The Well Traveled Bit

I debated about sharing this story because it makes me feel like a horrible mom, but it truly is amazing. As a preface, Sister Bella is constantly trying to feed and stuff things in little Isaac's mouth.

About a week ago, Chuck had his tools out working on reupholstering our kitchen chairs. The kids were having a great time playing with a screwdriver bit kit he had out. When he went to gather the scattered bits he realized that one was missing but figured that it would show up eventually.

It eventually did show up about 6 days later. He was holding Isaac while Trina and I were getting our hair done and he just wouldn't stop crying. Chuck checked his diaper and he had pooped so he pulled off his diaper and there was the missing screwdriver bit in the bottom of the diaper! We concluded that Bella must have feed him the bit days earlier and his little body was finally getting rid of it. Isaac didn't seem to mind having the bit in his little intestinal track. He only was disagreeable when it was in the bottom of the diaper. Chuck called the Doctor and he told us not to worry as long as he wasn't bleeding and the bit was in one piece. We felt really bad for poor Isaac. It is scary to think that it could have been much worse had he choked on the bit. It made me almost cry at the time, but what a story!

Weekend in Helper

Samuel was so excited to see Grandpa's new 4-wheeler (or as he thinks - Samuel's 4-wheeler that has to stay at Grandpa's house)! We all had to take turns taking him for a ride because that's practically all he wanted to do all weekend. He did tell mommy she needed to go over the bumps because I was avoiding them at first.



Samuel is fasciniated with all of Grandpa's humming birds. He couldn't wait to help make more juice.



We took the kids to Dino Mine Park to play. They sure do have a lot of fun at this park!

Helper Parkway

On Friday night we took the kids for a walk along the parkway.



I wanted the kids to walk across the swinging bridge. It's not quite as scary as I remember when I was a kid. The kids sure enjoyed trying to run along as it swayed.

Hey Brady - does this look familiar. You're eagle project is looking a little worn these days, but what can you expect it's only been about 16+ years!

Samuel is very curious about everything and so he was asking Grandpa about every piece of mining equipment. He wanted to know what it was called and exactly what it did.

After taking in all the information Grandpa passed along, Samuel would then turn to me and tell me what he had just learned.



That night Samuel and Chuck decided to sleep on the back lawn in the tent. Samuel was so excited he could hardly settle down to go to sleep. Chuck wanted to come in because the wind was blowing, but Samuel was staying put. Samuel finally did consent to come inside about 1:30 a.m. when the wind whipping the tent was just too noisy for them to sleep.

Huntington Canyon

On Saturday we took a drive up Huntington Canyon for a little picinic. The weather was beautiful!

Mom wasn't with us for any of the festivities because she had a tooth operation on Friday morning. This may explain why we are eating off a big rock for our table without any plates, utensils or napkins. But we enjoyed it!

The kids love throwing rocks in the river and watching Grandpa throw really big ones in is their favorite. Just look at the size of the rock about to hit the water!



It's hard to see in this picture, but if you look really close you can see Grandpa Clayton up on the hillside. He crossed the log in the picture above and climbed the hillside throwing and rolling big boulders down to the river. He was providing quite the show for us! I'm just glad Samuel is young enough he couldn't go along on this adventure. We were worried Grandpa was going to come tumbling down the hill himself!

Grandpa Clyde

Grandpa Clyde passed away August 17, 2008 at the age of 98.

He fought in World War II in the Pacific.



My dad gave Grandpa Clyde this picture for Father's Day in 2006. It personifies Grandpa's life - tough, hard working and determined to get the job done. (The same could be said for you dad!). Grandpa was also a great example to us of always having a positive attitude no matter the situation.

As we drove from the chapel in Elmo to the cemetary in Orangeville our eyes were greeted by an amazing and beautiful sight. Flags lined both sides of the road leading to the cemetary.



The military tribute - something that I have never seen before was very touching and made each of us so proud for the sacrafice and service to our country Grandpa had given many years ago.

Each of Grandpa's children was presented with a flag.





The day truly was a celebration of a life well lived!

Isaac Pictures

Isaac started grabbing his toes this week.

He has the short stuby Cox legs like all the rest of the kids!

Samuel Pictures

More photo practice with Samuel. If you wonder why there aren't any pictures of Bella it's because she runs away and screams "No" when I try and take a picture of her.

Funny Bella story: This week Isaac was on the bed and Bella climbed up by him, lifted up her shirt and rolled him towards her stomach. It took me a second to realize that she was trying to nurse him!

Funny Samuel story: Samuel climbed up on the kitchen island where Isaac was sitting in his bouncy seat and was trying to play with him. I told Samuel not to touch Isaac's seat because it could fall of and kill him. A little dramatic I know, but sometimes we do those things! Anyway, Samuel looked at me and said, "Can we buy a new baby then?".

1st Rice Cereal

Isaac turned 4 months old this week so I gave him his first taste of rice cereal. He didn't really like it, but ate a few bites. After the first few bites he started knocking my hand away whenever I got close to his mouth - I guess he didn't like it that much!

Not a happy look after the first taste!

The next night Bella and Samuel decided they were going to make Isaac rice cereal. They got out all the bowls and pans and were making quite the pretend bowl of rice cereal.

Bella went and pretended to feed Isaac first, but Samuel was quick to join in on the fun. These spoons were a little big for poor Isaac who has to endure these two "playing" with him all the time!

What a Mess!

I was feeding the baby the other day and the kids again got into the closets and emptied everything out. Samuel now climbs clear to the top and so there was not one thing left in Bella's closet or in his side of the closet. The last time this happened they did it in Isaac's closet and so we put a bungee cord around it so they couldn't get in by themselves. Well now all the closets are bungeed closed!



So after I saw the mess I told Samuel he had to clean everything up before he could play with daddy after work. He went upstairs to work on it and then told me he had cleaned everything up by putting it all into one pile. Not really my idea of cleaning up the mess, but he was sure proud of himself! Poor Chuck spent hours that night helping Samuel get everything put back away, but hopefully this won't happen again!

New Chairs

Chuck and I are stil working on our weight loss goal of losing 10 lbs. each. I actually am in the lead since I only have 1.5 lbs. to go. I wanted a new kitchen set if I won, but then decided I wanted something for my camera instead. So we decided to try and reupholster our dirty chairs instead of getting a whole new set and I actually really liked the way they turned out. Chuck did a great job! I had the easy task of cutting the material and wouldn't you know I wasn't thinking and cut the first piece too small, thus we only had enough material to cover 5 of the 6 chairs. Now we have to buy almost a whole yard again!

Before - all dirty from the kids!

After - easy to wipe clean!