Swimming

Ok, a funny story I have to share with you all! Just yesterday (was that seriously just yesterday?) the boys and I went swimming at Sinsheimer Pool. Derek, Logan and I were in the ladies room getting changed (I didn’t have to change), minding our own business, when all of a sudden those sweet innocent boys got a first hand glimpse of a ladies external anatomy. The funny thing is, as they were trying so hard NOT to look at her, they had these looks of, “Holy cow, she’s naked!!!!” on their faces. After we left the changing room they both looked at me and said, “That was gross!” Hahahaha!!! I just looked at them and said, “Well, it’s a natural thing and there’s nothing wrong with her getting changed. And not all ladies look exactly the same.” Derek then proceeded to say, “Ya, mom, you don’t look like that! You look much better, right?” I just said that I didn’t sag quite as much as she did. :) Ahh, so funny.

This experience doesn’t end here, when Kaleb and Tyler found us at the ball park (Derek and Logan had to get to Jr Giants just across the street) they said there was a man that was naked in the shower: in the mens room (which is fine and dandy), so they couldn’t shower…lets just say it was a bit awkward for them. Hahaha. I guess Kaleb couldn’t stop laughing and Tyler kept trying to get him to be quiet…can you imagine? Oh, to live in a world where privacy just doesn’t matter to so many. I thought the woman in the ladies room would have been a bit more considerate, but I guess you learn something new every day!

I have mixed emotions about this experience. I’m glad the younger boys now know what a woman’s body looks like since they aren’t seeing mine naked EVER, they were a little repulsed by said naked body, so that makes me happy, too! I think it’s hilarious how all of this played out. And now Kaleb and Tyler know what to expect in the mens room. I’m not sure which I’d rather have Derek and Logan see…because I can’t control those boys in a room I can’t go in. They need a family changing room in that place!!!

Kaleb's 10th Birthday

Today my baby turned 10!! It's amazing what a wonderful young man he is turning into. He makes me so proud. Here are some shots from the last 2 days happenings.

We went to see Darius Rucker Monday night for FHE






The boys had a great time (and so did Will and I)







His rapidly melting ice cream cake






He was quite thrilled he finally got a rocket launcher






Enjoying the new game he got from Gramma and Grampa









Now, here's 10 reasons Kaleb is so special to me:

1. He is so kind to friends
2. He is thoughtful of others feelings (other than his brothers at times) :)
3. He is a huge help around the house
4. His job is to take care of the dog in the morning (that means I can stay in bed later than they all wake up)
5. He has such a love for music, singing, listening to his dad on the guitar, wanting to lead the music in Primary, wanting to play the piano and trombone, and the list goes on
6. His understanding of the gospel and Eternal Life
7. How much he always wants to ask questions and learn new things
8. His desire to help whenever he can
9. The active roll he plays as an older brother in helping take care of his younger brothers and how hard he tries to do what is right
10. Merely for being the wonderful young man he is.


I love you so much Kaleb-meister! You make my eyes sparkle with joy when I see you laugh and have fun. You make a momma proud!!

February to March Happenings

Logan and I took a trip to San Luis Obispo, California the middle of February so I could get my eyes re-lasered. It went well and we had a great visit while there.

Logan turned 4! We had a great celebration and can't believe our baby is 4 already.

Kaleb and Tyler had their Pinewood Derby, they both did great and Kaleb even won the whole event! Way to go Kaleb and Will!

Two of the kids favorite places to go are the Nashville Zoo and the Adventure Science Center. We've been fortunate enough to go to both places many times already and they never get sick of either place. I love the learning opportunities at the Science Center!

All three boys got awards at their 3rd quarter awards assembly. All grades have a different time for their assembly and I only had the camera for Kaleb's. They all did great this last quarter!

That's it in a nutshell, other than William's business going live and them working through bugs before it gets too big! :) You can visit TurnItUp Media to see what it's all about. I think you'll love what you see!

January happenings

Here's a few things we were up to in January:
Tyler turned 8 at the beginning of the year and was baptized at the end of January. We were able to enjoy K.C. here the middle of the month and Mom and Dad Scott at the end of the month. It was wonderful to have family come visit us! We had very lovely weather for January (seeing as we're in cold country) and were able to enjoy a lot of out door activities while Mom and Dad were here. While K.C. was here we had a cold going around, so we had to stay pretty close to home. It was sad, but any time spent with K.C. is enjoyable!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

So I'm a few minutes behind, but to me it is still Valentine's Day. We had a great day! The boys were up at 6:45 am or so. With only a few mild outbursts of, "He's gonna hurt me" between all the boys, William and I were aware of our surroundings at about 9 am. I then asked him, William, if he'd like to go to the Zoo with us today...he said he'd love to. Jaw Drop! He's got free time? He's been so busy with TurnItUp Media that we've been missing him so extraordinarily. So I get out of bed rather quickly so I can have the boys start to help me clean the house. An hour of everyone in the family cleaning got a good portion of the house clean, and we decided to eat breakfast (yes, at 11). We had eggs, bacon and pink pancakes in the shape of a heart. Kaleb asked after taking a few bites of his pancake, "Mom, is it ok if the inside of the pancake is pink?" Haha! It's not like meat! I reassured him it was how it was supposed to be, and he was as happy as a clam.

After a quick clean up of the kitchen, final touches on house jobs that should have been done right the first time, showers for the momma and dadda, and we were off on our adventure. No sooner than we pulled out of the driveway did we get a call from our friends Sean and Julie that they were on their way to the Zoo, too. We met up at the entrance and enjoyed our time together. It was Will's very first time to the Nashville Zoo and we were able to see nearly everything within the 2 hours we had before it closed. It was a bit windy, but not too shabby for Tennessee in February!

We got home, had clam chowder for dinner, enjoyed a little down time, Tyler talked to his friend Olivia in California, and we all played Rock Band for a few hours before bed. William and I then enjoyed a little quiet time as we watched TV, folded clothes, and I packed to leave for SLO on Monday. He's feeling a bit nervous about me being gone for 8 whole days. I am taking Logan, but he's got the other 3 with homework to worry about. The longest I've ever been away was 2 days...I hope I come home to my boys/man that are still happy to be together. :) I know he'll be fine and so will the boys. I wish I could take them all with me to see everyone in San Luis! My eyes can wait no longer, I must have them touched up before the middle of March, so now is the time. Maybe we can make a summer trip with everyone together...we'll see.

All in all, today was a fabulous day. We enjoyed being together the whole day with out interruption! I look forward to many more days just like this!

I'm not dreaming of a white Christmas anymore!

I don't have to dream! It snowed tonight! We all had a wonderful time playing in the snow before dinner and hot chocolate! NO SCHOOL TOMORROW!!!! We get to sleep in, play in the snow, play with friends, and have lots of HOT chocolate!! I know I'm crazy to be so excited to not have school, but I LOVE THE SNOW! I love having the snow somewhere I love to live (I miss SLO terribly, but it never snows there)!! Our promise to the boys that we were moving somewhere it snows came true...it hasn't snowed here much the last 10+ years, so it's amazing that it's snowing already and so much in one night. We made snowmen, snow angels, had snow ball fights and by the time the boys went to bed all the snow tracks we'd made were recarpeted with more snow. It's stopped since, but the roads are slick and no one knows how to drive in snow here. Here are some pictures of the fun we had tonight. All the boys loved it, Logan loved playing and eating, but not getting hit by snow balls unexpectedly. Kaleb throws a mean snow ball when he wants to! It was so much fun to see and hear the joy in all the boys faces as they chased each other and enjoyed the beauties the Lord gives us throughout the year.

I can't wait for more fun in the snow! I love how the white makes the earth look so fresh and new. My favorite thing to do is to go on a walk when the snow is softly falling around me and the roads are quiet. I feel so peaceful and happy and fond memories flutter about in the stillness of the white fallen flakes. It reminds me of how "the world in solemn stillness lay" that night so long ago when our Savior was born.

Christmas Bells, oh Christmas Bells, Sing your happy tune!

Oh how I love Christmas! The first thing I did Monday after we returned home from Maryland was pull out our Christmas bins. I have gathered more and more decorations throughout the years...I now have 4 bins full of fun Christmas goodies to put around our house! This year I am so excited because we have a mantel to decorate, and it looks beautiful!
We also have a stairwell this year that I get to put greenery on, that's the first thing I decorated this year!I love our little village collection and we finally have somewhere to showcase it, in the front entryway.
I have been able to find somewhere to put our manger with Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus. It fits perfectly on our side table in our livingroom.
Last, but not least, we have our beautiful Christmas tree. The boys had a blast decorating it. Will and I pulled it out of the box, set it up, fluffed it, and the kids did the decorating. They had so much fun! They did a really good job, too! We only had to coach a little and rearrange even less. I'm very happy with it and love looking at it. I love that it doesn't take up all our walking and sitting space (like it did in California).

An overall look of our living room from the dining room. I feel so happy just sitting in there doing nothing.
Here's what Logan thought was important...over and over and over again. He does love Mickey!!

Thanksgiving in Maryland

We had the privilege of visiting Will's family in Maryland for Thanksgiving. It was so great being there! I love only being 10 hours away! It's a little hop, skip, and jump to get there. His mom is looking so much better and is in pretty good spirits. She's at home, in bed, but at least at home! Michelle (Will's younger sister) is able to help take care of mom and does an excellent job at it, I might add! She is so patient and learns everything so quickly. I'm so grateful she is able to be there with mom during this difficult time. I do have to say that it's great how close almost all of Will's family is to his parents. His youngest sister, Kim, lives really close and is there most days, too. She's there with her beautiful baby girl, Baelee, which helps mom feel even happier. I love Will's family so much. I feel so lucky to have such loving and kind in-laws.

While we were there Rhonda, Will's older sister, had three children baptized...Maddie (8), Colby (9), and Heather (10). Maddie asked Will to baptize her, and he was thrilled for the opportunity. It was nice to see Mom up and around (in her wheelchair). I was able to give a little talk about the Holy Ghost, I think it went well. It was short and to the point, I do believe they listened through the whole thing. I was grateful to be included in the affair! I am so proud of those three amazing children for choosing to become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know they have made a very important first step to making it to the Celestial Kingdom to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again.

Better late than never Halloween pictures

So, I'm running a little late on posting these photos, but couldn't go on without them.


















I got to go to all the "Harvest" parties on the school "Character" day. Isn't it funny how they change names to make it more politically correct?


These pictures are from the ward Trunk or Treat. It was fun, but I wish our ward would do it on Halloween night so the kids didn't have to Trick or Treat, too. The transformer is a guy in our ward...pretty awesome. That is a homemade "costume"!
Here's all my Ninja's (notice Logan is a blue haired "Minja" like he'd wanted to be for nearly a year). We're all ready to go Trick or Treating around the neighborhood. The weather was nice and only got cold as we were finishing up.Pumpkin carving happened Halloween night before Trick or Treating. It was so nice having no homework and no church or school the next day.
We went over to Julie and Sean's and did a bit more Trick or Treating in their neighborhood, then watched "The Game Plan" together. It was a lot of fun!
Will and I even got into the spirit and dressed up for the Trunk or Treat, and Will for the Trick or Treating. It was a good Holiday! We can't wait for the next one. Also, I'll be posting our Thanksgiving trip to Maryland in the next couple days.

I voted, did you?

Yes, I voted today, and took all the boys with me. The school had a "teacher in-service" day today, so there was not any school. At 10:15 or so we took off to the polls...and it took me forever to find the road to turn on to get to the darn polls. The boys were great the whole time we were there, minus one melt down by Logan caused by Tyler, but we were mostly unscathed. We were done about 11:15, and headed to the Nashville Zoo, again. We just went Saturday, but didn't get enough. We missed a lot of the animals that day and wanted to play at the jungle gym again. There is the largest wood castle climbing jungle gym I've ever seen my entire life at this Zoo! The kids love it!!! Since we have a family pass, I can take them any time I want without having to pay. And I love having a membership to somewhere where it will actually get good use! We got to the Zoo about 12 and left at closing time, 4 pm. I still can't find my camera, and apparently it's not at Julie's, so I need to scavenge for it one of these days. Once I find it, I have fun pictures of the boys school classroom parties (3 parties in 1 hour is a bit overwhelming, but a lot of fun) to post. Julie has pictures from our trip to the Zoo on Saturday, so once I get those I'll post them, too. :)

A quick update:

So, the last few weeks have been full of fun! Kaleb went for a plane ride for Cub Scouts at a near by airport. It's a program where children ages 8-17 can fly for free one or two Saturday's a month. It's pretty awesome and he had a blast! I'm sure we'll be taking advantage of that now we know about that option!

We've caught 3 caterpillars recently. Only the first survived and became a beautiful butterfly. I unfortunately didn't get a picture of it before we let it go. The big "Heimlich" one it the picture did not survive to cocoon even, so sad we killed a movie character!

Derek's class had a field trip to the Nashville Zoo. Logan and I joined his class/1st graders for the fun one hour jog through the Zoo. Ya, only one hour to go through a Zoo the week before I completed in 4 hours! We were dead tired, but had a blast! The shot of the bugs doesn't do them justice, especially since it's fuzzy. They are the biggest bugs I've ever seen! They are HUGE!

I've also done some re-upholstering of our bar stools, they were so disgusting so I put on a Leather fabric that is completely washable! :) Anyone who had seen the stools before the re-upholster knows how nasty they were. Those who hadn't, imagine 4 young boys sitting on a canvass-y type of material dropping drinks, food, and who knows what else on them, and you'll know what I'm talking about. I'm very happy with the outcome!!
A little while ago Tyler lost a tooth. He won't let me touch his teeth when they are ready to fall out. So, being the brave little man he is, he took a paper towel into the bathroom and came out with a tooth in hand...very impressive. I'd never of been able to do that as a child, I was a wuss!

Kids say the darndest things!

Logan, yesterday, as I was paying attention to something else trying to get ready to leave for Walmart says, "Mom, can I bring my oy oy?" Hello? What the heck is an "Oy Oy"? I turn around and look to see what he is talking about. Many of you may have figured this out by now...no??? A Yo-Yo! I laughed so hard, it was so cute, and he had no idea why I was laughing. It's like when we were in SLO and Gramma became "Emma" (which is an endereing term for her still today). Logan will also look at me and with all seriousness say, "Mom, I am a blue minja, cause blue minja's are nice." Sometimes it changes to an orange "ninja". There was a short time where he said he was going to have blue hair, because he was a blue minja. Another thing about Logan...if one of his brother's gets a hold of our camera...he tends to come up with some of the funniest poses. Like this one:
Or even this one:

How crazy is my kid? These were taken before me moved. I think I've kept the camera out of their hands for the most part since we arrived here. He did break our camera at one point in January while taking pictures of Garen and himself like these:
Here's a few other pictures the boys have taken through the years:

My kids crack me up. Ya know what? I'm really glad I've given them control of the camera at times (of course most of those times I didn't know I was giving them control until after the fact). Some of the greatest pictures have come from those times! Can I just say...my kids are hilarious! It's nice to see pictures of them being who they really are, to help me remember how much fun they have, and we have, together.

A day at the Carousel in the Mall/1st Day of School

My friend Julie invited Logan and me to go to the Cool Springs Mall where they have an indoor Carousel.  So, we decided to go.  Who can refuse a chance to get out of the house and to go to an indoor mall where it's airconditioned! I remembered to take my camera, too!
The kids had a blast.  We'll have to take all four boys and all of the Gates family there some time. The best thing was getting lunch in the food court right after that.  I was finally able to have a blizzard from Dairy Queen.  Ahhhh!  Nothing like them!

I've finally gotten the pictures put together from the first day of school, too.  Given it was the 11th of August...a bit late is better than never, right?

Ok, so I threw in a few other pictures.  We've also got Logan sacked out due to waking up at 6am (bleh) to get the boys ready and off to school, Mater kickin it on his new pillow/bed, and a view from the house between rain storms.

More home

Will put this slide show together of the house. I wish I could do all those cool things on my computer. His Mac rocks! The pictures of the pool and park are the community facilities. I wish the play equipment was in our back yard. But it is in walking distance, so I can't complain too much.

I don't know why it has a single picture of the first pic of the slide show...I can't get rid of it either. I also said I'd have pics of the commons/loft area so you could see how we managed to not have any hallways. So I finally took some.

Now we have Logan and Gramma hangin' out before we moved. We stayed with them from the 2nd of July until moving day, the 7th of July. Derek jumped in there for some of the action, too.


On one of my near future posts I'm going to put pictures up of the rewards and rules we have hanging in the commons area (you can see them in small form on the pics I put up today). We find they work very well, and we've changed the feel of our rules to be much more positive then they were before.

Happy Birthday Kaleb!

I had a friend ask me if I felt like I was getting old since Kaleb was turning 9. I simply looked at her and said, "No, because I'm not getting any older, only my kids are, right?"

WOW! Kaleb turned 9 years old on Monday. I wonder if I will ever get over my amazement at how old the children keep getting. It feels like it's happening just right, but then I start to think about how quickly he is going to be teenager and I wonder if he's still going to want to give me hugs and zerberts much longer. It will be a sad day when he's done with the zerberts!

We had a great time for his birthday! We had great friends come over to help it feel like a real family birthday party. After leaving so much family we were so used to celebrating everything with it's nice to have loved ones here we feel so comfortable calling family. Here's a few pictures from the events of the evening.














Kaleb definately was excited about his presents!











Make a wish! That's a face most of you in SLO will recognize!











It was a house full of fun, laughter, and family!!




We even managed to keep it a BBQ in the midst of a crazy downpoor. This is how we were able to manage BBQing on the back porch without it having a cover. Thanks babe, for being willing to get soaked to the bone and sacrafice for all of us! We all appreciated what you did! Our tummies were happy, too!

Here's 9 things that amaze me about Kaleb:

9. How he can find joy in anything he does.
8. How easily he makes friends.
7. How everyone immediately becomes his "best friend".
6. The ways he takes after his dad...he's a techie!
5. The determination he shows in doing his best.
4. What a great big brother he is.
3. The way he understands Math so well.
2. How amazing he is doing in 3rd grade! He's blowing my mind away at his accomplishments so far. Thanks Ms. Eagan for being the teacher he needed you to be!
1. How much he knows about Jesus Christ and His gospel.

Our House Part Deux

Here's some more of the pictures I've taken since arriving.


Here's the boys at our Island and a tiny taste of all the trees

Trees are everywhere! The picture with the trampoline is our back yard (the trampoline is the neighbors').

Kaleb lounging in the commons and Tyler in the Media room.

I never thought I'd have this much closet space. Will's side is on the left and my side is on the right (I think he has more clothes than I do). :)

There's 4 bedrooms, one we use as an office, since Will is working from home. All the "Bedrooms" are upstairs. I'll get a picture of the commons area facing all the doors to the bedrooms and bathrooms to show how we've avoided any hallways (my biggest dislike in a home). We are loving all the space. I have my mostly clean sanctuary downstairs and the mess can be upstairs. And, yes, the boys try to get away with all kinds of shinanigans on the stairs, but we try to keep it at a minimum so no one gets hurt on them. Yes, we like to spoil all the fun. Haha. The next post is going to have some of the things we were able to do during the summer...so stay tuned.