Boys' Babble

After attending sacrament meeting with my family in Logan, for the blessing of our sweet nephew Lincoln we were asked to stand outside for a group picture.  Caleb had had enough, so he explained to me, "No pictures, Mommy...I'm airsick."  What a funny kid.  I've never heard of airsickness from church, but perhaps that was the result of the paper airplanes that Nathan made out of the program.

I caught Caleb singing a song that he made up himself.  It went like this..."I have popcicles, rainbow popcicles.  They make me happy."  He was so pleased with himself.  It was so cute. 

When Caleb told Nathan about his day he said, "Mommy put germs all over me."  --I have no idea what he was referring to, but Caleb goes crazy when he feels sticky.   At breakfast I usually just put a washcloth next to his plate (it's quicker than having him run to the sink multiple times during the meal). 

I struggled to cut through a platic tie to get one of Caleb's birthday presents out, and Caleb asked, "Does that afflict you?"  'Afflict?'  I've tried to figure out where my 4-year-old would have learned that word and all I can figure is maybe he's picking up on my from our scripture reading than I realize.  Wow!

Liam came upstairs shortly after we put him to bed.  He complained that he couldn't sleep because of the growing pains in his nose.  Now I've heard it all. 

Liam and Caleb saw a swingset at Walmart.  It was roped and wired so that it couldn't be played on.  Liam asked me, "Are those electric?"  What a funny visual--a swingset with electric wire--it totally made me laugh.  Then Liam, came back with, "Why don't you go sit on it?"  He tried to say it so off-the-cuff, innocent.  I guess I'll have to watch myself from now on.  That little stinker. 

Liam came upstairs one day and asked, "Did it really, really, really, really hurt when you had us as babies?"  Where did he come up with that?  I just told him that it hurts sometimes when you have a baby, but my boys are totally worth it.  That seemed to satisfy him for now.  I'm really not ready for 'that' talk. 

We were looking at a picture book that had a picture of Christ with a lion (the Lion and The Lamb).  Daniel leaned over and said, "I didn't know that Christ had a pet lion?!"  What a cutie.   My own Daniel in the Lions' Den liked that idea.

I just walked in on a conversation between Caleb and Liam.  It went something like this... "Who builded the animals?"  "Jesus builded them."  "Yeah, He had to put in the right ingredients like, blood and guts and meat and some other slimey stuff."  It sounds like they've got it all figured out.  Boys, boys, boys!

Email Me

To those who need our new address and phone number...
email me at nathan_and_michelle@yahoo.com and I will email you all our new info. I'd like to keep in touch but I feel pretty out of touch since the move. If any of you will be in Utah, I'd love to get together. Call us if you need a place to stay.

Spring Break Salt Lake

When we lived in CA we used to love going downtown to visit Nathan at work and to go out to lunch together. So with time off from school, for spring break, we drove to Salt Lake City and went into the State Capitol to continue our lunch out with Dad tradition. We enjoyed the gorgeous weather on our walk down from the Capitol.

My boys love water features!

Temple square was beautiful.

Liam Joseph next to his namesake Joseph Smith.

And here's our Daniel in the lion's den.

I couldn't help myself. Every mom needs a ring around the rosie picture infront of this statue!

We had lunch at City Creek Mall. It was really busy and really beautiful. We followed the creek, but didn't actually go in any stores--just the food court. The boys loved watching the fish.

After lunch, Nathan hiked back up to the Capitol and I took the boys to the interactive kids' area in the Church History Museum.

The boys got to help build and sail Nephi's ship.

They did some fishing from the ship.

They translated and handled the gold plates. They built temples,

They rode missionary bikes,

Liam had some fun with puppets....Don't you love Liam's expressions?!

Worked the primary children's song turntables,

Planted and harvested gardens, Prepared a missionary feast,

Made pioneer buzzsaw toys, Sounded the trump (the boys thought it was so cool to see how big the angel Moroni on the temple actually is),

More Daniel in the lion's den, Looks like Caleb is one up on the lions!

On our way out, we went to the Visitor's Center. They have a really neat 3-D map of Christ's final week. It had been a long day, but the boys didn't want to leave until they got to see each of the areas located in Holy Week. I think that needs to be our new Easter tradition.

To be honest, I thought I'd have to carry Caleb the whole way back up the hill to the Capitol, or possibly call Nathan to rescue us in his vehicle. But the boys were troopers. They made it the entire way.

One more lion photo op. We played hard and Caleb was asleep just a minute after climbing back into the car. What a fun day. There is so much to see, so close to Nathan's work. There will be many more lunch outings in the future.

Playing House!

We finally moved into our house the 19th and 20th of January. It was such long process, that we found ourselves doubting, even after the closing papers had been signed, that all would go through--but miraculously it did.

Nathan was already busy with the Legislative session, so my mom and dad and I loaded up the first half ourselves. I called our new Bishop to find out how to get the power, water, etc. turned on and he immediately volunteered help moving us in. We were only able to give him 1 1/2 hours notice, but when we got there, he and 6 other guys from the Elders quorum were waiting. Nathan also met us there to unload. All of the guys made quick work unloading. Everyone was so kind and willing to help. They even told us to call the next day when we were ready to unload the rest! We felt so welcomed. It was further testimony to us that the Lord had a hand in our move.

The next day my brother Jared, and my sister Andrea and her husband Paul came down with my parents to complete emptying the storage unit. It fit nearly perfectly in my dad's snowmobile trailor. Once again, we called with little notice to see if anyone would be willing to help us unload. Once again, we were really touched by all those who generously returned to help unload. In addition to some of the elders quorum, we had 3 neighbors stop by to help. Wow! What an awesome neighborhood. My mom made homemade soup and brought drinks and treats for everyone. My sister Emily came down and got the fridge set up and cleaned out. Mom Brady sent us a big box of groceries so we'd have food that first few days, so we wouldn't have to worry about it. We were all totally worn out, and amazed that most all of this had fit into a home under 1300 square feet! Mostly, we were just grateful for family, a new home, with great new neighbors and a supportive ward.

After some food and thanks, we went back to Mom and Dad Brady's to pick up our boys (our car had been loaded to the brim-with no room for the boys). It was around midnight when we arrived at our new home for our first night's sleep. We all slept in blankets on the floor. (Not very comfy, but we were thrilled to finally be there!)

The next morning we went to the church for a primary activity that we'd been invited too. We were exhausted, but I felt it was important to get the boys involved as quickly as possible.

The next few weeks were spent cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, and unpacking. The house had been previously lived in by a dad, his two teenage sons and 3 big dogs. Everything was covered in dog hair. I had a lot of asthma.

Liam's 1st Lost Tooth

Liam's tooth had been loose for nearly a month. He kept asking us to pull it out for him, but he didn't want to wiggle it out himself. Finally, Liam lost it on March 30th. He was having a picnic outside with his brothers (in a wagon, which I'm told was their boat). His tooth popped out when he bit into an apple. Liam loves apples so I'd wondered from the beginning, if it might be the perfect thing to get the job done. Liam put the tooth in the pillow that Grandma Bohman had made him and he wasn't disappointed. The Tooth Fairy left him two gold dollars. Wow! What a cute toothless grin.

Weather or Not

This weather has been really strange. One day it snows, the next it all melts and is warm enough to go out without a coat. I guess Utah is going easy on us, since we're used to California sunshine. Whatever it is, I'll take it. No cabin fever here. This whole week it's up near 70--perfect. I called friends in CA and found out it was nicer weather here than there. Strange.
One night the boys and I built this snowman to welcome Nathan home from a very late night with the legislative session (He didn't get home until after 11:30.). They named him Fred Ice Cream.
My boys love shoveling snow. We really haven't needed to shovel since it's all melted off the day after, but they've had fun with it anyway. I hope they keep their enthusiasm for the job in harsher winters yet to come.

Birthday Blizzard or Confetti?

Liam's actual 6th birthday, March 6th, was a blizzard. Caleb misunderstood me and as he gazed out the window, kept asking me where the lizard was. Liam loved it and decided that the world was just throwing confetti to celebrate his birthday! I love that imagery.

With Nathan working late for the legislative session, I took the boys to McDonald's Play Place (Liam's choice) to get out of the storm. They even got happy meals with Star Wars toys! I'm glad Liam had a great day.

Mysteries of the Kingdom

Tonight, in our scriptures we read about being children of God.  Daniel said, "We are all sons of God."  I added that I'm a daughter of God.  Liam chimed in with, "Who's His uncle?"  Leave it to Liam to ponder the deeper mysteries of the kingdom.