopter outside that the kids could get in and pretend to flight. This is Miles and Gracie at the controls.

Livi found this costume to put on, and wore it the rest of the time, it was really cute to see her running around.

Drew and Tyson are helping with construction. Oh no Troy - maybe they are going to follow in your footsteps.

There was jeep that the boys could fill with gas and pump up the tires. They had been eyeing for for a while, but there was always a ton of kids on it. Miles and Tyson were so happy when they finally got a turn. Miles was over there telling the kids how to check the tires and put air in them, because his Grandpa Moffitt had just shown him how to do it.

We had a great day! As you can probably guess, all the kids slept on the train ride home.

Friday in Utah

We got up in the morning and went to see one of friends from Flower Mound that recently moved to Utah. What a great morning it was to be with Heather and her kids. It was fun to just catch up with each other. I feel that is a good friend, when we don't see each other, or talk for awhile and then when you are together it is like no time has past. I know I have several friends in Utah that read my blog, I am sorry that I was not able to see everyone, but I will try next time.

For dinner we went up Mueller Park Canyon for a weeny roast. When I was growing up we use to go this canyon and eat all of the time. Driving past our old house, and then up into the canyon brought back a flood of memories. That park has not changed much from my memories. It looked the same, smelt the same, we ate and put drinks and the melon in the stream just the same. It is nice to know that some memories from your childhood are correct, and can be relived. It was a fun night to get to do something with my kids that I used to do with I was there age. I feel bad, because I sometimes I feel like my kids are never going to have the opportunity to see where I grew up and where I went to school like they will with Troy. So I was very happy to get to spend this evening with my kids.

The Drive up to Utah

We had a great time in Utah this year. The boys and I enjoyed getting to see the family and spending time with them. We ran at full speed for the whole week, and crashed when we got home.

We left Wednesday morning and started our drive through Texas and New Mexico. We took a couple of the Route 66 turn off and that just thrilled the boys. We would be driving down the road and they would start yelling "there is Flo's" "that's Sarge's" "Where is the Cosy Cone?" We did stop at the the Tee Pee gift shop in Tucumcari and let the kids get a license plate for their wall. The whole time Miles was telling us, this place in on Cars. Then we were talking to the owner and Miles told us, he is in Cars. Pretty soon a guy walked in and Miles said he is from Cars, and he turned to him and said your right! He was one of the guys interviewed in the making of Cars and he told the boys that he is friends with Sheriff (which thrilled them) and he told them they are making a new Cars movie. The boys were very excited! When we got back to the car, Miles made Grandpa watch the Cars movie so that he could show Grandpa that we just talked to the guy from Cars, and of course Miles was right. He never forgets anything!

We spent the night in Gallup on Route 66. I think that the boys were in heaven! I was not sold on the idea of staying in one of the original motels, so we found a newer one to stay in and everyone was happy. We did not realize that we would be dealing with trains all night along. I swear they went by every 20 minutes, and every time they passed Drew would pop out of his bed and yell "CHOO CHOO MAMA!"

The next day we stopped in Moab for a break at the "Hole in Rock." It was a fun place to walk around and get the wiggles out. The boys (and I think Grandpa) were most excited about the jeep.

I don't remember where we were when we took this, but this has got to be one of the funniest things that I have seen.

We were very happy to finally make it to Greg's house that night for a great dinner that they had waiting for us. Gracie and Livi were as excited for us to get there as Miles and Tyson were to get there.