(Yes, two posts in one day!)
On November 5th Brady and I were lucky enough to be able to go listen to an apostle of the Lord speak in our church building. Elder L. Tom Perry came to our stake for stake conference. Saturday night was the adult session. It was great to be able to go and listen to him speak to us without any kids running around and distracting us. ;) It was great to be reminded that Christ is the center of our church and we need to be examples and strive to be Christ-like people throughout our lives. After the adult session we left and picked up Kolton from our friend's house, the Smiths. They hired Madison to babysit their kids during the adult session and offered for us to bring Kolton over there too, so that's what we did. Kolton had a lot of fun playing with their kids! We then went home and started to watch the LSU/Alabama game (number 1 and number 2 teams respectively). At about 11:00, we started to hear a really loud rumble and then the whole house started shaking pretty hard. It lasted about 40-50 seconds. We quickly grabbed Kolton from bed and took him outside. He didn't even notice a thing and we were able to put him right back in bed after it was done and he went right back to sleep. Turns out the earthquake was a 5.6--largest one in Oklahoma! I've never felt an earthquake before, so that was kind of cool, but kind of scary too!
The next day was the regular session of stake conference. I was pretty worried about seating so Kolton and I got there at 9:00. We ended up sitting about half way back in the gym. This session was just as great as the session the night before and I really enjoyed it. Kolton didn't distract me too much so I was able to listen to most of it. Elder Perry gave a great talk. He's actually a pretty funny guy. Anyway, at one point during his talk he was talking about how the prophet came to stay at his house when he was a little boy and how nervous he would get around him. One morning the prophet had overslept so his parents sent him in his room to wake him up. He was terribly nervous, not knowing how the prophet was going to respond, but much to his delight the prophet was very sweet and picked him up and talked to him for several minutes about growing up to be a righteous young man. Elder Perry picked one of the primary children who were sitting on the stand (they were the choir for stake conference) and had him come up and stand by him. The boy was 8 I think and was very well behaved. He stood right next to Elder Perry and just looked up at him and paid close attention to every word Elder Perry was saying. It was so sweet to watch. I hope my son grows up to be like that little boy! What a special experience for that boy as well! After conference was over I took Kolton up to the front with Brittney and her kids to shake Elder Perry's hand. Kolton was so excited to be able to shake an apostle's hand. As we were getting closer to Elder Perry we passed Sister Bean and her kids, Sister Perry, and Sister Luke (our Patriarch's wife) sitting on the bench. We stopped and chatted with them and then it was our turn to say hi to Elder Perry. Kolton walked right up to him and shook his hand and then looked at me with the sweetest smile. He was so excited he got to meet an apostle and I was so happy for him. Elder Perry is such a sweet and loving man who loves to serve the Lord and the people around him. I feel really blessed to have been able to participate in this stake conference with him here.
That night Brady and I were sitting on the couch and we felt another earthquake! This one was a 4.7 and lasted about 35 seconds. Even though it was smaller then the one from the night before, it was closer to us and so it felt a lot stronger.
On Mondays I go couponing (love it!) to CVS, Walgreens and sometimes Target and Walmart depending on what the deals are. Kolton has come to actually really enjoy going to these stores with me. This particular Monday we were pulling in to Walgreens and Kolton goes, "Mom! Walgreens!" I said, "Yep, we're going to Walgreens." He responded, "Mom, its like wall and green--Walgreens!" He thought it was so cool that the name Walgreens consisted of the two words--wall and green. Its neat to watch him figure things out like that.
On November 7th the Disney Cars 2 tour came to Oklahoma City (sponsored by State Farm). Brady heard about it at work that morning and said I should go. It was up at Quail Springs Mall. It started at 12:00, I believe. Kolton and I got there at like right at 2:00. We waited in line for an hour and a half before we got to the cars. Kolton was SUPER excited! Before we got in line we stopped at the trailer and took a couple of pictures.
Kolton brought his Francesco little car he got from the store the day before. He was hoping they'd have a real life Francesco for him to see.
When we got in there they gave the kids a magnet. Then each kid got to take a picture with each car. First was Mater, then Flyn, then Lightning McQueen. They took pictures of the kids too and gave you a card that had the picture information on it. You could go online and look at the pictures.
As we left they gave you a Cars 2 mug and a bag with a bunch of cars 2 stuff (coloring book, crayons, stickers, decals, car freshener, sham-wow etc.). Kolton thought it was pretty cool which made the almost 2 hour wait worth it!
On November 12th I told Brady I'd give him a pedicure that night. While I was working on his feet, Kolton came out of his room and asked what I was doing. He then sat there and watched each step and asked if I would do him after daddy and if I'd do it just like I did daddy's. So I did. :) He had to have his pants just like daddy had his pants. As I was rolling them up he asked me, just to check, if I did this with daddy's pants. He loved his pedicure. It was too cute. He'd laugh and laugh as I'd scrub and clean his feet. By far his favorite part, though, was getting his toe nails painted clear. He thought it was SO cool that he was finally being allowed to get his toe nails painted--even if it was just clear.
Kolton loves to pose for me. Seriously. We were at the park and he said he wanted to lay like these next couple pictures so I could take pictures of him. I'm thinking he's had a lot of pictures taken of him throughout his life! :) He's so hilarious! The Monday before Thanksgiving Brady had a half day because he worked the Saturday before. He thought it would be fun to go rent a car racing game from Blockbuster for Kolton and him to play that afternoon. I guess I was being cranky at the time they were going to leave so I was "uninvited" to go with them. I really didn't want to be left behind (nor did I want to send them to a store alone--you know what happens when that happens!) so I asked if they'd reconsider and let me come along. Kolton did not want me to come! :) He wanted just him and daddy to go. I kept pestering him and asking him to let me go (in a playful way) but he responded with "You're stretching me out!" (in a not so playful way :)). It made me laugh that he thinks the saying is "stretching" and not "stressing." Kind of sad, too, though, that apparently I say that to him.
He's just too cute, though! See that scratch on his arm?? I was sewing Brady's blanket one night and had pinned it up on one side. Kolton came and leaned on the blanket as I was sewing. I didn't even think about what he was doing or how that could go very wrong. He went to slide down on to the ground and his arm caught a pin and totally cut him all down his arm. It was so sad! He was totally shocked as to what had just happened! Its getting better now, but for a couple of days we weren't allowed to touch it. :)
One more quick story...Kolton and Brady were watching football and Brady asked Kolton what position Kolton would like to play if he played football. Quarterback? Runningback? Receiver? Kolton responded with "I want to be the one that gets all the touchdowns and FIRST DOWNS!" It made us laugh. He recently has learned what a first down is and why it is important and I'm glad he is understanding the game a little more!
Alright...now on to Thanksgiving! :)
