Monster Hat...oh sheesh!

Can you guess what's coming? Let me introduce you to the "monster hat". This mobile was lovingly broken by Taycie and has since been used for a very scary hat. Taycie: (with the "hat" on) "Look mom, I'm a monster! Raaaaa!"

Cason had to join in the fun of course, since "monster" and "hat" were in the conversation.

The one I didn't expect to participate was our little Brockers. I thought maybe I could get the hat on for a couple seconds for a cute blog picture. What I found a few minutes later was this little video.

Adoration

These two adore each other.

Can you believe this girl's eyes?

Cason would always rather pull a silly face...

Best buds.

Ladies and Babies

Girls weekend was great! Here are a few pics of the good times had by all....All the baby girls, Ailey, Vanessa, Kaila, and Eliza.

Being the experts that we are this photo shoot (shirts from Erin) took all but 1.5 minutes, tops.

Mommys are Amy, Di, Jen, and Erin.

Hand and foot is a must, just a little harder when trying to distract the little ones from eating the cards.

ELIZA HOLD STILL FOR AUNTIE!! I am attempting to tame the mane of our little firecracker, Eliza.

This is the best pic I have of the proof that there is a little gollum in us all. Sorry Erin, I had to put it in...our little Eliza sporting the all the gloriousness of her hair.

Jen would not cooperate...urg....but I thought this was cute of Kaila who looks adorable in just about any color..

She was tackled numerous times by the force of Eliza's hugs but managed to make it through the tough times with a tear or two and lots of smiles!

Here is sweet Vanessa, with whom I got to travel with and who is such a great little girl!

She never calls attention to herself. And I looked at her a couple of times to realize that she had been looking at me for awhile just smiling without my attention on her. (either I am really funny looking, or really beautiful...)

And here is the lady of the weekend!! Miss Ailey (pronounced I-Lee) Mae.

She was so alert and even had Isaiah's "golden arches"! Amy is such a good mom and never complains about the stresses of motherhood, and her kids adore her!





All in all it was an awesome week! Thanks to the girls who made it possible.

A couple items that don't realate...

Hammond camping trip. It wasn't that bad for the pregnant lady except that the kids got cold at night and had to all sleep with us in our queen air mattress! They took the kids hiking up to table rock and the kids got 5 miles and had to turn back with Unlce Jeremy and Grampa. Mike got all the way to the top and for about a week afterward was complaining about all the aches and pains. All I had to say was, "Try having a baby..."

Brock has bronchilitis (sp?)...again. He has already had it once and RSV as well. These are all of his "keep me breathing" supplies. Too much for a little guy if you ask me. He also had an ear infection, thus, the anti-biotic, and he has to have a steroid to strengthen his lungs. He acts as though there is nothing wrong with him.

Next item-first day of school! Cason is going to preschool down the street with Sister Hagar (yes, they even call their teachers "sister" here in Utah). He loves it so far and is excited to take his Thomas the Train backpack. These kids really love their dad.
I realized I might want to reevaluate my parenting techniques when Taycie, BEFORE she goes outside says, "Mom, I need to take my shoes off". And I also think their might be something amiss when their feet are dirty even before they put their shoes on....aren't only the bottoms supposed to be dirty?

Lions and tigers and....Taycie's hair, oh my!!

My thought by the middle of the day is always, "Why do I even bother?" I have put together some proof of my pains to make my angel's hair look nice and her pains to make it a rat's nest in two or three hours.....I have a morning shot and then the "after" shot

Glad for the reminder...

These are my little angels in the morning wanting
to finish their waking up with mom and dad.















I am so grateful for church. If I didn't have reminders every week about what is possible for me, I would be on the fast track for disaster. Our lesson was on the conference talk by Elder Ballard given to young mothers. Two things that have stuck with me are that when I get frustrated with my kids or husband it is not because of something they did, but how I chose to handle it. Mike has been working late nights every night so I have the kids all day and have to get them ready and in bed by myself most days. i have found myself getting angry or frustrated when my kids won't put their pajamas on fast enough. In our lesson they talked about focusing on the "doing" instead of the "getting it done". This struck me like a lightning bolt. What the heck am I doing? Relax, sister!! So now with the help and helpful hints from Elder Ballard, I am determined to enjoy the bathing and changing and feeding and putting to bed, and all the other monotonous but AWEOME moments in my children's lives. Wish me luck!

Cason Phelps

Let me just say....Cason is our awesome man. He saw Isaiah jump off the board and swim to the side and also watched Michael Phelps swim his way into history. He was particularly interested in the breaststroke, so he tried to imitate it the best he could, we think he did awesome. On a side note- Cason just turned 4 in August, we were a little worried about the pool when we first moved in for obvious reasons. Mike and I were both lifeguards and I taught lessons for awhile so we thought we could handle it. It is probably no surprise to any of you that it is hard to teach your kids how to swim. All the other kids would listen to me. Anyway, I just decided to get him in the pool as much as posible to build his confidence. Although I have tried to teach him many things in the pool, all that you see is inspired by master Isaiah or master Phelps