Celebrating Colby!

July 13, 2008- Birthday walk

Me: Did you have a fun birthday, Colby?
Colby: Uh, huh.
Me: How old are you, now?
Colby: Two. yes. (twinkle in the eye!)
Me: You're not two...How old are you?
Colby: Two. (Hmmm...convincing)
Me: What do you like to play outside?
Colby: Play wif those.
Me: What are those?
Colby: Those! (points to toys outside)
Me: Ah! Those!

A little trouble with the last candle!

Me: What do you like to play inside?
Colby: Umm...Cars!
Me: What is your favorite toy?
Colby: Umm...Cars!
Me: What is your favorite CD?
Colby: Cars! (I'm sensing a theme!)
Me: What is your favorite movie?
Colby: Cars! (A marketer's dream)
Me: What is your favorite color?
Colby: Red. (Is anyone surprised?)
Me: Why?
Colby: Yes. I like red.
Me: Who is that color?
Colby: Umm...McQueen.
Me: Who is on your shirt?
Colby: Umm... Doc. Umm...Chick Hicks. Umm...Di-co (Dinoco). Umm..Snot Rod. Umm...McQueen.
Me: What kind of Cake do you think you'll want next year?
Colby: Cars cake! (Curious!)

Nothing better than eating cake at 8:00 pm!

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Colby: Get presents. (Sounds like a rewarding career!)
Me: But what do you want to be when you get big?
Colby: Cars cake.
Me: Hmm...can you think of what you want to be when you are bigger? Isaac wants to be a builder and Ian wants to be a knight. What would you like to do when you are big?
Colby: Star Wars... I'm not getting big...ummm...I want to go!
Me: Can I have a big hug first?!
Colby: (Huge, squeezing hug!)

We Love you, Double C!

Huck Finn

July 13, 2008

I just love personality pictures. I feel like this one really captures Ian's silly, laid back personality. He is so rarely without a grasshopper or moth in his hand or with a daddy long leg, ant or caterpillar crawling on him somewhere. Yesterday, we found that Ian had forgotten to wear shoes to church, again. Didn't phase him one bit. Guess we'll have to make a more pronounced effort to make sure he is completely clothed before we venture anywhere!

Happy Birthday, Carter!

Summer, 1979

Here is a picture that was taken of my brother, Carter, and me at a park in SLC, UT...such a long time ago! I loved those pants (I think they had little llamas embroidered on them). Seems like at this picnic, we had those little ice-cream cups with the wooden spoons on them. Yum! And, if you dug down deep enough in that sand, you were rewarded with some cool (as in temperature), red clay to play in!

This picture was taken a few days before Carter and Rebecca's wedding on June 14th, 2008 in Santa Barbara, CA.

Happy Birthday, Carter! We love you!

Happy Birthday, Colby!

Colby is 3! How did that happen so quickly?

We had our traditional birthday donuts in the morning(which the boys were soooo excited to pick out from the almost empty Wal-mart bakery last night) and our traditional balloon tied to the chair (usually it’s a special helium balloon…this time it was a regular orange balloon with a #3 drawn on it in black sharpie! Colby was just as excited, though!).

Colby also got to watch the Cars movie tonight, which he was absolutely thrilled about! Isaac and Ian have been banning that movie for the last couple of months in favor of the much more mature and adventurous Robin Hood and Winnie the Pooh’s Grand Adventure.

We won't be having the rest of the celebration until this weekend, though, since Scott's been out of town and will be jumping back into the crazy work schedule in the morning. That's ok, though...gives us longer to celebrate this special little guy (and more time for me to make his requested "Cars Cake").

Ian is Now a Bike Rider!

Ian has mastered the two-wheeler! Last summer he worked on it a little and even went a few yards here and there, but he just couldn't get that bike to work for him on our gravel road!

Today, I helped him try it again (I know...what took us so long!) and he loved it!
This is Ian doing his "I am so, super excited and proud" dance!

When I went inside to wake up Colby from his nap, Isaac continued to assist Ian and shortly thereafter, the door slammed and two excited boys announced that Ian could now ride! Ian kept saying, “Riding a bike is a big responsibility!” It was so fun to watch Isaac help Ian get started and give him such encouragement and praise. Isaac said he was Ian’s pit crew.

Like Father, Like Son

Isaac finished the Chronicles of Narnia today, (which is one of Daddy's favorite books) and had a lot to say about it...

Isaac: "Mommy, I finished it! I have read every chapter!"

Me: "What did you like about it?"

Isaac: "I liked mainly about dwarves.

Me: "What did you like about dwarves?"

Isaac: "Well, hmmm… I liked it when some guys were arguing, maybe. I liked through the stable door. Yes. I like it when the dwarfs are fighting with food, thinking that each of them has a better thing than the others. It’s pretty silly. Then they had a fight with food and pretty soon all the best food was smeared on each others faces and trampled on by feet."

I like it when in the Magician’s Nephew they almost plant Uncle Andrew head first but finally he succeeds in being planted feet first. I also like it when accidentally some gold and silver coins fall out of his pocket and after a little while they didn’t need water and sunshine. I think they actually did and they grew into silver and gold trees and they were made to make crowns for the first Kings and Queens of Narnia."

Me: "Was there anything you didn’t like?"

Isaac: "I think there were some chapters that had some scary parts in them…well, what was kind of scary was in the Silver Chair Chronicle and one that was kind of scary was in the dark castle in the silver chair, the Queen of Underland. The Queen isn’t really a queen. If you’ve read the Chronicles of Narnia and the Chronicle of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, you will remember how the witch said she was a queen. Exact same thing happened to this witch in underland, except she was green all over, not like the white witch. But some people in the Silver Chair said that she might have been one of the White Witch’s crew when she made her hundred year winter. When she was dead by a person Jill and Estes were looking for who is prince I don’t know how to pronounce the word, but I think it is Raylien (Rilian). In the Last Battle I think what was scary was a chapter called Who Will go into the Stable. I don’t know how to explain it very well."

Me: "Do you think you will read it again sometime?"

Isaac: "Maybe. It takes many days to finish it. I can read maybe one of the Chronicles, like the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, but I can’t read all of them in one day."

Eating Like a Bird...or a Porcupine!

Zane ate oatmeal for the first time today. He loved it! He has started opening his little mouth like a bird instead of pushing his tongue out! (ok, this picture isn't from today...and it isn't oatmeal...and he's still pushing it out with his tongue...but it's still cute!)

Speaking of eating...a porcupine came out tonight to eat the watermelon leftovers that I had set out for the deer. Wow! It was huge and had such a cute little waddle! I was really glad Oquirrh was inside the fence and couldn’t get to it. I’m really disappointed that I didn’t get a very good picture of it.

Daddy's Home!

Scott got back from his work trip to Virginia. He was only gone for about 3 days, but the boys and I were soooo glad to see him. Oquirrh missed him terribly, too. She didn't eat the whole time he was gone...except some chews and some wood! I think that she rectified that situation as soon as she saw him!

Five Months!

July 6, 2008

Zane is now professionally rolling from front to back, happily eating cereal, playing with his feet and hands, holding toys, putting everything he finds in his mouth and loving his loving brothers..."He's the cutest baby, ever, mommy, isn't he?!" (quote from Ian)

A Grand Old Flag and a Yankee Doodle Dandy!

Artwork by Isaac and Ian

God bless America! Land that I love! Stand beside her, and guide her through the night with your light from above! From the mountains... to the prairies... to the oceans, white with foam! God bless America! My home, sweet, home!

Ian just can't get enough watermelon! He just loves it!

Arrgh! Mateys!

VBS 2008 (June 23-27)
Nathaniel House (5), Ian (5), Isaac (7), Captain Loo/Pastor Jason, Colby 2 11.5/12, Zane (4 1/2 months), Josiah House (7)

This year in Vacation Bible School, Captain Loo Kingfora Savior and his little mateys found out that Jesus is the greatest treasure! They all had so much fun watching Captain Loo dodge sharks and Octopus in order to get to a desert island where the Bible was hidden in a treasure chest!

Can we build one of these when we get home, Mommy?

This was such a neat pirate ship and the boys were soooo excited about it! I believe Isaac is doing the Captain Loo dance in the picture! Gina said that she told her husband, Stan, that she needed a pirate ship for VBS and he and some other guys just whipped it together lickety split out of a bunch of cardboard. The mast is pointing at the amount of money the kids gave during the week. Their goal was $500.00, which would buy 2 1/2 sheep for some of our missionaries in Bulgaria. After the VBS program, over $1,000 was raised, which was enough for 3 1/2 sheep!